DINING AT THE TOP TABLE

Dining at the top table of European Football in the Champions League is always where we want to be as Celtic fans. It always brings a smile to my face when I hear the comment from fellow Celtic fans “The Champions League is not for everyone” referring to our broke neighbours from across the city.

When you are the kings of the castle domestically it is always good to see how we can pit ourselves against a better quality of opponents on the European stage. The board will be counting the money coming in from everything that goes with competing at this level but for the normal Celtic fan on the street it is all about the winning or at least being competitive the win over RB Leipzig really summed that up.

The feel good factor was there from all to see from Celtic Park to San Francisco and beyond where Celtic fans gathered to watch the game after the final whistle and you could not wipe the proud smile from our faces for days. I can only the imagine walking into a work place shared with the rangers fans with that confident smile beaming across the face.

In my time following Celtic I remember when European football was over almost in the blink of an eye for another season. We would beat a team from the Welsh League or a league of that standard before bowing out to a team from a stronger league. Normally these games were in the UEFA Cup. Big spending and tax cheats Rangers were dominating in Scotland and took their place in the European Cup and then the Champions League as we said goodbye to the 1980’s and hello to the 1990’s.

Back in those dark days of the 1990’s, competing with the elite of European football was something we could only dream of. In reality we just wanted to win the league and wrestle power from David Murray’s Rangers team.

None of us could have imaged that they would eventually self implode and go out of existence. No matter how they and their fan base spin it the oldco are not the newco. They let their club die. Murray once their hero would become the villain of the pantomime that followed.

From dining at the top table in Europe, Murray would jump ship leaving the Green and White show to finally sink them. They can talk about 55 and all that but everybody knows they are a new club playing in an old stadium.

Celtic fan groups Save Our Celts and Celts for Change along with people like John Keane and Fergus McCann would step in to save Celtic from dying with the support of many Celtic fans (Some fans could not see the light and were prepared to back the old board).

On the 3rd of March 1994, Brain Dempsey proclaimed “The battle is over, the rebels have won.” And on 4 March 1994 Fergus McCann announced he completed his takeover of Celtic.

From that day on a new era came into existence in Celtic’s unbroken history. A plan for a new stadium was put in place and McCann’s legacy remains today in the shape of a 60,000 all-seater stadium that many thought was an over-reach of his ambition. With success brings more fans and now on big nights in Europe and against new rangers the sold out signs are up and some could argue that the main stand could be redeveloped to increase capacity and give more fans the option to enjoy such occasions.

The rebuilding of the team did not happen over night and ther were disappointments along the way as we watched Rangers win title after title. We trusted Tommy Burns, Celtic man through and through. After the footballing heart break of the Raith Rovers League Cup Final defeat he finally led us to silverware when we lifted the Scottish Cup in 1995.

We played Airdrieonians at Hampden Park on 27 May 1995. We won the match 1–0, with a goal by Pierre van Hooijdonk who headed in after a cross from the left by Tosh McKinlay. It was not a classic but finally we has something to celebrate and the emotions were clear for everyone to see when Paul McStay lifted the Cup.

Tommy brought some great players to the club but in the end failure to stop Rangers sealed his faith and he was replaced by Wim Jansen.

Stopping Rangers doing the 10IAR was all that mattered after the equaled Celtic’s record (which we have repeated again) Stopping the Ten was an incredible feeling and the celebrations went on all Summer after we danced from Celtic Park to Gallowgate on that sunny day. Wim leaving was a blow and we had a few false dawns before Martin O’Neill was installed as manager.

When Martin O’Neill stood on the steps outside Celtic Park to address the support as he was unveiled, he uttered those famous words “I’ll do everything I possibly can to bring some success to this Football Club” and he did. The first Celtic manager to deliver a treble since Jock Stein.

After another summer of celebrations we took our place in the group stages after beating Ajax in Amsterdam. What a trip that was and what a result. There was trouble before the game at the stadium when Ajax fans attacked Celtic fans. There was a shooting in a bar earlier in the day but inside that ground that night it was incredible as I celebrated my 30^th birthday in style.

On the pitch big signing Chris Sutton, bargain buy Didier Agathe and the born-again Bobby Petta all scored in the 3-1 win. A 1-0 defeat in the home leg could not dampen our spirits. We were back!

Celtic Park would rock under the lights against Juventus, Porto and Rosenborg. 9 points from the 3 games but we failed to get out of the group (If memory serves me well some clubs including Liverpool progressed from other groups with less points to the knockout phase).

