champions league review 2001-02

"The honeymoon had to end sometime, of course, and it was officially declared over at 9.21 local time in Trondheim's Lerkendal Stadium..."

This was the start of an article which appeared on the back page of the Herald on Thursday October 25th by one of their hacks recently acquired from the Daily Retard. The reference was primarily to the time of Harald's second goal in the Champions League match which effectively scuppered Celtic's prospects of progressing into the second group phase, but also to, "The uneasy truce between Celtic manager Martin O'Neill and a Scottish media which has, until very recently had little reason to criticise the Irishman or his team."

The opening paragraphs of this meisterwerk bear closer scrutiny. The "honeymoon" must have been with the media, because O'Neill's relationship with the vast majority of the fans shows little sign of needing the assistance of Doctor Ruth.

The "uneasy truce" referred to is presumably the lull in Celtic-baiting which lasted for the best part of last season. Now that the truce has ended it must be great to get back to getting stuck into the manager and the team.

Does "The Scottish Media" now have the reason they've clearly been looking for to declare open season on Celtic on the back of their showing in this season's premier European competition?

Let's jump ahead slightly to the conclusion of the article: "If (Celtic) are to progress as the major club they aspire to be then a rethink of attitudes on and off the park is desperately needed."

If this is the case then we're certainly in good company. Of the 32 best teams in Europe this season, 16 of them are in need of similar "desperate" rethinking. If we measure progress by qualification to the second group stage of the Champions League then Celtic can count themselves slightly unlucky not to have made it.

Other teams qualified for the second stage having collected the same number of points as Celtic, or even fewer in the case of Boavista, who qualified with 8 points.

As a first effort in the Champions League we would argue that Celtic performed as well as most of us could have hoped for. They finished with 9 points which is more than Rangers, those great favourites of the Scottish press, ever got.

Putting things in to some sort of perspective you could argue that by getting more points than any other Scottish team in this competition that it was a very successful honeymoon - in addition to being most enjoyable.

Of the games themselves, the two against Juve will remain long in the memory. We can count ourselves unfortunate in Turin where we were denied a well merited draw by a controversial late penalty. Perhaps more self belief from the team would have seen them come away from Turin with at least a draw irrespective of that decision.

The second game against Juve was a classic. Many suggest that we were up against Juve's reserves; well Del Piero, Trezeguet and Nedved, among others, were some reserves. In a magnificent display of attacking footy the Celts triumphed 4:3. With a bit better finishing we could have won by more. At one point I was sitting in the North Stand remarking that we needed a fifth goal to make it safe, only to remember that this was Juventus we were playing!

Too little too late but if you're going out the least you can do is do it in style.

The games against Porto comfirmed that we still have some distance to travel. The home game, despite the grudging praise from the Fish Wrappers, saw us come away with a hard fought but merited 1:0 victory against very talented opponents. The away game was different. Losing a goal in the first minute didn't help especially as we only had two defenders in our box. Truth be told we were outclassed and could have lost by a lot more than 3:0 in what was our worst performance under the leadership of MON.

Still, most teams in the Champions League have to suffer results like this, and that night was our turn.

Rosenborg saw another hard fought but deserved 1:0 win at home while the inevitable happened in Trondheim as we lost to 2 goals from Harald Brattback.

Brattbakk, according to the fish wrappers, was much maligned by the Celtic support. Don't know what Celtic supporters these people know but all Celtic supporters of my acquaintance had - and still have - a tolerable respect for Harald. But why let the facts get in the way of a cheap headline?

Incidentally, Am I the only one who wishes we had played Rosenborg a few weeks earlier when the weather may have been a lot warmer than -8? As it was, given the chances we created in the second half we should have come away from Norway with a draw.

What the above confirms is that it's a very fine dividing line between success and failure at this level.

Unless you are Fenerbache, of course. The Turks lost all 6 of their games which, given they knocked Rangers out in the qualifying stages, emphasises the gulf in ability between ourselves and the MIM works XI, although the papers were keeping quiet about Fenerbahce's progress once the group stage began.

Can't think why can you?

Three defeats and 8 goals conceded away from home was not too clever. Three wins at home was all we could ask for.

Next time we will be a year wiser and better prepared for what lies in store. Might MON be tempted to try out a different formation eg 4-4-2 so that we have a Plan B to offer a change from 3 at the back for the away games next season?

MANFRED LURKER

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