There’s a joke doing the rounds just now that’s worth telling here. It goes like this: What have Scottish football clubs and David Cameron’s Coalition Government got in common? The answer, of course, is that they’re both out of Europe this side of Christmas.
Never mind the rights and wrongs of the political dimension to that – the fact is that Scottish football’s absence from football, beyond these shores in the New Year, is no laughing matter. Not funny, but sadly few will be surprised, given the obvious drop in standards over the past few seasons north of the border. The SPL now lags some way behind the powerhouses of European football and it is painfully obvious.
It seems like a lifetime since Celtic and Rangers were competing in a European final (actually both within the last decade), such has been the poverty of their performances abroad in more recent times.
During his tenure in the Celtic hot seat, Martin O’Neill provided some great European nights at Parkhead, when illustrious visitors such as Barcelona, Juventus and AC Milan rolled into town, and left knowing they had been in a game. Celtic’s European away record was (and still is) dreadful, of course, but the home matches were keenly anticipated by the fans, and just as enthusiastically contested by the players.
Admittedly, hoops boss Neil Lennon doesn’t have the services of a Henrik Larsson or a John Hartson to call upon, but that alone cannot explain away poor performances of late.
By common consent, Celtic performed bravely last week against top Italian side Udinese, and would have gained the win they needed to progress from the Europa League’s group stage into the knockout phase, but for an astonishing decision near the end by the referee. He failed to award a penalty despite a clear handball in the box by an Italian defender.
This, of course, must be qualified by recalling that Celtic was only able to enter the group stage in the first place by virtue of Swiss Club Sion being thrown out of the competition for breaching a ban order on the signing of new players.
Across the divide, and Rangers’ European run was over long before the first leaves fell from the trees. Knocked out of the Champions League in the qualifying rounds by Malmo – who, it should be noted, were themselves knocked out in the next round, and so didn’t even make the group stage – Rangers then failed to qualify for the Europa League groups stage when they were beaten by Slovenian side Maribor.
No disrespect to Maribor, but they’re hardly one of the greats of European football. And before Scotland’s other clubs have a laugh at the Old Firm’s expense, let’s not forget about our other European representatives this season. Spurs and Stadion Oporowska easily knocked out Hearts and Dundee United respectively at the first hurdle.
The tale of woe for this writer was brought sharply into focus last week when I was reviewing the top Scottish sports books of 2011 for a newspaper. A book charting the history of Rangers dwells on the club’s European Cup Winners Cup triumph of 1972 in some detail. Whereas former Aberdeen defender Willie Miller’s book, outlining his all-time best Dons’ eleven, contains several members of the side which beat Real Madrid to lift the same trophy in 1983.
Not so long ago, I watched footage of Celtic’s finest hour, when they became the first British winners of the European Cup in 1967. It’s worth recalling here that Dundee United also reached the final of the then Uefa Cup, in 1987.
So, Scottish clubs have made an impact in Europe over the years, and in some ways it could be argued that we have punched above our weight on occasion. However, given the record of more recent seasons, it’s difficult to imagine our clubs troubling Europe’s finest any time soon.