Mingin In Malmo

ALL last night's car crash TV, on BT Sport Europe, live from Malmo needed was the voice of the late David Francey intoning: "Tragedy for Celtic". Mind you, old David, a fully paid-up member of the Microphone Loyal, would have delivered the line whilst smiling broadly.

 

Forget the disallowed goal, which has been seized on gratefully by the "Always Cheated - Never Defeated" Tendancy in the Celtic Family. The Hoops were horsed, second-best to a squad which, in European terms, is distinctly second-rate.

 

IF the teams should meet again, as well they could, at the Round of 32 in the Europa League, I think Malmo will win again, they showed, apart from the first half hour at Celtic Park, across three hours of football, they were faster in thought and deed and better technically than Celtic.

 

What really upset me last night was the relative anonymity of Scott Brown. Here was the Captain of Celtic, Captain of Scotland, making no impact on the game whatsoever. There is no way Billy McNeill, Danny McGrain or Roy Aitken, three men to have previously held both jobs concurrently, would have been peripheral figures in a match to the extent Brown was last night.

 

Elsewhere, it is one thing to be asked to defend against the efforts of the diddy teams in the SPFL Premiership, quite another to be asked to do the same job in Europe. Once again Celtic had to be grateful to Craig Gordon for saving their blushes in Europe. But, as so-often when Celtic are put under pressure: the cry was no defenders.

 

In reality, the Europa League is probably Celtic's European level these days, and, how they do there will largely depend on who else they draw in their group. The skies are dark and forbidding this morning, but, let's see what Friday brings with the European draws.

 

The comment threads on the online sites this morning are awash with two things, the gloatings of the fans of the favourites to win the Petrofac Training Cup this season, and the anguished cries of: "Bring me the head of Ronnie Deila" from the hurting sept of the Celtic Family. Getting rid of Ronnie would solve nothing. He has already worked wonders in beginning to change the dressing room culture to something a bit less traditional Scottish and a bit more European, but, this is no seven-day job.

 

Celtic cannot operate at the top level when it comes to recruiting either very good European players or managers. I cannot think of a single Scottish manager who could step in and make Celtic immediately competitive in a Champions League context. Just as their friends across the city has had to, however reluctantly, lose their feelings of entitlement to win the prizes at the end of each season, so, the Celtic Family must adjust to a poorer world - it will be a few years yet, if ever, before they see another Seville, far less a second Lisbon.

 

Scottish fitba - we're in a raw state, the wind is in oor faces, richt enough.