As the reality of Wednesday’s result and performance sinks in there are plenty of questions going through the minds of Celtic supporters.
It’s hard to take any positives from the 4-1 defeat to Legia Warsaw with Ronny Deila in the spotlight like never before.
Questions are being asked about every area of the club with nothing spared in the post-mortem that began before the final whistle sounded in Poland.
Adding intrigue to the discussion Neil Lennon’s thoughts were a nod in the direction that many supporters were thinking and added to the debate into the precise nature of his departure.
As reality settles in one question has to be asked- is the current side, possibly about to lose Fraser Forster and Virgil van Dijk, good enough to play in the Champions League?
I doubt that there are any supporters who would argue that they are.
The reality of Wednesday night- and the 12 months beforehand- is that this Celtic side is no where near ready for the Champions League.
Even the best sides under Martin O’Neill, Gordon Strachan and Neil Lennon found the elite competition unforgiving. At our best Celtic sides rarely dominated teams in the Champions League- victories tended to come in heroic circumstances, against the odds with a combination of circumstances combining to produce celebrated victories.
Under O’Neil Celtic played Lyon off the park, against Benfica Strachan’s side dominated, under Lennon we were convincing and worthy 2-0 winners over Ajax.
Last season’s farewell was a 6-1 hammering in Barcelona and it’s impossible to make a case to say that the team has improved since then.
The reality of Celtic 2014/15 is that a campaign in the Champions League may be great for the bank balance but prove demoralising for the players and supporters.
In 2011/12 a Europa League campaign alongside Atletico Madrid, Rennes and Udinese prove to be the making of Lennon’s side as domestic form picked up alongside belief gained playing in Europe.
The omens don’t look promising for Murrayfield on Wednesday with low ticket sales and morale unlikely to be boosted by another friendly against Spurs in Helsinki tomorrow.
After two years of progress and development under Lennon things are in reverse and unlikely to be turned around in the only environment that the club can be judged in- Europe.
As the autumn nights arrive there will be some fearsome defeats for clubs reaching the Champions League through the champions route- it may be a blessing that Celtic’s involvement will be on Thursday nights- if they can negotiate through the final qualifying round of the Europa League.
