CELTIC will be up against it next season to try and qualify for the Champions League with UEFA confirming Celtic will have to play and win FOUR qualifiers to get to the group stage.
Gone are the days when the Scottish Champions would head straight into the group stage, we thought we were hard done by when we had one qualifier – now we face four!
While Celtic should be no match for the teams in early qualifiers, they come so early that there’s no real time for a close season.
Celtic will finish their season potentially the third week in May if they get to the Scottish Cup Final and will be due back the second week in June to prepare for Champions League run.
UEFA are trying to close shop and make it as easy as possible for the big boys i.e the rich sides to play in the competition every season – leaving clubs like Celtic with an uphill battle and plenty of potential banana skins.
Peter Lawwell has spoken for some time now about change to European football, surely something has to give the more Scottish, Dutch, French sides etc are starved of money spinning Champions League runs.