Our away form let us down in Portugal and Norway and a referee by the name of Helmit Krugg and a diving so and so by the name of Amoruso who put on an Oscar performance to win a penalty would be the reason why we bowed out that season from the Champions League.

That cheating and converted penalty robbed Celtic of getting out of the group at the first attempt. Although we did parachute into the UEFA Cup for a home and away clash to Valencia and more footballing heart break, going out on a penalty shoot out at a packed Celtic Park.

Under O’Neill we had some great nights at Paradise in Europe. We also had some very disappointing nights on the road. Lyon and Bobo Baldé’s hand ball was a bitter pill to swallow. The UEFA cup final in 2003 in Seville was heart breaking at the final whistle but what a journey we had along the way.

We also had some great European nights under Gordon Strachan with plenty of late drama against AC Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk. Strachan was not a popular appointment among many Celtic fans and after a disaster of a start he had in Bratislava to his managerial time at Celtic he steadied the Euro ship and would take us to last 16 of the Champions League twice.

We had the big Celtic birthday party win under Neil Lennon when Barcelona and Messi were beaten at Celtic Park. What a night that was, the Tifo, the atmosphere and the tension. It was backs against the wall stuff and an unknown young player called Tony Watt came off the bench to write himself into the history books.

The Ronnie Delia years passed before the fanfare of the arrival of Brendan Rodgers for the first time. Domestic dominance continued as the rangers returned to the fold after a few seasons in the lower league wilderness.

We took some pumping’s in Europe. Barcelona and PSG were hard lessons, but we did get to taste winning away in Europe when we beat Anderlecht 3-0 in Brussels. The return of Neil Lennon will sadly be remembered for the rangers stopping our charge for 10IAR during Covid when we were forced to watch games at home while still paying for our season books. Crazy times.

Ange Postecoglou arrived in Glasgow as life slowly went back to normal after Covid we returned to the football and European football including a trip to Seville to watch Celtic play Real Betis which we had to watch in a pub. Flights and hotels were booked by Celtic fans after we were told that away fans were allowed to travel and we would gain entry to the game.

Then under Spainsh guidelines, Betis annouced we would not be admitted into the ground due to Covid restrictions and we also played Shakhtar Donetsk in Warsaw due to the Russia/ Ukraine War.

The return of Brendan Rodgers after Ange opted for the bright lights of London and Spurs raised many eyebrows and surprised many of us. It took him a while to settle and get his own players in to compliment what Ange had left behind.

The rangers celebrated a draw against us at Ibrox as if they had already won the league, but we all know the wheels came off the bus after that. Their celebrations were premature and the much-needed wealth that comes with the new look Champions League evaporated before their eyes at the qualification stages. Celtic as champions of Scotland had the luxury of automatic qualification to the European Super League or the Champions League as they still call it, but I think we all know the direction football is heading towards no matter how they dress it up.

The old Champions League format had gone stale with many games meaningless and the casual TV fan not switching on till the later stages of the competition to see the richest clubs on the continent compete for the big cup.

The new format means more games and more money and seems to have benefitted teams like Celtic who now sit on 8 points in joint 17^th position although a win against Club Brugges would have seen us in joint 6^th on 10 points.

With our Glasgow rivals in financial meltdown they must be kicking themselves at those premature celebrations and the run of results that followed as their not so loyal fans call for yet another managers head. How many managers has Brendan Rodgers now seen off from the Blue side of the city?

There are no easy games at this level and that is there for everyone to see against Club Brugges who are a decent team, they forced an error from the normally reliable CCV at the heart of the Celtic defence who put the ball in his own net.

Thankfully Celtic battled back and Diazen Maeda scored a fantastic goal and with the crowd now lifted we looked the most likely to win the game but in a 50/50 game like that most of us left the Celtic Park in a positive mood with one more big night under the lights at Paradise still to come against Young Boys. While Zagreb and Aston Villa await on our travels.

The hammering in Dortmund was a wake up call. The draw in Atalanta was such a positive performance and result and both wins against Bratislava and RB Leipzig were so sweet. The atmosphere against the Germans at Celtic Park was one of the finest I have witnessed and the performance from the team was almost flawless at times.

Nothing has been decided yet. The question is can we make the knock out stages which would be a big signal of improvement under Brendan Rodgers in his second stint as Celtic manager. His stock will also be on the rise after getting sacked by Leicester City who he had left us for.

Many Celtic fans chuckled at his misfortune down south. Once he was seen public enemy of the Celtic support for his treason to the cause but since Dermot Desmond persuaded him to come back to the club he has increased the Celtic fans appetite for the finer things in football and dining at the top table of European football is one of them while others can only dream of the crumbs falling off the top table of which we sit.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast