Conversations with contacts and sources- Anthony Joseph on Celtic’s priorities

Europe is apparently the target for Celtic.

That is the view of Anthony Joseph who covers the hoops in detail for Sky Sports News.

While the domestic trophies have been piling up at Celtic Park matters European have been something of a running sore.

It is now 19 years since Celtic won a European knock-out tie which came soon after Peter Lawwell took over as CEO.

There has been signs of hope, three times Celtic have made it out of the Champions League group stage but there has been no signs of momentum or building a squad that is comfortable at European level.

Gordon Strachan and Ange Postecoglou had very different approaches to playing in the Champions League, now responsibility falls on Brendan Rodgers to produce progress.

Give Me Sports reports Joseph saying:

In my conversations with contacts and sources, they keep stressing that they really want to compete in the Champions League and make a mark in Europe. And certainly, in the new format, they feel they have the foundation and the budget to win the league this year and put themselves in that position to get that increased Champions League revenue, and the increased amount of matches and really make a mark.

Celtic will almost certainly go into Pot 4 in the Champions League draw which means that they are likely to face some serious big hitters from Pots 2 and 3.

Pot One consists on holders Manchester City plus champions from the highest ranked leagues including Porto and Feyenoord.