Celtic 0- 5 Paris St Germain: Proud of my team in the soft power era. Yes, seriously!

Losing is never acceptable. When is a Celtic 5-0 home loss to Paris St Germain a matter for Pride?

They came, we all saw, we lost. But, in defeat, we remain “unconquered”.

What rambling nonsense is this?

Well, firstly, this blogger never accepts defeat, never mind emphatic losses, at Celtic Park of all places.

A year ago, we lost 7-0 in Barcelona, arguably a comparable scoreline, given that we were away from home then but, tonight, we were at the often-feared Celtic Park.

And yet, the performances were starkly contrasting. In the Camp Nou, our fledgling team seemed out of its depth, lacking confidence and, essentially, courage. But it was clear that we were on the beginning of a journey. We just didn’t know where we were going or how fast.

Tonight, we suffered a historic defeat. In no way could that scoreline be considered good enough. But it should not be seen as humiliating or embarrassing.

Make no mistake – the day we accept defeats as part of our story, we will be on the road to mediocrity. And that is somewhere no Celtic fan would be content to be.

On the other hand, tonight I saw the most expensive football team ever assembled playing brilliant, sometimes breathtakingly-good football, a team teeming with talent in every position, which often looked like their players were wearing magnetic boots while dealing with a light, ferrous ball.

PSG played a game that few of us will ever see in football. When the great Barcelona team played something comparable to that style, the football world Kowtowed in appreciation.

But, as media figures will emphasise, Celtic suffered the club’s worst home defeat in 100 years.

And yet, what I saw tonight was a team that played with the heart and courage that was so missing from the Camp Nou 12 months ago.

And a special mention for Anthony Ralston, who played like a lion.

I saw a team with real quality, going for it and maintaining a level of professionalism that the sports pages are unlikely to reflect tomorrow.

For those who may wonder what the headline refers to, “soft power” is considered the new, big thing in politics and international diplomacy. Crudely summarised, it is the understanding that internationally-prestigious events or media coverage have a major impact in raising the international standing of nations and other entities.

The oil-wealthy Qatari government that funds Paris St Germain may or may not see establishing footballing credibility in advance of the World Cup as being crucial to their international standing.

Should we expect similar support from the Scottish government for Celtic or prefer to field our green-and-white hoops for the traditions of our club, our supporters and our history?

I saw a still-improving team, led by coaches who understand our tradition, fighting for the club, with skill and courage, never accepting second-best.

Mistakes were made but I was – and am – proud of our players.

How about you?

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Celtic qualify after Astana Champions League nailbiter. What have we learned from this?

First, the good news. We should congratulate Brendan Rodgers, the players and coaching staff for a fine achievement in qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League.

The improvement over the past twelve months has been remarkable and, as we have seen against Kilmarnock twice this season, our young players are developing well.

Tough Night in Astana: But the mighty did not fall

One of the rare joys of watching football is to see young players coming through and blossoming into first-team footballers. It was what Jock Stein once described as his greatest pleasure as a manager and should be at the heart of any club’s aspirations.

It is also good business, as Manchester United illustrated with their “Class of 92”, including Giggs, Butt, Beckham, the Neville brothers and Scholes. We don’t appear to have that level of talent from the development squad, with the exception of Kieran Tierney, but it shows that even the richest clubs benefit from developing their own players.

The young signings we have made are also bringing great hope. We all know about Moussa Dembele but Olivier Ntcham is already showing signs that he may be the story of this season. Eboue Kouassi is still promising and I believe that he will also come good, but over a longer period of a year or more. The same applies to Kundai Benyu.

These two players have talent and seem eager to play but they lack the top-level experience of Ntcham.

It’s important to focus on these positives and to remember just how far we have already come before looking at negatives and the next steps that must be taken to keep making progress.

The two legs with Astana, in particular, illustrated that perfectly.

And, when I look back at what I wrote at the end of last season, it wasn’t too far off the mark. Notable exceptions were the prediction that Johnny Hayes wouldn’t sign and the expectation that Nir Bitton had played his last game for Celtic.

That may have come against Astana.

Astana are a decent team and I suspect that they will qualify for the Champions League next season and cause some scares.

We deserved to qualify but they exposed some frailties, with dynamic attacking play that we are unused to, in Scotland.

