Rangers Champions League exit, good or bad?
Generally when I give my opinions to any non Celtic supporters, they reply and tell me that I am just bitter and that I should grow up and start to support Rangers and other Scottish teams in European competitions.
Maybe I am just being bitter but there is no way that I could support a team like Rangers – not when I know that they had an open policy of refusing to sign a Catholic. This view hasn’t been formed because I am a Catholic – I haven’t been to a chapel since visiting the Vatican city a few years ago but because I feel discriminating anyone based on religion is wrong.
If I was then to support them whilst holding that view, it would be hypocritical of me to do so. I also do not like the reputation that their fans seem to have built up over the years.
There is a saying “if you fly with the crows, you will get shot with the crows” so I would rather keep myself away from the ‘crows’ and not associate myself with at all.
The same goes for the ‘old firm’ tag that we always hear about – that phrase tends to suggest that we are just the collective thing, but that may well be something for me to write about some other day.
Personally, I couldn’t care less about how well Rangers do in Europe and given that they’re are our mail rivals, I quite enjoy seeing them lose.
Had they got through against Malmo last night, they would have faced another qualifier and may or may not have gained entry to the Champions League but if they had, they would have gained anything up to £15million in revenue – even if they had lost all six group matches.
As a Celtic fan, I fail to see how our closest rivals gaining that amount of money can possibly be of any benefit to us. Think of the amount of money that is actually available for clubs in the SPL to spend. I’d be surprised if the combined expenditure of all clubs even reach £15m by the time the transfer window closes.
Can that benefit us at all? If so, please tell me how it can?
There is an argument that it can help Scotland’s co-efficient but again, that is something I don’t care about.
I have written a piece previously called ‘club v country’ which goes into details as to why I don’t care about the national team.
Yes fans of the national team would like the country to have a better co-efficient ranking as it means that Scotland may well be able to qualify for either a European championships or a world cup finals tournament.
When Celtic made it all the way to the UEFA final in Seville, we had to play a Champions League qualifier. The fact that Celtic did so well in Europe for a few years following Seville is the reason that Rangers gained automatic entry to the Champions League in the last few years.
Celtic getting to the UEFA Cup Final is something that will always stand out for me but making it to the final off our own backs as it were, makes it even better. We didn’t have to rely on anyone else to get there and in future, I would prefer if we did not have to rely on any one else for our success too.
The fact that Rangers gained automatic entry into the last few seasons Champions League also ensured that they ended up with enough money to perhaps save their club from going out of business completely.
I may be wrong but I really cannot remember the last time that any Scottish club achieved anything in European competition when it did not involve Celtic or Rangers supporting Rangers in Europe really doesn’t benefit me at all.
On that basis, I think Celtic have always pushed on in Europe based on what we as a club are capable of and not based on what other clubs and the national team are doing- so why should we want to change that?
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