Former Celtic forward Charlie Nicholas has had a dig at the Celtic board as the Hoops find themselves bottom of Group F with the outside chance of qualifying for European football after Christmas.
Nicholas who is regularly outspoken believes that questions are being asked of the wrong person when discussing Celtic’s Champions League campaign.
The former Arsenal star believes that Celtic are not yet making strides is down to the lack of ambition over the years of being content with domestic success.
Postecoglou has already hit back at critics who he believes has an agenda with his team as they are constantly creating chances which shows they are competing at this level.
The Celtic boss was also keen to state that many were unexperienced at this level of football and it would not be an overnight fix as if it was, more teams would win in the competition.
Nicholas who has already confessed that he is a huge fan of Ange Postecoglou’s football believes that it should be questions being asked of the board rather than the manager when looking at the wider context of Celtic in European football.
“Celtic’s Champions League campaign this season may have produced more plaudits than points but it’s time the powers-that-be give their manager a fighting chance to really compete,” said Charlie Nicholas in his Daily Express Column.
“Ange Postecoglou can’t turn his team into Champions League conquerors overnight and I’ve a bit of understanding and support for him after he had been fighting critics in recent weeks.
“It’s the same criticism the likes of Gordon Strachan, Neil Lennon and even Brendan Rodgers faced when it came to Euro competition and I always felt the criticism should have gone to the board.
“The questions were – ‘Where are you trying to get to?What is the ambition?’ – because Lennon and Rodgers were winning easy titles. For the most part they weren’t playing against anybody. They were receiving gifts.
“My anger and frustration was always the same. When are you going to get ambitious? That is why I have full support for Ange because he has the determination to turn Celtic into a consistent Champions League team.
“The bottom line is the Aussie boss has been buying players to win the Scottish Premiership. The real big signings were forced upon him, the likes of Jota and Cameron Carter-Vickers and his big budget was spent on those two players, as Brendan Rodgers did with signing Odsonne Edouard.
“I would say RB Leipzig are a better team than Celtic but with such an ambitious manager in Ange I want to know what the next level is he can get to. Of course, with only one point from the four games Celtic can’t qualify but they have certainly given Real Madrid, Leipzig and Shakhtar a game so far.
“So that got me thinking.Who do Celtic have that are Champions League quality? I would say Joe Hart and Carter-Vickers have been outstanding. I’m not sure about Moritz Jenz at this level.
“Josip Juranovic is a Champions League player and if he has a good World Cup campaign he could become a major target of other clubs.
“Callum McGregor is at that level and Matt O’Riley will be soon.The rest is a bit of a mishmash and you can’t convert that team into Champions League second placers in one season. It doesn’t work that way.
“All of a sudden Daizen Maeda has question marks over him, even Kyogo has been getting it. But there shouldn’t be because they haven’t played at that level. You can’t turn these guys overnight into Champions League players.”
Celtic have a chance to once again prove their worth in the remaining home fixture against Shakhtar Donetsk’s in a weeks time.
If the Hoops can take the lead the complexion of the stadium will be very different.
