That knot in stomach that only Celtic in Europe gives you

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The Celtic Star

·26 agosto 2025

That knot in stomach that only Celtic in Europe gives you

There’s a knot in the stomach today that only Celtic in Europe can give you, and it’s been there since last week at Celtic Park when the final whistle sounded after a lacklustre first leg…

Celtic 0-0 Kairat Almaty. Celtic s Champions League hopes hang very much in the balance after they were held to a goalless draw in Glasgow by Kazakh side Kairat. Photo Kenny Ramsay. IMAGO / News Licensing

You will certainly know the feeling – heavy, restless, impossible to shake, one that builds as the days progress. We recognise it because we’ve all carried it before, knowing exactly how fragile this all is. We don’t just play the opposition on nights like this; we play our own scars. And here we are, yet again.

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Celtic face FC Kairat Almaty tonight in what already feels like the most important match of the season. It’s only August, barely into the campaign, and yet here we stand staring at a cliff edge where we recognise the view all too well.

Thousands of miles from Celtic Park, after wasting home advantage with a 0-0 first-leg draw, the message could not be clearer; we win, and the Champions League dream lives on; we fail, and it’s another scar on a decade of European mismanagement. If we struggled to sleep last night, and we did, imagine what the players went through.

For us, the supporters, this dread is almost muscle memory now. Maribor in 2014. Malmö in 2015. AEK Athens in 2018. Cluj in 2019 and more besides. We can pretty much list them without even thinking now, sadly. Same script, different year and all that. Half-prepared squads, signings left late, a board gambling on qualification before they even think about strengthening. It’s as maddening as it is counter intuitive. Put simply, it’s self-sabotage.

Peter Lawwell, Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay applaud during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Livingston at Celtic Park on August 23, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Because what board in their right mind risks losing £40m and more in income just to protect a cash pile? That will be ours. What club pays more in tax than it spends on players, and calls it prudence? That’s right, the so-called custodians of our football club.

This isn’t caution, this is negligence. It’s arrogance. It’s playing Russian roulette with Celtic’s future while telling us it’s good business, now pipe down entitled ones.

And none of this is anything new. From Lennon’s patched-up teams to Rodgers’ first spell, to Ange Postecoglou having to plead for signings early on, it has always been the same – a strategy that waits and waits until it’s too late, then wonders why Europe keeps slipping away. If they even wonder at all that is.

Kairat Almaty v Celtic – Brendan Rodgers and Liam Scales Media Conference. Read everything that was said - link to article in comments below👇🍀
– martedì 26 agosto 2025

Even when we have the money, the ambition has been missing, replaced by a European paralysis – it’s difficult to compete, so why try?

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Livingston at Celtic Park on August 23, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

That’s why tonight feels so familiar. We’ve been left frustratingly vulnerable again, going into the most important fixtures of the season without the tools we should have to carry out the job. We all know this story. We all know the frustration. We all know where the blame lies if it all goes wrong – again.

But.. Celtic can’t be a club defined by what happens in a boardroom. We are defined by what happens on the pitch, by the players who wear the shirt, and by the supporters who live and breathe every moment. And that’s why, despite everything, there is still hope. Because we’ve seen it before.

James Forrest of Celtic is seen after the Scottish Premier League match between Celtic and Livingston at Celtic Park on August 23, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

We’ve seen James Forrest dig us out of holes in Europe — Trondheim in 2017, popping one into the net when it looked like the tie was slipping away. We’ve seen the chaos of Be’er Sheva, where somehow, against all logic, we staggered through. These weren’t victories born of strategy or careful planning. They were born of character, courage, and the refusal to give in. If we are to win tonight, it will be the same again. In spite of the challenges posed by Kairat. In spite of the challenges from within our own club. This team will need to find a way.

Brendan Rodgers knows it too. After Rosenborg in 2017, he said: “This time last year I went into these games with a hope we could get through. Now we go into them with composure, courage, belief.” That’s what he needs to inspire tonight; courage, composure and belief and find a way by hook or by crook to get Celtic into a tournament that we simply must be a part of.

Celtic captain Billy McNeill holds aloft the European Cup after Celtic’s 2-1 victory over Inter Milan in the 1967 European Cup Final in Lisbon. Photo Imago.

Nights like this are never easy, never straightforward

Because this is Celtic after all. European ambition is a flame handed on to every custodian. It is not a desirable, it is an essential.

Nights like this are never easy, never straightforward. But they are the nights that define us, nonetheless. When the odds seem stacked, when the preparation hasn’t been perfect, when it feels like everything is against us — that is when Celtic can summon something deeper.

So yes, the board’s failures still hang over us. Yes, the planning remains negligent. Because make no mistake: if Celtic stumble tonight, the blame won’t lie with the players. It won’t lie with the manager. It’ll lie where it always does — in the boardroom. And if we crash out again, it won’t be because Kairat beat us. It’ll be because Celtic beat themselves.

Celtic 0-0 Kairat Almaty. Celtic’s Champions League hopes hang very much in the balance after they were held to a goalless draw in Glasgow by Kazakh side Kairat. Photo Kenny Ramsay IMAGO / News Licensing

But tonight is not about them – stronger words could be used. Tonight is about the players who take the pitch, about Rodgers on the touchline, about us — the supporters — living every kick.

And if Celtic can find that spark, if they can dig deeper than the doubt, then maybe tonight will feel different from last night’s interrupted slumber. Maybe the broken sleep we all endured will be replaying the joy of success rather than the sting of failure.

Niall J

決戦の地まだキックオフ12時間前だけど😅
– martedì 26 agosto 2025

Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter. Foreword by Danny McGrain. Published on Celtic Star Books on 5 September 2025. Click on image to pre-order.

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