Another season, another failure - where did it all go wrong for Celtic?

ByGeorge O'Neill

BBC Sport Scotland

Six attempts to qualify for the Champions League in the past eight years. Six failures. And a sixth post-mortem for Celtic.

Picking through the wreckage of a European campaign has become almost an August perennial when it comes to the Scottish champions. But few of those failures have been quite so wretched as this one.

Leading 3-0 from the first leg in Glasgow, Celtic took the lead in Austria. Three quarters through the two-legged tie, they still held a three-goal advantage. But then came the collapse.

Ultimately, it took until the 90th minute of the second leg for LASK to level the tie 4-4 on aggregate, but it would be hard to say it wasn't coming after a second-half bombardment in Linz. The hosts' fifth goal - the winner - was inevitable.

Martin O'Neill's side had won all four competitive games to start the season, scoring 13 goals in the process. Everything was rosy. But now the questions are piling up.

Captain Callum McGregor said Celtic looked "scared" and were "passive" when LASK launched wave upon wave of attacks as the game went on in Linz.

Benjamin Nygren, Auston Trusty and Luke McCowan all made errors that led directly to concessions and Celtic simply did not compete in midfield.

O'Neill insisted he was responsible, but former Celtic captain Scott Brown believes the manager was just protecting his players.

"I feel for Martin because he's taking full responsibility," Brown told BBC Scotland.

"I've been in Martin's situation. When you get humiliated in a game, you need to take that pressure off the players because in a week's time they've got another game."

Celtic's defence at full-time consisted of third-choice right-back Anthony Ralston, Trusty - who did not train in the build-up because of illness - untested academy product Dane Murray, and Liam Scales out of position at left-back.

Brown says Celtic's depth isn't of the level required to compete in Europe's premier club competition.

"The substitutes aren't Martin's players," he added. "The strength and depth in areas still needs a little bit of quality because the players that came on didn't hit the same level as the ones that went off."

Celtic have bought forwards Kasper Hogh and Camilo Duran for big money this summer, as well as signing midfielder Mika Baur and winger Haissem Hassan.

However, they have sold key players Daizen Maeda and Arne Engels to Ipswich Town and West Ham United, respectively.

Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton questioned the decision to let influential players leave before such a crucial game on social media, while Brown says Engels' absence was a telling factor on the night.

"What they're missing is probably another physical centre-midfielder that can be alongside [McGregor] in there to help him out," he added.

"Because Arne Engels is a huge miss physically, not just for the battle, but his legs and running power as well, getting in behind, but his mentality as well."

When Celtic reached the Champions League play-off round before losing to Bayern Munich in 2024/25, their revenue of £143m ranked them among the top 60 clubs in Europe that year.

The same season, Ipswich Town had the lowest revenue of any English Premier League club at £155m. It's perhaps also worth considering, though, that the last published LASK turnover was only £42m.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire estimates the financial consequences of failing to make it to the Champions League this term will be north of £20m.

"For every £100 generated in the Champions League in terms of prize money, it works out at about £22 in the Europa League and about £11 in the Conference League," Maguire told BBC Sport Scotland.

"Celtic made about £45m in season 2024-25 when they got to the Champions League knockout play-off - that's total prize money, including the SPFL money, but it's still indicative of how successful the competition can be.

"Aston Villa, who won the Europa League last year, probably made somewhere in the region of £30-35m and at least they have the benefit of automatically qualifying for the Champions League.

"It is a blow for Celtic. If you look at their share price today, it is down about 4-5%, reflecting that impact on future revenues."

It is not just prize money either.

Celtic charged £44 more for an adult four-match Champions League package two years ago than they did for the subsequent Europa League campaign. The difference in hospitality packages was even greater.

O'Neill spoke about transfer targets having to be reassessed in the wake of the defeat and Maguire pointed out that the club will likely lose out on sponsor bonuses, too.

"Celtic's fans will buy tickets whether it's Real Madrid or Raith Rovers, but in terms of the prices that can be charged - especially for corporate and hospitality - it's a licence to name your own price when big European clubs come to town."

Gerry: Callum McGregor says we'll now see what people are made of. Bit late. Should have said that after we gifted LASK their first goal. We are not a Champions League club. Simple. The board are a shambles and responsible for the club's failures again and again.

Eamonn: Shocking but not surprised. The squad is the accumulation of four or five disastrous windows. Four recent signings weren't going to fix that.

Martin: We are a club that have a board that wait until we get into the Champions League before spending any meaningful cash when we actually need a board that spends meaningful cash to ensure we have the best possible chance of negotiating these horrible qualifiers. Celtic were dead on their feet at the end - one of the worst results and performances in our modern history.

Patrick: Viljami Sinisalo is the only player who showed up, everyone else was a passenger. Reo Hatate and Luke McCowan should be kicked out the door. Another year, another wasted effort. What a terrible loss. The fans deserve better - the players, the board, the club are fortunate to be where they are. Odds on Martin O'Neill gone by Christmas?

Danny: Heartbreaking loss. Players didn't show up. Sinisalo was great, but our lack of depth and quality was harshly exposed. We scored some screamers last week and got away with a couple. Reality came back to bite us. Credit to LASK.

Paul: Fell short again. Playing like that, it's probably best we're not in the Champions League. McCowan should never get another game for Celtic. Sebastian Tounekti, Yang Hyun-jun and Anthony Ralston should be told to find another club. Martin O'Neill needs to take his share of the blame for this. Team didn't know whether to go for it or defend.

By

Football issues correspondent

Scotland being ranked as high as ninth in Uefa's coefficient table seems a world away right now. What might surprise many is that it was between 2021 and 2023.

This coefficient table determines how many places each country gets in the three European competitions.

With that ninth place came a guaranteed place in the Champions League proper for the Premiership champions, and the runners-up only had two qualifying rounds to navigate in the same competition.

But such has been the sharp decline since then that Scotland are now 18th, and this season's title winners will start in the second qualifying round of the Champions League, with the runners-up in the Conference League.

Celtic's capitulation at the hands of LASK underlined that decline. But it is not terminal for the country's position in the coefficient table.

When Celtic made the Champions League knockout play-off round in 2024-25, they scored 17.70 points. Yet Rangers scored more points - 19.750 - by reaching the last 16 of the Europa League.

So, with Celtic now in the Europa League, it can still be a positive.

In the live coefficient table - taking into account this season - Scotland have already dropped to 19th and there is no danger of losing further places.

But Scotland's hopes of climbing back up would be damaged if Rangers, Hibernian and Motherwell fail to make it through to the Conference League on Thursday.

Returning to the top 15 should be the immediate aim, as that gets the runners-up back into the Champions League.