Craig Swan
NO ONE does hypocrisy quite like English football.
If you’ve ever been in any doubt about the way things are viewed outside of their green and pleasant land, the events of the past few days have brought it back into sharp focus with a special eye placed on to Scottish football.
Neil Lennon referenced the situation as he assessed the attitude towards our game while speaking about Tottenham’s 7-2 spanking at hands of Bayern Munich.
Remember when Celtic were thumped 7-0 in Barcelona? Remember when they were pasted 7-1 in Paris?
Column inch after column inch south of the border about how Scottish football is a joke.
Fingers being pointed at Brendan Rodgers as he was hounded for being a tinpot coach who was having his deficiencies shown up brutally on the biggest stage in Europe. Our friends south of the border insisted it was simply outrageous to suggest he could ever return to the top of the game down there, despite taking Liverpool to the brink of the title before Jurgen Klopp came swaggering in the door.
In the wake of the result at the Tottenham Hotspur
SPORTS VIEW
Stadium earlier this week it has been quite a turnaround. Mauricio Pochettino’s side were simply humiliated on their own patch by magical Munich. This is the same German giant who took five goals off Arsenal in both the Allianz Arena and the Emirates two years ago to run up a cricketscore aggregate of 10-2 over two legs with the Gunners. That same Bayern team beat Celtic by three at home and needed a late winner to win 2-1 at Parkhead. Celtic and Scottish football was out of its depth dealing with these sides we were told. Yet as Bayern were scoring when they wanted against Pochettino and his golden boys Harry Kane and Dele Alli, it was more about how good Bayern were as opposed to caning Spurs. What’s even more amusing was the fall-out from the Manchester United against Arsenal match that had taken place 24 hours before the Champions League match in North London.
Scotland’s Scott McTominay scored a cracker but it wasn’t the best game. In fact Roy Keane called it “terrible” in terms of quality.
Managers Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Unai Emery are both under fire.
Guess who is now among those being mentioned to replace them or even take Pochettino’s job at Spurs? That’s right, Rodgers.
Forget leading Celtic to the brink of their treble Treble. That counted for nothing down there. Yet taking Leicester to third spot in the Premier League? He’s king again. Their hypocrisy is laughable.
Celtic and Rangers are probably where they belong at the moment. They are involved in exciting Europa League groups and finance has now changed the Champions League, making it near impossible for them.
Not just them. Among Celtic and Rangers rivals in Group E and Group G are Porto, Lazio and Feyenoord.
That was a Champions League section five years ago. Other nations are also feeling the cash pinch.
Having exciting games in the second-tier tournament that are hotly contested in front of big crowds is much better than having seven goals taken off you in places such as Paris and Barcelona.
But as Lennon says just because they are not sitting at the top table in Europe it doesn’t mean Celtic or Rangers should be called out as continental peasants by our pals south of the border.
Not when their so-called super clubs are just as vulnerable to having their pants pulled right down in front of the watching world.