Apologies all, for my lateness to the conversation on this particular nightmare. I simply didn’t have the heart to opine earlier on Tuesday’s awful result. I felt completely and suddenly deflated, like a tyre after a motorway blowout.

More fool me for letting hope and optimism creep in where those with a more pessimistic (some may justifiably say realistic) view of things could nod sagely and go on about their business. Despite my trenchant criticisms of the club’s leadership, I like to believe I’m objective and not an ideologue. I will give credit where it’s due, and I do not have a personal vendetta against anyone at the club. That said, I will always be frank in my assessment of their effectiveness.

For me, as a fan like you, who would much rather be discussing all our various successes on and off the park, I felt it impossible not to let hope into the emotional mix after a few decent signings and an excellent first leg outcome.

What a slap in the face that result has been. I now feel as foolish as anyone in a relationship who realises they’ve been ground down into accepting such a low bar, that any break from the grim normality seemed like grounds for hope that things might be different.  

We knew the importance of these Champions League qualifiers long before we ever knew who the opposition might be. LASK were one of the more difficult challenges but were seen off in the home game thanks to some offside calls, some poor misses and some sensational finishes. We went into the game Tuesday night three goals to the good, and within 22 minutes had added another to put us in what seemed an unassailable position.

A Positive Lesson from History?

Some 66 years ago, a Celtic team containing eight of the future Lisbon Lions, including my father, took a three-nil lead to play MTK Budapest in the semi-final of the European Cup Winners Cup. They endured an ignominious 4-0 defeat, but within 3 years were the Champions of Europe.

After being superseded last night as the worst European capitulation of a lead in the history of the club, I am in one respect grateful that Dad’s name will no longer be associated with the ‘most’ awful result, but the majority of that team went on to write themselves indelibly in the history books for far more positive reasons.

Is there any positive message to be derived from this tale of historic disaster and redemption? Unfortunately, not! The landscape has changed so dramatically in the last 66 years that Tuesday’s result may well have condemned us to an open-ended absence from Europe’s elite competition. Based on the previous decade’s qualification successes at a rate of 20%, even when facing a single round, it seems entirely fanciful that under our current leadership, we will be properly prepared and resourced for multiple rounds of qualifying.

Tuesday was the LASK chance saloon, a fiasco compounding last season’s unforgivable Almatygeddon. That’s around 60 million euro minimum of lost income in two years.  An intolerable failure that demands an immediate reaction from the club’s intransigent politburo. However, this board is so allergic to any form of accountability, they’re too scared to even talk to the fans, as they would be simply unable to defend themselves from accusations of utter incompetence or a more sinister and deliberate managed decline. 

The Blame Game

Very sadly though, if blame were fertiliser, on this occasion there is so much to be spread around you could create verdant green savannah in the Sahara.

Yes, it starts with the board. Too little too late with the signings. As always. We brought in four quality players, only three of whom were fit enough to contribute to this game because we didn’t get them in early enough, but we let two of our best players go. Although even mentioning Engels as one of our best provokes a reflexive negative reaction in some.

However, his return to the side last year had an immediate positive impact on the run-in and his positional awareness, physicality, blocking of passing lanes and covering the back four in those pockets of space so ruthlessly exploited by LASK, were desperately missed on Tuesday.

Skills obviously not widely appreciated. For those of us who are not coaches or analysts, I would ask you to consider why he was playing in the Bundesliga, why he moved to us for £11m and was subsequently the target of multiple £ 20m-plus bids. It’s possible that those with a deep understanding of the game, clearly perceive a value that the casual fan may not recognise.

He was a player who needed to be replaced before or immediately after his sale. The board had only known since January that his departure was almost certain, so perhaps they were surprised!  Historically, their reaction to quality players departing has been so glacially slow I expect he’ll eventually be replaced in the 28-29 season. We effectively played this season-defining game with last year’s largely inadequate team plus one new addition

Pretty Baubles & Crumbling Foundations

The board also decided to gamble on decorating the house with pretty baubles, while the foundations were old and crumbling. Not signing a defensive player before this tie was an error played out over about 100 painful minutes. As an example, no backup for Tierney, who can’t finish a game. How badly missed was the bargain basement priced, occasionally brilliant Saracchi?

We have faced 96 shots in our first 5 games. LASK alone had 40 on the night. It will take divine intervention to prevent more hammerings in the Europa League if we don’t sign the profile of player who can protect our back 4 and break up play.

The devastating extent of the prolonged managed decline policy and squad mismanagement were on view for all of Europe to laugh at, as we embarrassed ourselves with a bench so weak it would have collapsed under the weight of a sparrow. We finished the game with between 5 and 7 players you would be unhappy to see starting against Falkirk at the weekend. There can be no greater indictment than that.

A Legend Tarnished

I did not want Martin O’Neill to return as manager for this reason among others. As the only realistic candidate from a ludicrously small pool of two or three, I was glad they chose Martin, but that should never have been the case. A failure to find realistic candidates to replace the 74-year-old in temporary charge within 6 months remains a scandal. Now he is facing a proud legacy tarnished by our worst-ever European result in the context of the lead we held.

He also looked every inch a 74-year-old man in the post-match interviews, and I still have real fear for his health under the relentless pressure that comes with this job. Those of you with elderly relatives will be all too aware of how quickly and radically they may decline. I very much hope this exhausting job is not the trigger that sends Martin’s health into a downward spiral. It’s frankly not worth it.

Most unfortunately, Martin and Maloney cannot escape the justified criticism for the utterly inexplicable tactics and substitutions. When Atalanta away should have been the game model, we instead seemed to be pursuing a formation more in keeping with a game against Stirling Albion at home. At the time it appeared to be madness, and the subsequent videos of the chaos in our ranks make it clear this was not just perception but reality.

Instead of tight banks of five defending a lead, we were staggered, undisciplined and left enough space that the open prairie would have seemed claustrophobic by comparison. In the 2^nd half we inexplicably appeared to abandon any attempt at playing football and were hoofing it long to Hogh like the ball contained an explosive that detonated if you retained possession for more than 5 seconds.

A Haunting Half

The individual performances of some players, mainly in that second half, should haunt them in their quiet moments. I don’t wish to participate in any pile-ons, but there are very clearly some who are an embarrassment to the Hoops and who should never don them again. Some who will never be good enough for Europe, and some who need to take a long hard look at their fitness, mentality, preparation and willingness to battle under pressure.

 As Martin had the good grace to acknowledge after the game, surrendering a 4-goal lead in any circumstances is the fault of the manager and players. As I have outlined above, the board played a very significant part, but the inability to see out 70 minutes of normal time with a 4-goal lead falls primarily on the coaching team and the players.

I repeatedly referred to these games as season-defining.

I fear that the season has just been defined in the most negative way.

As always though, we will pick ourselves up and carry on.

To paraphrase, being a Celtic supporter is often challenging, but always a privilege.

Mon The Hoops.