Tonight's game against Shakhter Karagandy is a heck of a big one for Celtic. Last season, Neil Lennon's side progressed from a very difficult group which included Barcelona, Benfica and Spartak Moscow, before losing to Juventus in the last 16. As a consequence they made £22 million - about £13 million from prize money, and the rest from TV cash.
After an abject defeat in Kazakhstan last week, the Bhoys have to overcome a two goal deficit at home just to make the group stage. Succeed, and the rewards will be £16 million minimum. Fail, and that minimum figure drops to £3.6 million, as the Europa League is very much the Champions' League's poorer cousin. They could yet increase that sum with a decent run in the secondary competition, but given that the money received for a group stage win in the Europa League is only 20% of that for the equivalent win in the Champions League, the resultant income would be much lower. Even if they were to win the Europa League, they would still make less than they would have for making the group stages of the Champions League.
If Celtic screw up, there will also be a knock-on effect on Scotland's UEFA coefficient, which of course determines how many European places we get. It has slumped in recent years. So far this season, Motherwell and Hibernian added a grand total of nothing to the co-efficient, which is an average of the results all our clubs get on the continental stage. St. Johnstone contributed a bit, but not much. Celtic would doubtless pick up a few extra wins in the Europa League group stage, but these would be worth considerably less than equivalent Champions League results.
In my experience, for the most part Scottish football fans - other than those with allegiances to the opposite half of the Old Firm, generally support Scottish sides in Europe - if our teams screw up consistently, we end up with fewer European places. Personally, I cheered when Rangers made the UEFA Cup final in 2008, and hoped Celtic would win the equivalent tournament in 2003. I took great joy in watching Aberdeen make the knockout stages of the Europa League under Jimmy Calderwood, and I was delighted by St. Johnstone's victory over Rosenborg.
But is it really in Scottish football's interests for Celtic to make the Champions League group stages?
I already mentioned the lower prize money for taking part in the Europa League - well, it's even lower for the qualifying rounds. Motherwell got about £120,000 for qualifying for the tournament, as they were dumped out at the first hurdle by Russians Kuban Krasnodar. The cost of chartering a plane to fly there was £180,000 alone. Even with the income from the home leg, it's likely that they made a loss. The same goes for St. Johnstone, who had to pay through the nose to keep the local airport open to fly them home, and to get fast-tracked visas when they played FC Minsk. Going to Norway wasn't cheap either. They definitely lost money on last year's tie with Eskisehilspor; they will be lucky to have made any back from this campaign.
The bottom line is that, unless you get a glamour tie like Hearts did with Liverpool last year, there is no cash to be had till you make the group stages. And Scottish clubs now need to get through two or three ties against stronger opposition in order to get there. The words "snowball", "chance" and "hell" come to mind. In hindsight, coming fourth and missing out on Europe may turn out to be a stroke of luck for Caley Thistle, as it has potentially saved money and saved them from disruption to their pre-season that might have affected their domestic form.
So, I would argue that being in Europe, which really doesn't carry a lot of prestige bar the novelty value, really shouldn't be a concern to the non-Old Firm clubs. What should concern them more is the potential for European football to widen the wealth gap between the Haves and the Have Nots - Celtic made £22 million last year, while the rest made diddly-squat. So Celtic just become stronger, and the distance between them and the other Premiership teams grows further. For us diddy fans, I'm not sure it will do us a lot of good if Celtic progress tonight. What good does it do Scottish football, when none of it trickles down to the rest? We should (and probably have) give up on any hope of continental success - it should be all about making the domestic league at least a teensiest bit more interesting.
L.
No comments:
Post a Comment