| Matches: 2010 – 2011 | UEFA Cup |
Trivia
- Celtic enter qualifying round after dropping out from the Champions League.
- We fail to make it through to the group stages!
Matches
| AUG |
||||||||
| 19th |
Europa League Play Off |
Celtic |
2 |
0 |
Utrecht |
Report | Pictures | KO:7.45pm; 1st leg |
| 26th |
Europa League Play Off |
Utrecht |
4 |
0 |
Celtic |
Report |
Pictures |
KO:7.30pm 2nd leg Knocked out of the UEFA Cup |
Europea League/UEFA Cup Review
Being drawn against Utrecht of Holland should have been more within our range and despite a very comfortable 2-0 home win, we threw it all away somehow with an appalling 4-0 defeat which saw the gnashing and wailing of teeth begin already. Fortuné was thankfully sold the next day and we were left to focus fully on the domestic front. There wasn't much enthusiasm last season for the Europa League, some were mourning that we were out but it was indicative of the fact that we were still way behind where we should be.
The European defeats reflected Neil Lennon's lack of experience. The away games showed tactical naivety in that he was unable to put out a side able to swamp the midfield and stop position. The Utrecht away game should have been simple to negotiate but we let them dictate the second leg and we paid the price for it. It was a steep learning curve for Lennon; the domestic and foreign games are two separate skill sets.
The loss of European Football was though a big hit for revenue for the club and it followed a sharp decline in the sale of season tickets (due to the recession and the poor fare on the pitch in recent years). The club was simply desperate for any finance it could get, and with TV money down in Scotland (and in a mess) following on from the Setanta TV (UK) collapse, low attendances were painful for the club. It was an alarming time for the board, and hopes turned to the bread & butter support at the gates rather than trying to spread our net wider (e.g. Japan etc). We were going back to basics.