There’s no surprise to see Celtic go into the November break for international football in great shape. As things stand, Brendan Rodgers men are joint top of the Scottish Premiership alongside a resurgent Aberdeen side and have a League Cup final to contest with holders Rangers next month for the first domestic trophy of the campaign. Aberdeen may well prove to be the story of the season but the gap between Celtic and the rest of the Scottish Premiership has never been greater.
Read More: Rangers Fans Calling For Head Of Philippe Clement
The Gap Between Celtic and the Rest of Scotland Has Never Been So Great
Celtic on Course to Progress in Champions League
Over the last number of years, domestic success is nothing new to Celtic supporters but competing in Europe at the elite level has regularly been a source of great frustration. This season it’s all been a welcome change. Celtic are well placed to make the play-off round for the Champions League, the perfect platform where the club should be measured.
The new look Champions League format indeed handed Celtic a favourable draw. But given how some very average European sides have beaten the Scottish champions in recent years, the rout over Slovan Bratislava at Celtic Park gave a hint of what was to come. When the humiliation and embarrassment of the 7-1 drubbing against Borussia Dortmund was next, very few expected Celtic to get anything from either Atalanta or RB Leipzig given both sides operate in superior leagues to the Scottish Premiership.
Competing With Europe’s Elite
Getting a point in Italy against the UEFA Cup holders Atalanta was the first eye-opener. With a bit of luck and strong, determined defending, a 0-0 draw against that quality of opposition was a sign that this group of Celtic players were learning how to compete with the best. RB Leipzig were up next and for Celtic to score three excellent goals after losing the opener is the type of performance the supporters have been crying out for their team to achieve for years.
Big Spending Puts Celts in Different League
And how has this change come about? Again, year on year, Celtic posted impressive financial results and the suspicion from so many Celtic supporters I spoke to was that the club were always keen to do just enough to keep them ahead of Rangers. Not this summer. Under Brendan Rodgers, Celtic have spent big in Scottish terms and quite simply, puts them in a different league. Not even Rangers can compete, despite reaching the final of the Europa League just two years ago. In short, Rangers have around £1.7million in the bank in comparison to Celtic’s £77million.
Ronny Deila, Neil Lennon and Ange Postecoglu would have loved to have been able to see the club spend as much as they did this summer when they were occupying the hot seat.
But only Brendan Rodgers has been able to squeeze this amount of expenditure from the board. Signing better quality players at an amount Celtic were previously reluctant to go to must have been heavily discussed and may be one of the conditions in which Rodgers would return to the club after leaving under a cloud in 2019. Remember the very curt message to Rodgers from the angry supporters at Tynecastle as soon as left with the title still up for grabs, “You traded immortality for mediocrity. Always a fraud, never a Celt”.
Rodgers Enthused by Champions League
The truth is that Rodgers is a very capable manager and must be enthused and keen to take some notable scalps in the Champions League. The last two results certainly have the fans fully back on his side. They’re allowed to dream that it can get even better.
His relationship with the board seems different this time round. He improves players that are already at the club but the heavy spend on quality players has taken Celtic to this exciting new level of being recognised as a very decent European side.
Arne Engels, Adam Idah, Auston Trusty, Paulo Bernardo, Luke McCowan and goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo all arrived at a cost of more the £30 million. Brighton spent around the same figure on Matt O’Riley so there was no huge breaking of the bank.
Read More: The Development Of Young Scottish Talent Is Stagnating
Keeping Star Players Next Target
What is interesting is how Celtic will look to consolidate and maintain this level of competition with Europe’s elite. It can’t be a one-off experience.
On the transfer front, Celtic have a tremendous record of buying players for a modest amount before selling them for a sizable profit. Take the position of right back for example. Jeremie Frimpong excelled in his eighteen-month spell at the club and was sold for around £10 million to Bayer Leverkusen. Croatian Josip Juranovic took his place for the next eighteen months as Celtic’s right back before he too was sold to the Bundesliga, Union Berlin paying close to £8 million for his services. Alastair Johnson is the current right back and he too would attract a hefty profit if he were to be sold. Johnston signed a five-year deal 2 years ago from Montreal and has been terrific under both Ange Postecoglu and now Rodgers.
If Johnston stays, would Nikolas Kuhn, the man currently in demand, do the same? The 24-year-old winger has currently posted ten goals and eleven assists in just the seventeen games he’s played so far, including the two against his former side RB Leipzig in the Champions League. Both Fulham and Brentford are reportedly ready to step in with a massive bid in January.
Celtic have always been willing to do business when players attract the attention of richer clubs in superior leagues. But if they want to continue with the amazing result and performance against RB Leipzig in the future, keeping Alastair Johnston and Nicolas Kuhn for a bit longer is what the Celtic fans want to
