COMPLETING trebles has been something that Celtic have proved rather adept at since Brendan Rodgers was appointed manager two years ago.
But Scott Brown has acknowledged that recording a hat-trick of consecutive Champions League qualifications under the Northern Irishman will not be quite as straightforward as winning all three domestic trophies in the course of a season has proved.
Brown and his team mates will learn who the Scottish champions have been drawn to face in the first and, provided they beat their opening opponents, second qualifying rounds of Europe’s premier club competition during pre-season training at Lennoxtown today.
They can be pitched straight in against some decent sides at Nyon in Switzerland despite being seeded – Spartak Trnava of Slovakia and Olimpija Ljubljana of Slovenia are potential adversaries.
After that, they could come up against Hapoel Be’er Sheva of Israel, Rosenborg of Norway and Red Star Belgrade of Serbia.
Brown, though, is unconcerned about who Celtic will be pitted against; he knows their prospects of joining defending champions Real Madrid and the cream of the continent’s clubs in the competition proper will be harder than ever regardless of who it is.
Having to play four qualifying rounds instead of three without three of their most important first team players – right back Mikael Lustig, centre half Dedryck Boyata and playmaker Tom Rogic are all away at Russia 2018 with Sweden, Belgium and Australia respectively – means their first objective this term will not be easily attained.
“We’ll get whoever we get,” said Brown as he launched an official Celtic DVD of the 2017/18 season yesterday. “I’m not worried too much about it; we’ll see what happens and take it from there.
“UEFA seem to making it harder and harder for us to get there, but we did it last year so that gives us hope. We’re getting stronger and better so we need to push on and get into the Champions League proper. That’s the main thing we need to do at the start of the season.
“It’s not like winning a trophy, but it would be better than the last time because it’s getting harder and harder. It’s something our fans expect us to do and it’s what we want as well. It could be anyone – it could be hard or easy, but we have to be ready for the games in three weeks.”
He continued: “We’ve done it a few times and they (UEFA) make it harder and harder. But we need to make sure that no matter what they put in our way we need to jump over the hurdles.
“We’re playing qualifiers when we have players still at the World Cup. That’s always a hard one for us – you have to bring others in or youth players to play right-back for Mikael or number 10 in place of Tom or centre-back instead of Dedryck – all three of whom have been big players for us.”
Brown, though, believes the signing of Odsonne Edouard from Paris Saint-Germain on a four year deal last week for a club record £9 million fee is a hugely positive move by Celtic ahead of the launch of their Champions League campaign in three weeks’ time.
The 32-year-old knows how difficult it can be to justify a club making such a substantial outlay on you – he became the most expensive transfer between two Scottish clubs back in 2007 when he was bought from Hibernian for £4.4 million.
“It was great to get him signed because he’s done a tremendous job for us and shown his qualities,” he said. “He’s a terrific finisher and it’s great to have him here for the next few years.
“He’s a good lad as well and, first and foremost, that’s what you look at – you want a good person in the dressing room, not a big-time Charlie or someone who’s going to disrupt what we’re trying to do here.
“The record fee won’t bother him – there’s always a weight of expectation when you come to Celtic anyway because you need to win all the time while playing attractive football. Odsonne’s a very chilled out guy who doesn’t worry about too much so I don’t think he’ll be too concerned by what we paid for him.”
Brown, looking fit and refreshed after a complete four week break from football, is now optimistic that Stuart Armstrong, his central midfield partner who only has a season remaining on his existing contract, can follow the lead of Rogic and Kieran Tierney and agree an extension.
He feels that Armstrong, who lost his first team place to Olivier Ntcham at the tail end of last season, remaining at Celtic will be beneficial to the national team as they bid to qualify for the Euro 2020 finals
“It’s good for Scotland for top quality players to be winning games and trophies and not being the forgotten man in England,” he said.
“Stuart is a great man and a good character and if he sees it’s time to go then that’s for him, but I’m sure he’ll have a good pre-season and he’ll start playing games. We know he can score goals and he’s a strong, willing runner and for me in the middle of the park he’s fantastic.
“Some players can go on to bigger things. Virgil (van Dijk) did well at Southampton and then went to Liverpool for a record transfer fee. But then there are players who stay here because they love winning trophies.
“I think most players down in England do get paid more than us but Stu loves it here and I am sure he will sit down with the manager at some point and discuss it.
“I don’t think any of them are in any rush to dive in and sign a contract. Stu wants to be here and the manager wants him to be here so here’s hoping they can come to some sort of agreement.”
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