Celtic will play either Suduva or Spartaks Jurmala in the Europa League Play-Off round as they look to get over their Champions League disaster by shooting themselves into the Europa League Group stages.
The blame game must quickly subside and the board must now do what the manager has been asking for this whole time and invest.
If they do, they will be greeted by ironic cheers with the message ‘too little, too late’ from many BUT the preparation for next season’s qualifying rounds starts NOW.
If Celtic can land the correct personnel and put a run together in the Europa League it will give the whole team valuable experience and ready them for the challenges ahead.
There was no doubt we were going to be cannon fodder in this season’s Champions League but the financial implications of not getting there will be felt – it’s imperative this board speculates to accumulate in the coming weeks and months to not let this happen again.
So it’s either Latvia or Lithuania next week with Celtic playing the first leg of the tie away from home.
Suduva currently has a 1-0 away win over Spartaks and are favourites to win the tie on Thursday.
Here are Europa League Dates you may want to jot down.
August
23 August: Play-off round, first leg
30 August: Play-off round, second leg
31 August: Group stage draw, Monaco
September
20 September: Group stage, matchday one
October
4 October: Group stage, matchday two
25 October: Group stage, matchday three
November
8 November: Group stage, matchday four
29 November: Group stage, matchday five
December
13 December: Group stage, matchday six
17 December: Round of 32 draw, Nyon
The final of the competition will take place in Azerbaijan. The Olympic stadium in Baku will host the event on May 29th.
