Celtic's hopes of Champions League football were shattered in Linz as they surrendered a 4-0 aggregate lead to LASK, crashing out in a staggering five-goal implosion. The Scottish champions will now face a second successive Europa League campaign, leaving fans to grapple with a Thursday-Sunday schedule and serious questions about the club's direction.
The Hoops had looked set to end a run of five failed Champions League qualifying campaigns under four different managers when Callum McGregor scored to give them a seemingly unassailable cushion. Instead, the team produced one of the most shocking collapses in their history, shipping five goals to a LASK side that had never previously qualified for the competition.
Six in a woe
The defeat means another £40million windfall has been lost, against a team whose turnover of £42m was less than a third of the £143m banked by Celtic in their latest financial results. The collapse will likely have grave consequences for future aspirations to reach Europe's top table.
With Scotland's coefficient in free-fall, next season's Premiership champions will face three qualifying rounds to reach the Champions League league phase. Runners-up will not even get a Europa League spot, instead entering the Europa Conference League at the second qualifying round. Only the Scottish Cup carries a Europa League place, which would pass to the runners-up if the winners finished in the top two.
Transfers under scrutiny
Boss Martin O'Neill had adopted a "quality over quantity" transfer approach this summer, spending around £32m on four new signings while raking in £39m from offloading 17 first-team players, including Daizen Maeda and Arne Engels. Despite shattering their transfer record on £11m man Kasper Hogh, the net spend is in the green.
The squad lacks serious strength in depth. A depleted Celtic side finished with a makeshift backline of Anthony Ralston, Auston Trusty, Dane Murray and Liam Scales, with a midfield including fallguy Luke McCowan and wantaway Reo Hatate. A £9m signing in Haissem Hassan remained on the bench because he wasn't fit enough to feature.
Deals for Torino midfielder Gvidas Gineitis and Bosnian World Cup star Ermin Mahmic now look in serious doubt. A bare minimum of four signings are still required, with just a week until the transfer window shuts. It would come as no surprise if Celtic look closer at the loan market.
More protests?
The Celtic Fans Collective released a statement pinning the blame on the board, saying: "We acknowledge the depth of feeling among supporters following the latest calamitous CL exit. These qualifiers are a test of the club's readiness for top tier European football and, for 6th consecutive time, our Board has failed in its duty to give us the best possible chance."
Thousands of fans have been taking part in the 'Not Another Penny' campaign, designed to hit the club in the pocket. It remains to be seen whether the influential Celtic Fans Collective will escalate protests in the coming weeks and months.
Europa grind and heat on O'Neill
Callum McGregor said: "Now it's Europa League and four or five months of a hard slog, Thursday-Sunday." Seven domestic fixtures will have to be moved between now and the end of January, hitting home attendances and the Irish contingent travelling every week.
O'Neill, widely regarded as the club's second greatest manager behind Jock Stein, accepted full responsibility after the capitulation. Celtic conceded an incredible 60 shots across both legs, and the warning signs were there after Dundee United rattled the woodwork five times. The board, management and players all must shoulder the blame for a new European low.