Going back to my piece about possible ins and outs, I may have to correct myself about Craig Gordon. He is a good shot-stopping goalkeeper but, despite his experience, I am increasingly concerned about the nerves he appears to display in high-pressure matches.

I thought so during the Scottish Cup Final, again during the Scotland-England international at Hampden and also against Astana.

Admittedly, goalkeepers usually need a central-defensive pairing in which they have confidence and Gordon did not have that. No blame should be attached to Kristofer Ajer but, though played out of position, Bitton again looked like the last man you would want beside you when your back is to the wall.

Nevertheless, Gordon was beaten at his near post – almost a crime for any top goalkeeper – and inexplicably parried a ball downwards in his penalty area to an Astana player, when he could have caught it.

That was self-evidently due to nervousness but will he be similarly shaky in, say, Madrid or Munich?

We also saw the other side of Mikael Lustig. Lustig is much-loved for the joy he clearly takes in playing and winning for Celtic.

But the Astana match showed again that he does not do well in frantic, top-tier games, such as in Barcelona last season. Frankly, Lustig’s legs look to have gone, after a number of serious injuries over the years.

It’s great news that Anthony Ralston has shown that he can play in the first team but, do we want to depend on him, at 18, against the cream of Europe?  Probably not, though that is also not a criticism of him.

We have a weakness at right-back that some top teams will undoubtedly test.

The centre of defence is not such a cause for concern as it appeared against Astana because Dedryck Boyata will, hopefully, be back in a few weeks. The expected arrival of Rivaldo Coetzee will bring someone who, according to reports and his history to date, should bring real quality and Jozo Šimunović is a Champions League defender.

Presuming the Coetzee deal is confirmed, he can be expected to pair with Jozo in Champions League games, due to his international experience. But Brendan would be unlikely to have any fears about placing Ajer next to Jozo for domestic matches.

So, while Erik Sviatchenko is rumoured to be on the way out, we don’t really have the defensive crisis that the Astana performance may have suggested.

Up front is a different story. Brendan quite rightly pointed out that he had had to play Champions League qualifiers without strikers, having stated previously that he didn’t sign another because it was impractical to bring in an expensive forward who would sit on the bench.

He has, as ever, a point. Preferring one forward and with goals in other areas of the team, it is difficult to keep three quality players who are vying for one spot happy. And it can be very costly.

And yet surely we need someone now, given the injuries to Moussa and Leigh Griffiths over the early weeks of the season. Wingers and attacking midfielders may know where the goal is but the runs that strikers practice, the tricks they learn and the instincts they develop over years are something else again.

Bad defenders leave a team humiliated. Bad strikers merely mean lost opportunities. So, with the price differential, it’s only natural to focus on defence. But we still need at least one more. If he is a top-class old pro who is content to play about 15 games a season, great.

If he is younger and hungrier, then we can presume that the way is being paved for Moussa to leave.

We should, though, remember that this is all, in a sense, good news.

Brendan, the coaches and players are doing an outstanding job in climbing the upward curve. And, again going back to an earlier piece, we should be looking to finish third in our Champions League group and ecstatically happy if we finish second.

The Champions League is not only awash with richer clubs but also becoming something of a clique in which strong clubs from lower leagues have gained considerable experience that we still lack.

Where we are now, fourth would be a disappointment, third an outstanding success and second outrageously dizzying, leading to new and unrealistic expectations.

An experienced civic politician once told me that there was “no comfortable plateau” on which cities could exist. They were either going up or going down.

The same could be said of football clubs.

Celtic are not where most of us believe we should be, in European terms. The corporate nature of football has ensured that TV money has made the field of play ridiculously uneven.

But enjoy the draw on Friday. We are going up.

• What now for Celtic and Brendan Rodgers? Pt 1 Legitimate goals for the season ahead

• What now for Celtic and Brendan Rodgers? Pt 2 How to make the best in Scotland better

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From Green Brigade to Grudge Brigade – Celtic must end this crass act

The danger inherent to earning a reputation is that you may long feel compelled to live up to it

Making a name for yourself is not what it used to be. Andy Warhol's famous 15-minute share of fame came long before social media offered new ways for otherwise unremarkable people to launch themselves into the attention of others who would otherwise have no interest in them.

It has become the sport of the day – on Twitter, Facebook, comments pages of news websites, forums and the blogosphere.

Wilde was onto something when he said that the only thing worse than being talked about was not being talked about.

