Martin O’Neill has insisted that the only way for Celtic to progress as a club is to succeed in European competitions.
The former Hoops manager revealed that he thought Brendan Rodgers was more than capable of taking the club to the next level in Europe.
“Even when you are doing well domestically, you cannot afford to take your eye off the ball in a European context,” said O’Neill, in an interview with The Herald.
“I have no doubt in time that Brendan will get Celtic to that level in Europe, he will look to address what needs to be done.
“It is tough because the co-efficient is so stacked against you.
“If you are in Pot 4 then you know that you are coming up against some pretty stellar, elite teams, over time and in the next few seasons I would fully expect Brendan to make inroads into that.”
O’Neill continued talking about the Bhoys’ European ambitions and inadvertently challenged Rodgers to succeed in Europe, as he stated that it is the only way to raise the bar at the club.
“Getting the club into Pot 2 was a big thing purely because it reflected just how well we had done against some pretty significant European company,” stated the former Bhoys boss.
“When you consider now how the landscape has changed again in terms of finance and resources even at Championship level in terms of salaries and what not, it is a huge ask.
“No-one should underestimate just how challenging it is simply to get there, but, really, that is the environment that you have to aspire to be in, it is the only way to raise the bar.”
OPINION
O’Neill may not have meant to, but he has clearly thrown down the gauntlet for Rodgers to succeed in Europe with Celtic. The current Republic of Ireland boss spoke in great detail about how hard achieving success in European competitions with Celtic is, but still managed to challenge Rodgers to achieve what seems like the near-impossible. Rodgers has done a tremendous job in Scotland with the Hoops, winning countless domestic honours, but European success still looks out of reach. The Bhoys crashed out of the Europa League courtesy of Zenit St Petersburg and were humiliated in the Champions League by suffering numerous heavy defeats earlier in the season. While it’s nice that O’Neill thinks Rodgers is capable of taking the Hoops further in Europe then they’ve recently been, he sure has put the pressure on the manager to succeed.