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News
‘Bugs me’: Chris Sutton is not happy with what he has seen from Celtic over the past few seasons
The Champions League group stages are almost upon us and the Celtic fans have fixtures against Feyenoord, Lazio and Atletico Madrid to look forward to over the next couple of months.
But former Celtic hero, Chris Sutton, has said that for the club to move forward in Europe, they must look at getting back to what they used to do best when he played for them under Martin O’Neill.
Sutton said [ podcast], “I’ve got to say, Celtic Park, back in the day Champions League nights under Martin O’Neill we had a phenomenal record at Celtic Park. And it’s a special place to play.
“Something that really bugs me at this moment in time is on the European nights at Celtic Park, everybody talks about the atmosphere, and I do want Celtic to get back to actually winning home games in the Champions League.
“I think that’s important because everybody talks about, ‘Oh, you know great atmosphere, great nights at Celtic Park’, well winnings quite important.
“So when my sons go up, my sons are Celtic fans, go up to some of the games and I always used to say get in 20 minutes before the start of the game. That’s the best part, but you don’t want that to be the best part.”
Celtic Park must become a Champions League fortress again
Chris Sutton is bang on the money. I remember growing up and witnessing Celtic regularly underachieve in Europe during the late 80s and the 90s.
Rarely did the club make any progress in any of Europe’s competitions until the arrival of Martin O’Neill. The Irishman only took one season to turn Celtic Park into a fortress as Celtic regularly saw off the likes of Juventus, AC Milan and Liverpool during his five years at the club.
Indeed, that form continued into the Gordon Strachan and Neil Lennon eras as both managers took Celtic into the last 16 of the Champions League.
But over the past few seasons, Celtic have been really disappointing in Europe. Especially at home. And that is something that Brendan Rodgers must address if he has any ambition of improving Celtic’s standing amongst Europe’s elite.
In other news, ‘It’s doubtful’: Andy Walker can’t see 23-year-old Celtic player starting much at all this season