Celtic’s humiliation exposes the miserable state of Scottish football | Ewan Murray

Laughter and mockery have echoed from Dortmund to Durness. The deeply competitive spirit of Scottish football, coupled with Celtic's overwhelming success in it, means that defeats like the 7-1 loss in Dortmund on Tuesday are celebrated by many. It might seem trivial and localized, but it's completely understandable.

The issue at hand is that another tough night for Celtic reflects just how bleak things are for Scottish football. There's no joy to be found in Celtic's situation; their ongoing struggles against stronger teams reveal a lot about the overall quality of the sport in Scotland.

Those who didn't make the cut are celebrated, along with outdated strategies, while there’s hardly any focus on nurturing young talent. Officials support work permit requests for foreign players who aren't up to par, either hindering the growth of Scottish talent or quietly acknowledging that local players simply don't measure up. Management is complacent, influenced by clubs that abandoned a long-term vision a long time ago.

Steve Clarke is facing challenges from injuries and players out of form, leaving Scotland struggling with a serious shortage of resources. The troubles Celtic is experiencing in Europe are closely tied to those affecting the national team. We should have recognized the warning signs for both by now. However, despite having plenty of chances to make improvements, Scottish football has come out of the pandemic in just as poor a condition as it was before.

Celtic clearly surpasses all other teams in their league, both in gameplay and overall performance, making it hard to even categorize them with the rest. Liam Scales can channel the skills of Franco Baresi, while Callum McGregor might remind you of Zinedine Zidane, even when up against players who would struggle to stand out in England's League One. The recent defeat to Dortmund will soon be lost in the memories of Celtic fans as they gear up to celebrate at Ross County on Sunday, even though that result deserved more attention. Given the obvious lack of competition they face each week, Celtic should take the lead in pushing for significant changes in the league.

Their circumstances are the most unfortunate of any team. It's not just that Celtic requires tougher competition; rather, the overall quality of football in Scotland needs a significant boost. It's surprising that Celtic's leadership isn't leading the charge for this improvement. Without such progress, the club risks becoming just another participant in the Champions League without any real impact.

Celtic were clear favorites to win against Slovan Bratislava in the first match and they came through as expected. However, it would be pointless if they were to stumble badly when they face tougher challenges ahead.

Brendan Rodgers deserves recognition for not claiming that moving from the Scottish Premier League to the highest level of football is nearly impossible. He wisely avoids bringing up the significant financial disparities. These differences are even more pronounced in Scotland, which actually works in his favor. Football finance expert Kieran Maguire highlighted on Wednesday that the value of Celtic’s squad is 185 times greater than that of St Johnstone, while Borussia Dortmund's squad is six times more expensive than Celtic's.

Celtic fans, worried that their team’s successes aren't getting the recognition they deserve, often push back against criticisms about the situation at home. As an efficiently managed, self-sustaining club, Celtic has no reason to feel guilty about the benefits they have. However, the common argument that other leagues—like France, England, Germany, Spain, and Italy—also have their dominant teams overlooks the reality that the top clubs in those leagues rank among the best in Europe.

Celtic is far behind, and Dundee United would be humiliated by Newcastle, while Motherwell would struggle against Rennes and Kilmarnock would face a tough time with Torino, among others. Last season, Hibs went up against Aston Villa and ended up losing 8-0 on aggregate.

People are understandably thrilled about Tony Bloom's connection with Hearts. As the owner of Brighton, his analytics company, Jamestown, could give a crucial lift to the Scottish football landscape. In the near term, it would be particularly interesting to see how this company evaluates Hearts’ players in comparison to those at other clubs of similar size across Europe. It’s highly likely that the findings from those assessments would be quite revealing.

There are important secondary storylines to consider. Rodgers implemented the same strategy in Dortmund that had led to a comfortable 6-0 victory against St Johnstone just a few days before. There was some overconfidence in the belief that Celtic could achieve a similar result against last season's Champions League runners-up as they did in Perth.

Rodgers has experienced too many heavy defeats in European competitions for it to just be a fluke. The manager needs a realistic backup strategy. Celtic is missing a strong midfielder who can control the ball, in part because they don’t really need one in their domestic league. The gap between top clubs and others won’t be hidden by the new Champions League format; recent matches like Bayern Munich’s nine-goal victory over Dynamo Zagreb, along with convincing wins from Manchester City and Barcelona this week, highlight this reality.

Fans of Rangers strongly resist being compared to the struggles of their long-standing adversaries in Europe. Their impressive journey to the Europa League final in 2022, along with consistently solid performances, gives them a sense of pride. However, they prefer to overlook their disappointing Champions League season in 2022-23, where they ended up without a single point and faced a significant goal difference of minus 20. In August 2023, PSV Eindhoven easily defeated them in a Champions League qualifying match.

Feel free to mock Celtic. However, if you're a fan of Scottish football, the real punchline is on you. The troubling condition of the national sport isn't something to laugh about.