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Beaten but well behaved

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In 1972 the Oldco played Dynamo Moscow in the Camp Nou in Barcelona.

They won the game 3-2, but not before a pitch invasion of Rangers fans disturbed the game with 10 minutes of the match remaining.

The incensed Russians asked for a replay that wasn’t given.

You can’t blame UEFA (who did however ban them for a year from all European Football following an inquest into their Hunish behaviour) as a replay would have given the hordes a chance to reform and descend once more.

Oldco Captain John Grieg was presented the trophy inside the stadium buildings as a certain demographic were in Hungabunga mode in the terraces and on the pitch fighting with supporters and police.

There were over 97 Oldco fans arrested, along with many injured police and 50 injured fans, many with head injuries, due to a police charge.

By contrast, last night we lost and we lost big.

But instead of tarnishing the name of Scottish football and taking it out on the toilet, our fans behaviour was not only impeccable throughout the match, many stayed behind after the match without incident.

When your team is gubbed and lets be clear it was a horsing, you have 2 options:

  • Suck it up, take it on the chin and then take the piss to lessen the obvious pain.
  • Carry on like a baby that dropped its lolly.

The ambassadors to our unbroken traditions wore their Hoops in pain last night, but with pride all the same.

We were beaten by a better team, no deadline day signing would have changed the scoreline significantly.

Whilst there is a gulf growing between us and Sevco, on European duty we are getting to see the effects of the new world order of hyper rich football clubs.

The new pay deal for the English FA and the proposed changes to the UEFA Champions League are going to mean that in all likelihood we will never have the resources to compete deep into the competition.

Think about it?

The top clubs are miles ahead now, imagine them with 30% more revenue than they have already?

It is a shame, but while Celtic play in Scotland we will never see a Messi, Neymar or Suarez playing for Celtic.

That said we are a Scottish club and for all the money on earth we have some records to break here first before ever contemplating a move to the Saxon’s Premiership.

For our new rivals across the city this defeat poses a subtext.

If they did manage to win the Premiership and qualify for the Champions League qualifiers. What chance would you give them of qualifying?

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The answer is about the same chance that Dundalk had.

If 4 more direct teams are added there will only be 6 qualifying spots.

Sevco would be lucky to beat Dundalk, Young Boys, APOEL and Viktoria Plzen out of that list, it would get gubbed silly by any of the rest of them.

Even if their standard rose they will not attain last 6 on that list and just imagine the gulf that will develop in the next few years?

It is looking bad for future qualification even for Celtic with such obstacles.

Luckily Champions League money is a bonus to our business structure.

Dave King has set up his loss making subsidiary on the hopes that it will win the Premiership merely by ‘Rangers’ showing up.

The hope is that they will then qualify for the Champions League so he can finally get his £20 million back.

I think the face painter has a better chance of getting paid than Sevco have of EVER qualifying for the group stages.

By the time they win the Premiership (i would be shocked if it is within 3 years and pissed of if within 5) the European sands will have moved.

They can laugh at our defeat, but the simple facts are they will never get the chance to experience a similar hammering.

Let alone the feeling of victory.

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