O’Neill warns that money has changed landscape for his team – and others
Celtic were delivered a sobering reminder this week – in case they needed one – of how far they’ve fallen in the past 12 months.
Thursday’s 4-1 defeat by VfB Stuttgart in the first leg of their Europa League play-off tie makes the return leg in Germany almost irrelevant. Celtic need a miracle if they are to turn water into wine on the banks of the Neckar. Their manager Martin O’Neill quipped afterwards that UEFA “aren’t going to postpone the game” when it was put to him if, within a hectic domestic schedule, that a trip to Baden-Württemberg was a welcomed assignment.
A year ago, Celtic also headed to Germany for a play-off tie against Bayern Munich – only it was in the Champions League, and the first leg had been narrowly lost 2-1. Brendan Rodgers’ men ran the Bundesliga giants close in Bavaria, drawing 1-1 by virtue of a stoppage-time concession. By the time February was out, Celtic emerged with plaudits and credit for the direction they were seemingly heading in.
Stuttgart are a good team, but they are no Bayern Munich. The drop-off in Celtic’s quality levels is alarming. Of the team that lost to Bayern in Glasgow on February 12, 2025, only four started on Thursday: Kasper Schmeichel, Auston Trusty, Callum McGregor and Daizen Maeda. Reo Hatate was on the bench, while Alistair Johnston, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Arne Engels are injured. The replacements simply aren’t of a sufficient standard.
O’Neill likened the Stuttgart defeat to a reminder of where Celtic now sit in the pecking order. “The money has changed the game,” said the 73-year-old, who defeated Stuttgart during his first spell in charge en route to the 2003 UEFA Cup final. “There’s not the money in the SPFL. No team here can buy a player for £30 million. We can’t do it, Rangers can’t do it, Hearts can’t do it, none of the sides can do that. If you do, well, I don’t know where that would be coming from.
“It doesn’t mean that you can’t compete, it doesn’t mean that. You’d like to be going deep into European competitions just to feel as if, ‘yeah, this is what it’s all about’. Which it is.”
“I got a reality check in my third game in Midtjylland [a 3-1 defeat]. These sides, both Midtjylland and Stuttgart, are very strong. Stuttgart are capable of going very deep into the competition, honestly. But don’t forget, there were some moments in our game that we didn’t do too badly in …
‘I’m hoping to Scottish football’
“Maybe I’m convincing myself, maybe I am. But I’m hoping so for the SPFL, for Scottish football. We got a boost with Scotland qualifying for the World Cup, which was fantastic. I couldn’t believe I was cheering on Scotland very strongly in the game against Denmark. I know those little things can only be good news for the league itself. But it is hard. Maybe it’s just a pipe dream of mine. Maybe it is. But I’m hoping at some stage or another that sides can go deep into it.”
Just not this season. Celtic’s priority is now dealing with domestic decline rather than continental. They are third in the title race, three points behind leaders Hearts, with a resurgent Rangers in between them. Hibs come to Parkhead on Sunday and then the defending champions hit the road – with not one but two visits to Ibrox in the league and Scottish Cup in early March.
“We’re naturally disappointed, of course we are. I don’t want to hide the disappointment,” added O’Neill. “But it’s a lesson for us in many aspects. I got a big lesson in Midtylland. These Stuttgart boys are strong. They’re physically very, very strong. They’re in the top four in the Bundesliga.
“So I don’t want us to be down. Yes, I want us to be really disappointed. Because if you’re coming out of this game and you’re singing then you’ve got the whole game wrong. But I don’t want us to be totally deflated. If we are, that becomes a problem on Sunday. I don’t need deflation to help it.”