But the sad fact is – as countless washed-up once-weres can testify – that, once you have tasted a bit of attention and called it fame, there can be a destructive compulsion to remain in the public eye.

I recall my own doctor – a thoroughly decent guy and good GP – getting his name and picture in the papers. A few months later, he was there again. And then it seemed as if he was doing things primarily to enjoy that rush again and again.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that he became a bad doctor but he certainly seemed less dignified and sympathetic than before.

It's the fate of all who seek attention for attention's sake. They rarely recognise the distinction between fame, infamy and notoriety. As long as they can get a regular hit of being talked about.

Which brings me to the people that every Celtic fan seems to be talking about now – the Green Brigade.

Like most Celtic fans, I've enjoyed many of their displays and their contribution to the atmosphere at Celtic Park, which – contrary to misinformed comment – was lauded long before the Green Brigade existed.

But, over the years, I've found myself raising an eyebrow at some of their antics. Partly because there was always a “look at me” element to their displays but mostly because they had a tendency to seek confrontation where none was needed.

Like most, however, I was of the mindset that they were an asset to Celtic who should be supported, forgiven for past misdemeanours  and, in return, they should observe the rules of safety and desist from putting the club at risk of sanction.
That was largely my position on Wednesday night, even though I felt that they had gone too far once too often.

Let's address the banner nonsense right away: they had no right to take an image of our manager – a Northern-Irishman – and associate it with paramilitary activity, however “cleverly” they thought they had done it.

After the match, David Healy was referring to Brendan Rodgers as “a class act” for shaking the hand of every Linfield player in the dressing room.

Whether Brendan did that simply out of sportsmanship, through affinity with fellow Ulstermen, or because he sees every opportunity for bridge-building as a small step in bringing a better life to people in the six counties, only he can say.

But the contrast with the actions of the Green Brigade could scarcely be more stark. They weren't class, but crass.

Worse, though, they clearly contravened UEFA rules that the Green Brigade have flouted before and punitive action was inevitable. In fact, it would be hard to avoid the conclusion that they were actively provoking sanctions.

There is a delusion that persists in the minds of some Celtic supporters that all that UEFA will do is issue a fine that the club can afford to pay. But when any authoritarian body sees that fines have no effect, they turn to more serious penalties.

Perhaps that really is beyond the wit of some of those self-styled rebels in the support.

For me, two things changed my position from advocating one last chance to lancing the boil once and for all.

One was the pathetic statement issued by the Green Brigade saying they were accepting responsibility before going round the houses of every grudge and grievance they have been harbouring over the years and finishing by saying that nobody will ever tell them how to behave.

That pretty well ties Celtic's hands because, even if they could set aside any personal slights or vendettas, they would be negotiating with a group that has publicly reserved the right to observe only its own rules of conduct.

I don't like the corporate nature of Celtic or modern football in general. I also dislike the corruption of UEFA and the equally corrupt and inept SFA.

But I do like Celtic and, in general, Celtic fans. Like millions of others since 1888, I've put a lot of my heart and soul into the club and I want to see it do what it's meant to do – play good football on the park, support charities and make Celtic supporters proud.

Which brings me to the second reason that I say this must finish now.

Over the past few days, Celtic cyberspace has been filled with the sort of venom directed at any who have dared to criticise the Green Brigade that was once the preserve of a club whose fans thought they were the definition of dignity.

In support of the Green Brigade, lifelong Celtic fans have been subjected to a torrent of abuse with expletive-ridden posts berating “panty-wetters”, “soup-takers”, “Tories” and an array of accusations that to criticise the behaviour of a group of “Ultras” was tantamount to supporting the British establishment, disrespecting the people of Ireland and those who fought for it and abandoning the working class.

The logic is laughable but the division amongst Celtic supporters that the Green Brigade has sown is not.
In defence of the Green Brigade, almost every aspect of Celtic – fans, management, European prospects and more – has become fair game.

It has unleashed a keyboard thuggery that is tarnishing Celtic's name and setting fans against each other. All in the name of a bunch of lads who want to be notorious Ultras.

No group should be allowed to have this effect on the club that we have loved and sustained for more than a century and no amount of colourful banners and jolly singing is a compensation for what these attention-seeking egotists have done in the last few days.

Thanks for the good memories but it's time to end this crass act.

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