Celtic

Celtic: Kieran Maguire discusses the importance of European football

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Image for Celtic: Kieran Maguire discusses the importance of European football

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has recently discussed the importance of playing in a European club competition for Celtic.

Earlier this season, the Hoops were knocked out of the Champions League in the second qualifying round when they were defeated 2-1 by Hungarian side Ferencvarosi TC (per BBC).

Neil Lennon’s side then entered the qualifying rounds of the Europa League in which they beat both Riga FC and FK Sarajevo by a 1-0 scoreline (per Transfermarkt).

In their first two matches in the Europa League group stage, the Bhoys have lost 3-1 to AC Milan and drawn 2-2 with LOSC Lille, leaving them third in Group H.

During the latest episode of The Price of Football podcast, Maguire discussed the importance of playing in a European club competition for the Parkhead outfit.

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Starting with an easy one - which club was McGregor loaned out to in the 2013-14 season?

He said: “Well, football is a tough business. If you think about a club the size of Chelsea – Chelsea lost £100m last year and they won the Europa League and they [finished in] the top four.

“Of course, they’ve got the benefits of the English TV deal, which is worth a fortune compared to the one in Scotland. I think Celtic and Rangers, both of those clubs, are to a certain extent, caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

“Finishing second in Scotland is failure, so therefore, they get involved in an arms race in terms of spending money on wages which are not sustainable, potentially, unless they do sell a player successfully.

“They are very reliant upon European activity. Now, Celtic got knocked out of the qualifying rounds for the Champions League; if they qualified for the Champions League last season, [their £430,000-a-week] losses would have been wiped out.”

TIF Thoughts on what Kieran Maguire said about Celtic’s reliance on European football…

So, judging from what the finance expert had to say, it seems that the Hoops are heavily reliant upon getting into the group stages of a European club competition.

Can Celtic progress to the knockout rounds of the Europa League?

No, we're not good enough

No, we're not good enough

Yes, we're good enough

Yes, we're good enough

So, with the Bhoys having been knocked out of the Champions League qualifying rounds and currently sat in third position in their Europa League group, that does not bode well for this season’s finances.

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