MARTIN O’NEILL has claimed Celtic now must do everything in their power to be able to compete in the Champions league and not be merely participants in the competition.
After missing out on Europe’s top table for five seasons, Celtic are back in the competition via winning the SPFL last season. No qualifiers needed means a full and steady pre-season rather than playing ridiculously important games early on in the campaign gives Celtic a chance to pause and make plans.
O’Neill told SunSport: “I think after the start of last season the manager had to almost disregard Europe and just concentrate on the league.
“That’s what he did and now the expectation is higher. They are in the Champions League and, of course, there will be great nights.
“But they have to address European football now and compete.
“Celtic’s results in recent years have not been good enough.”
O’Neill points to The Rangers success in getting to the Europa League final as proof Celtic can and must do better.
He said: “There has been an upsurge in the Scottish game with Celtic winning the league and Rangers getting to the Europa League final.
“European football matters a good deal. You look at the Champions League, but you also look at the Rangers run.
“People sat up and took notice, especially the Dortmund win.
“Now it’s over to Celtic. They got straight into the Champions League group stages. When was the last time a Scottish side did that, 2008?
“Did I help Gordon Strachan get there? I don’t think he ever thanked me!
“It’s huge. I think that is the biggest thing, not having to play teams you would beat in October, but have difficulty in the third week in July. Those games used to annoy the heck out of me. Going to Lithuania or something, those games concerned me.
“People would say, Ach, you’ll win this easily’. No, you’ve had two weeks training and you are straight in.
“Going straight into the group stages is a huge boost for Celtic.
“Your outlook changes. You are not under pressure in pre-season and you are really ready to go. It’s fantastic.”
O’Neill joked he hope Ange doesn’t phone him for advice.
He smiled: “I just hope he doesn’t phone me for any advice.
“I think he’ll know that himself and it’s about trying to get better players for that level.
“Obviously he’ll show loyalty to the ones who got them there.
“But in his own mind he’ll be thinking about carrying it further.
“I’d think he’ll be trying to strengthen to compete in Europe.
“Is Champions League football a big selling point? Absolutely.
“The club — and the same goes for Rangers — is the star and is its own selling point.
“But going straight into the Champions League is another story.
“If I’m a player playing my trade in the Dutch league, for example, the chance to get to Celtic and straight in the Champions League would be something to really think about.
“That’s where you boost your own image if you do well enough.
Celtic haven’t won a knockout game in the later stages in Europe since Martin O’Neill was in charge. The last club we put out over a two legged tie was Barcelona in the UEFA Cup.
O’Neill gave us some incredible nights in the CHampions League and took us to Seville but he never got made it to the knockout stage of the Champions League — the bhoys were desperately unlucky on several occasions.
Ange plans on going into games the way he does every game and have a go at the opposition, pressing high and defending from the front. Unless he has the players to do it — we could see some Brendan Rodgers style European results. We did win some games but we got a good few doings.
