Opinion – Some Celtic supporters need a Champions League reality check

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The Celtic Star

·12 dicembre 2024

Opinion – Some Celtic supporters need a Champions League reality check

Some of our supporters really do need a Champions League reality check…

Greg Taylor and Auston Trusty players warming up prior to the UEFA Champions League match between GNK Dinamo and Celtic FC at Stadion Maksimir on December 10, 2024. (Photo by Jurij Kodrun/Getty Images)

Yes, we may have blown a great chance to beat an under-strength and rather poor Dinamo Zagreb side on Tuesday evening, and the players and manager deserve to be criticised for not taking full advantage, but some of the criticism is well over the top and shows how ‘entitled’ some of our supporters have become.

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Not incidentally the away support that made the journey to Zagreb and gave the team tremendous backing as they always do. The critics are those on social media and watching in pubs loudly criticising every kick of the ball, or in Anthony Ralston’s case the criticism started before he’d kicked a ball.

That’s not being harsh, it’s the truth. Criticism is fine and healthy, but some of the comments on social media are an absolute disgrace, completely unwarranted and certainly not helpful.

Brendan Rodgers, Manager of Celtic, and staff, enter the pitch prior to the UEFA Champions League match between GNK Dinamo and Celtic FC at Stadion Maksimir on December 10, 2024. (Photo by Jurij Kodrun/Getty Images)

In one way it shows how much we’ve improved that a point away in the Champions League has caused so much angst and is seen as a massive failure, but it also demonstrates how an element of our supporters have become an ungrateful and entitled bunch.

Our team has started this season brilliantly and currently sit nine points clear with a game in hand at the top of the table. We also have a chance of winning the first silverware on offer this Sunday at Hampden against theRangers.

Callum McGregor acknowledges the fans following the UEFA Champions League match between GNK Dinamo and Celtic FC at Stadion Maksimir on December 10, 2024. (Photo by Jurij Kodrun/Getty Images)

That ‘point’ we gained on Tuesday also means we are just one win away from securing a Champions League play off place with two games to go. Indeed one point from those two game might be enough.

Nine points from six games is something we would have taken had we been offered it before the competition started. It’s also a realistic position that puts us in a great chance to achieve our target against pointless Young Boys next month. The Swiss side has been battered in all their games and will come to Celtic Park low in confidence and with nothing much to play for other than pride and maybe the cash incentive.

That to me is progression. Something we have all been demanding from the players and management these past few years.

Celtic fans react to 0-0 draw against GNK Dinamo following the UEFA Champions League match between GNK Dinamo and Celtic FC at Stadion Maksimir on December 10, 2024 in Zagreb, Croatia. (Photo by Jurij Kodrun/Getty Images)

So why all the criticism and personal abuse levelled at certain players? It’s uncalled for and these so called supporters need to have a look at themselves. They need to have a reality check and look at the bigger picture. We have progressed as a team, the players and manager deserve praise and support, not abuse and criticism.

There are a number of clubs in that Champions League table who have been embarrassed and it should be noted that over the past decade or so we’d have been in that group. We’re not. Had a little bit of luck gone our way in the closing stages of the games against Club Brugge (Bernardo”s shot) and Dinamo Zagreb (Engels cross for Idah to tap in that was brilliantly blocked), we’d have been talking about making the top eight.

Fine margins and all that. The target was the play-offs and we are well placed to achieve that at Celtic Park under the lights on Wednesday 22 January for what could be one of the biggest games of our season. We’d all have taken that position before a ball was kicked after picking up six points in 12 games over the past two seasons in the old format.

Anyway rant over!

Just an Ordinary Bhoy

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