Celtic are on the floor after their Champions League disaster, while Hearts secured a result for the ages in Europe. As Celtic and their broken supporters stew in the wake of their defeat against LASK, the Jambos outlasted Rapid Vienna over two legs to secure a penalty shoot-out win and reach the Conference League.
Punters were singing the virtues of Hearts louder than Colin Chisholm on the Tynecastle pitch. Davie Stitt emailed: "Would like to congratulate Hearts on a magnificent result in Europe tonight. They haven't had the easiest of draws in this year's European competitions."
Fallout from Celtic's European Exit
Gordon Ferguson, Kilwinning, said: "It’s the sound of music and jubilation in Vienna for Hearts whilst down the mountain that they failed yet again to climb Celtic are being served their LASK orders in the Champions League. What’s the point in a successful financially secure club not spending to succeed at this level, serious questions need to be addressed at boardroom level."
The fallout from Celtic's LASK orders proved sobering as a vexed fanbase jammed the phones to bare their souls. Scott McAdam, Glasgow, emailed: "Never felt so low being a Celtic fan. A left the ground last week and a knew the tie was nowhere near done. I thought we'd get the first goal and we would be in a good position. But it was a total embarrassing collapse. Which the manager and players should cop. McCowan and Ralston, Tounekti are not even fringe players. Hassan, Forrest and Osmand can't even get on. We couldn't even get up the park and after 10 minutes of that second half we looked knackered. It was one of the worse displays I've witnessed following Celtic for 45 years. No doubt Rangers fans will be laughing and you can hardly blame them."
Peter Cooperwhite emailed: "Everything about Celtic going or trying to go into Champions League—it's like when England go into World Cup or European Championship, they both think they're some sort of world beaters and have an almost divine right to be there. Really, other teams don't really get scared of them. Well done Callum McGregor for saying 'I won't walk I'll fix this.' Fact is, you're one of the common denominators so your expectations are out of the window."
Calls for League Expansion
Poor results lead to recriminations and grand plans to change how our game is run – one punter reckons it's time for Scottish football to expand its horizons... and the size of the leagues. John Thomson, East Kilbride, said: "Is it just coincidence that the top five leagues in Europe have 18-20 teams in their leagues? Allowing teams to play each other only once home and away and offering plenty of opportunity to give young players first team experience. They also automatically qualify for Champions League group stage. The flip side is that countries like Scotland, Norway, Austria, Finland are in leagues of 12-16 teams playing each other 4 teams in their league and having to play umpteen qualifying matches."
"The above countries' leagues, like Scotland’s restricts teams giving academy players the opportunity to gain first team experience. As at the start of each season more than half the teams sole ambition is to avoid relegation. The current set up also hinders our national team as more than a few clubs already this season have had no Scottish players in their starting eleven which is no good for our Scottish players' development. Yes if we increased the league size we might have some meaningless games but young player and Scottish players could gain some invaluable experience at important stages of their development."
Academy Investment Urged
A Hotline regular, who lives for Celtic, was once again copping pelters off his phone-in sparring partners. Gary Stevenson, Newtonhill, said: "Congratulations to Bodo Glimt for qualifying for the Champions League; it's quite an achievement especially after selling the new Erling Haaland to Celtic. Television for Sale. Slight crack on screen."
Kevin McMullan, Duffus, said: "The only way that Scottish clubs are going to make progress in European competitions long term is by producing their own players. Decent non-Scottish players don't want to come to play in the SPFL. Constantly spending millions on has-beens, never-beens and users that are eyeing a move elsewhere as soon as they arrive has got the big Scottish clubs nowhere. And it is boring. Invest properly in academies, give young Scots a chance and reap the rewards. This has been obvious for three decades, but nothing has changed."
There's no guarantee the future is bright, Kevin, but it certainly won't be boring.
