Scottish Premier League News December 2012: Celtic Reach Champions League Knock Out Stage
Lisa Dillon
Celtic
Against the odds, Neil Lennon has guided Celtic into the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League.
When the draw was initially made for the group stages of the competition, such was the apparent precariousness of Celtic's position that ITV Sport used social media website Twitter to post "Bye, bye Celtic. They've drawn Barcelona, Benfica and Spartak Moscow."
Lennon, though, has had the last laugh.
Not only did he become only the second manager in the club's history to take Celtic into such a position, the Parkhead side also became the first SPL team to finish the group with ten points.
That tally was achieved through victories over Spartak Moscow – home and away, a home win over Catalan giants Barcelona and a draw against Benfica.
This is the third time that Celtic have reached the knockout stages, and they have never been successful in making deeper inroads into the tournament.
Juventus, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Malaga, Manchester United, Schalke and PSG await in the next stage but already Celtic's performances in the Champions League will net the club an estimated £20m at a time when the Scottish game is facing desperate economic challenges.
"I'm very proud of the players," said Lennon. "They have performed a miracle.
"People laughed at me when I said that my target was to qualify.
"No-one gave us a prayer going into the group, but we have qualified and deservedly so. I think you could see the players progressing last year.
"Progressing in the competition means the world to me.
"It's a privilege to manage this club, but it's not easy at times. There is a great expectation on you and getting into this group was vitally important for myself, to see where we could go.
"It's nice to have on your record.
"It's only Gordon [Strachan] that's done it [in 2006-07 and 07-08], so to follow in his footsteps is great.
"But I've got a long way to go to emulate him and Martin [O'Neill], who had a huge influence on my career. The two of them have been great role models for me."
The danger for Lennon is that a team he has spent the last two years building is already attracting attention from elsewhere.
Victor Wanyama, Gary Hooper, Adam Matthews, Mikael Lustig and Georgios Samaras have all been linked with moves away from Celtic when the January transfer window opens but Lennon is optimistic that the lure of further Champions League involvement can be a major factor in them staying put.
Hooper, though, seems to have been quibbling about a new contract with the club since the summer and Southampton have been monitoring the situation. St Mary's boss Nigel Adkins, who was Hooper's mentor at Scunthorpe United, is keeping close tabs on the striker, although Lennon is not keen on selling any of his players.
"No, I'm pretty confident," he said. "We don't need to sell. As I said before, everyone has their price and I think I will have a say in the decision if a huge bid comes in for any of the players.
"I am pretty sure we are not far away with Gary in terms of a new deal here," he said. "I think we can get an agreement pretty soon.
"We speak maybe once a week on it and he is pretty comfortable. I don't think anyone is avoiding us. I'm hoping to see [chief executive] Peter [Lawwell] in the next day or so and he'll come up with another solution.
"I don't think Gary's far away at all from an England call-up.
"He's a goalscorer and I think they're priceless. Not only that, I also think he is a pretty intelligent player. He's got a great first touch and he can bring other people into the game.
"And he's scored at every level - Champions League, Europa League, Old Firm, big, big games.
"He has produced time and again so I think he's one of the best strikers we have had here for quite a while.
"Regardless of the speculation, I'll rebuff the offers unless it is an astronomical one that suits everybody.
"We've given Gary a great platform. He's grown - he's still only 24 and people forget that – to the point where he is more on less on the verge of being in the England squad.
"Now people would have said that's virtually impossible, they would have said that about Fraser Forster as well, but it shows how far the squad has come that people are really sitting up and taking notice of them now.
"There will be people coming in for them but I keep saying when you leave here it's not the same at other clubs.
"Money is a huge carrot, obviously, but at this stage of their career the football is the most important thing. The more successful you are the money will come anyway.
"If we receive a bid on the last day of the window, it's too late. I wouldn't have time (to replace him) and they've all month to put a bid in. It does happen but it won't happen here, not to any of our major players anyway.
"To leave with all the things going on here and go to what could be a lower-end Premier League team, I think that would be a backward step."
Rangers
Ally McCoist has told Steven Naismith and Kyle Lafferty - both of whom have stated that they cannot return to Ibrox because of continuing resentment over the way they left the club in the summer - that they have to live with the consequences of the decisions they made.
Naismith and Whittakers were members of last season's squad, most of whom departed in the summer when the previous business, owned by Craig Whyte, was liquidated after failing to come to an agreement with HMRC over debts.
The Ibrox club were forced into administration in February last year and would not have been able to fulfil the season's SPL fixtures had the senior squad not agreed to take salary cuts, some of which were as high as 75 per cent. Almost all made it clear that while they were willing to accept lower pay to keep the club alive for as long as possible, they would do so on the understanding that they would not automatically sign for any successor business.
However, not all did so and Maurice Edu accepted employment with Charles Green's newco, as a result of which Rangers were able to sell the USA international midfielder to Stoke City for an undisclosed fee. Naismith and Lafferty, meanwhile, are among a group of former Rangers players whose current clubs are being pursued by Green for compensation.
Both have said that it pains them that feelings are running high against them in a support among whom they were once numbered. "I can understand their hurt, of course I can, but I have to say I think for 140 years our football fans have made up their own minds on things and that'll continue to be the case," said McCoist.
"I think they probably look at somebody like Maurice Edu, for example, who didn't claim to be a Rangers fan or wanted to come and watch Rangers play until he was 110 but Rangers got money for him.
"And I think that's how the vast majority of the Rangers support are looking at it. I can see where they're coming from."
The Rangers manager cited the club's 140th anniversary celebrations at Ibrox as an example of the supporters' demonstration of affection for former players who attended the event. "It was an incredible occasion. Everybody to a man and woman was talking about it," said McCoist. "It was just magic. Our fans - and nobody has sung their praises more, deservedly so, than me - never forget their heroes and the players that did them a turn and that will always be the case.
"The boys made a decision. There's no use moaning about it now. They had plenty of time to make the decision and the fans have made their decision. It's not as if the fans are doing anything wrong or it's the fans' fault. The fans have made their decision on the players making their decision, really."
Asked if he or his assistant, Ian Durrant - both fans' favourites when they were players - would have taken the same decision as Lafferty or Naismith, McCoist replied: "We spoke about it at great length, as you might imagine. It's the easiest thing in the world for me to sit here and tell you I would have done it differently and Durranty would have done it differently.
"But we would have done it differently. People make their own decisions and have to live with them. I'm not criticising them, I just have to deal with the aftermath and that's fine, move on."
Invited to imagine his own feelings if he could not have returned to Ibrox, McCoist was animated. "Oh no. No. Oh no. No. That could never have happened," he said. "I don't think they can complain. If I wasn't welcome at Rangers, it would be heartbreaking. I can understand their disappointment but that disappointment's been created by their choice.
"To say it's anybody else's fault, or problem, is totally wrong. I'm aware that there's real resentment out there among the fans, I'm very aware of that, but if you think I'm going to sit here and say to the fan's that they're wrong - I'm sorry, I won't."
Scotland
Billy Stark is currently caretaker manager of the Scotland national team as the search for a full time appointment goes on.
Previous Scottish Premier League Articles
Scottish Premier League September 2012
Scottish Premier League articles 2005-2010
Buy tickets for soccer matches around the world