Celtic must be ready for two most important matches of the season

Celtic’s biggest two matches of the season are just around the corner…

It’s the dreaded Champions League qualifiers and once again Celtic look set to go into the two legged tie with one arm tied behind the manager’s back.

Last time around it was Brendan Rodgers who came a cropper, but as Ordinary Bhoy pointed out earlier Brendan isn’t the only successful Celtic manager who has been let down by the club during their time at the club in Champions League play-off contests.

Hopefully that won’t be the case and the Celtic Board will at long last show enough ambition to have a strong enough team to see us progress to the League phase of the Champions League and with it collected an estimated £40m in revenue.

To do that Celtic has to get past Austrian Champions LASK and the dates for the ties have now been confirmed with Celtic Park hosting the first leg on Wednesday 19 August before travelling to Linz for the return leg at the Oberosterreich Arena six days later on Tuesday, 25 August.

Celtic opened our defence of the Scottish Premiership title last night with a 1-0 win over Dundee at Celtic Park. The team looked disjointed, two players (Alistair Johnston and Arne Engels) look set to leave, one of our new signings Camilo Duran has to play out of position to fill in for gaps in the squad.

Let’s get some signings in please Michael!

📅 Fixture confirmation

The Celts will host LASK at Celtic Park on Wednesday, August 19, before travelling to Austria for the return leg on Tuesday, August 25.

Both matches kick off at 8pm.#UCL | #CelticLask | #CelticFC🍀

— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 4, 2026

LASK and the ghosts of Maribor, Malmo, AEK, Cluj, Ferencvaros, Midtjylland and Kairat…

LASK is a difficult draw, but one Celtic can overcome, especially with Martin O’Neill at the helm. However we all remember the ghosts of Maribor, Malmo, AEK, Cluj, Ferencvaros, Midtjylland and Kairat Almaty…

Celtic were yesterday drawn against Austrian Champions LASK in the Champions League play-offs, and are arguably the toughest side we could have faced from the list of teams in our half of the draw.

LASK won the Austrian double last year, and in a league that contains RB Salzburg, SK Sturm Graz and our old pals Rapid Vienna it’s a magnificent achievement, and showcases the ability they undoubtedly possess.

Managed by former Austrian International Didi Kuhbauer, LASK won both of the top honours in Austria, only the second time they had won either trophy in their 126 year history.

We know that Austrians sides are notoriously hard to beat, as our recent history with RB Salzburg shows, although we can also point to our win against SK Sturm Graz in last year’s Europa League, at a period we were at one of our low ebbs in what was a topsy turvy season that thankfully ended on an incredible high.

LASK will be a tough opponent, but Martin O’Neill won’t underestimate them, something we were guilty of doing with Kairat Almaty at the same stage this time last year. Certainly our Board were as they didn’t bother to bring in the signing that could have got us over the line in that tie and brought in an additional £40m in Champions League income.

It wasn’t only the Board in my view. It was the entire club who were guilty of complacency including Brendan Rodgers and the players. Although they won’t admit it, they all assumed the Kazakh side would be an easier task than it turned out, and we know how that ended!

In Brendan’s defence he did spend the summer flagging up the urgent need of transfers, particularly a striker and that never happened. That isn’t on him it’s on Michael Nicholson and a year down the line we are relying on the same man to help the current manager ahead of the latest Champions League play-off.

Let’s be positive by noting that this time around it will be different, as we have Martin O’Neill in charge, and his record in European competition is exemplary. Something he proved on a few occasions last year when he led the side to away victories over Feyenoord, and Stuttgart, as well earning a credible draw in Bologna.

The Austrians although reigning supreme domestically, haven’t really been tested in Europe, as they didn’t qualify for European football last year, and the previous year saw them fail to advance from the Conference League group stage. A little bit like Hearts last season they benefited from not having the European football commitments in their season but unlike the Tynecastle side, they got their big chance over the line.

That doesn’t make them a bad side of course, but they are hardly a powerhouse of European football, and it’s a tie we can head into with some confidence, especially with Martin O’Neill at the helm. The more the manager is backed in the transfer window over the coming days the better our chance will be.

But what could possibly go wrong?  As our friend Gary67 on Celtic Noise pointed out: This will be our 10th Champions League qualifier in the last 14 seasons. Our record is abysmal, TWO wins out of NINE.  FIVE eliminations in a row. We beat Hapoel and Astana in successive seasons under Brendan first time around but have lost to the giants of European Football in..

Maribor – Ronny Deila
Malmo – Ronny Deila
AEK Athens – Brendan Rodgers
Cluj – Neil Lennon
Ferencvaros – Neil Lennon
Midtjylland – Ange Postecoglou
Kairat Almaty – Brendan Rodgers

So tells us that it NOT the manager’s fault, all won many trophies as Celtic managers, but instead it’s the club’c continual failure to prepare. Celtic could and should have won all those ties had we approached the play-off matches properly and were fully prepared.

It’s not on Peter Lawwell or his successor Dominic McKay or his replacement Michael Nicholson.  It on the way Celtic operate as a football club and hir failure to learn the same lesson over all these summers. Hopefully Martin O’Neill can somehow avoid falling into the same trap by getting his team through this tie. If we fail we  must surely be at the enough is enough stage?

Think how much money that has cost us over those seven season, at the very least £150m. Add to that the reputational damage that is caused by continually losing these ties does with signing targets being justified in decided to wait and see if the Champions League carrot is going to materialise.

The evidence makes it look unlikely.

Just an Ordinary Bhoy

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