Antony

Yeah that would make sense. Hopefully Basel don't qualify anyway because it would guarantee one of the four teams from the Champions Path in the group stage would have a lower coefficient than Celtic meaning we don't have to rely on Leicester qualifying to get into that pot 3.

Well that's made me look stupid. I've been checking the Swiss League every weekend to make sure Basel don't win the league but it won't actually matter haha. If Ajax (and all other top ranked champions for that qualification round) are bumped up to the next round that will create an odd number of teams in the first qualifying round. Or will that just result in a bye for one of the first qualifying round teams?

Celtic will be seeded for all rounds of qualifying unless Basel win the Swiss League, in which case we would be unseeded for the playoffs and would face Ajax, RB Salzburg Olympiacos or Basel in the final qualification round. Thankfully Basel sit 3rd behind Young Boys and St Gallen for now. If Celtic do get to the group stages they will probably be in pot 4 unless Leicester and Lokomotiv Moscow qualify for the Champions League. And we'd also need to hope Inter and Atalanta get knocked when the unfinished UEFA competitions resume. And to make it more confusing, we have to hope that either the Champions League or Europa League winner is not a domestic champion (although this is more than likely).

We won't have to play Sarajevo in the first round sorry, it will be the Armenian champions instead. Unless Kükesi can make an unlikely comeback and win the Albanian Sarajevo will be seeded like us. Now that Alashkert can't win the league, any of the 3 potential Armenian champions will be unseeded.

Less than 2 months until the Champions League first qualifying round kicks off. All qualifying rounds are to be played over one leg this year until the playoffs. Celtic's potential first round opponents are: North Macedonia - Sileks (Abd-2nd) Armenia - Ararat Armenia (1st) * Luxembourg - Fola Esch (Abd-1st) Georgia - Dinamo Tbilisi (1st) Sweden - Djurgårdens IF (1st) Montenegro - Buducnost Podgorica (1st)* Estonia - Flora (1st) Belarus - Dynamo Brest (1st) Latvia - Riga (1st) Wales - Connah's Quay Nomads (Abd-1st) Faroe Islands - KÍ Klaksvík (1st) Gibraltar - Europa (Abd-1st) Finland - KuPS (1st) Iceland - KR (1st) Albania - KF Tirana (1st)* Malta - Floriana (Abd-1st) Prelim round winner (Linfield) Obviously we'd be hoping to avoid Djurgårdens and Dinamo Brest.

Given we haven't won a game away at Livi or Hibs since their promotions to the top flight, that isn't ideal. Think we need a point off Rangers before we can say the league is finished. Can't see us getting anything there but given the form we will be favourites.

How will they decide our 2 away games after the split? Assuming the top 6 stays the same, we will have played all other 5 clubs away from home twice already. We will play Rangers at home obviously, but I'm hoping we don't have to play away at Hibs and Livi again, but that might be the case as they're the 2 lowest ranked teams.

Cup winners/2nd place will qualify for the second qualifying round instead of the first. That could be offset by no one getting papped out of part timers this time.

I'm not an expert but surely there are other factors that contribute to the cycles more than just having more teams or less qualifiers. The low from 2013-18 coincides with Rangers in the lower divisions. In the mid 2000s Celtic and Rangers were getting to European finals. If the graph shows the same trend for all midranking European countries then fair enough but I don't think there's any reason for us to be falling below 20th again. We are 6th in the coefficient ranking for this season alone. Maintain that sort of performance and dividing by 4 teams or 5 teams won't be enough to drop us down too far below 15th. Not denying, of course that it's harder to get as many points when you have more teams and less qualifiers but I don't think that is the sole factor or actually the main factor for the graph. Plotting another line on that graph showing our performance based on what round our teams reach would prove your point. If the line is steady, despite our points going up and down then its obviously to do with how many teams and qualifiers we have. But I imagine the line would more or less follow the points trend, and our coefficient points more or less follow with how far our teams can go.

I was raised as a protestant so probably unlikely I'd be a bigot, if you're talking about religion. No condemnation of the Jimmy Saville chants I notice.

Victims? No i thought the referee had a decent game. Just think it's funny how all referees can support both Celtic and Rangers according to some Aberdeen fans.

Yeah Dallas' dad was a season ticket holder at Celtic Park wasn't he. Aberdeen are turning into conspiracy fc.

Assuming Inverness win on Sunday, the final will probably be Perth. What sort of crowd would Raith Rovers take? I was thinking about 3 or 4,000.

Again, there's no problem, just checking how it works. I posted this when Rangers still had things in their own hands with 2 derbies left. It just makes things a slight bit tougher, with our 3 toughest away games in the league statistically.

Al Ahly have been more successful than Rangers for years. The only reason they used to say that was because they won a lot of League Cups. UEFA posted an article about the most successful clubs, and they went mad because it put Celtic above Rangers as it didn't include League Cups, because most countries don't have a second cup. The only thing they had was the most titles, and it looks like Linfield are going to overtake that season as well.

I don't think I or anyone else mentioned any conspiracies. Of course the split does create a few things like this, but it's unusual to be playing 2 teams away from home 3 times. These next 4 away games for Celtic are pretty season defining given we have to go to our 3 toughest venues.

Ok so we'll have played 16 at home 17 away when the split happens. So we'll play 3 at home 2 away post split i assume. Rangers we'll obviously have at home, but it means we'll have played 2 out of Hibs, Livi, Aberdeen and Motherwell away 3 times in one season. The chances of Celtic going to Fir Park 3 times in one season and winning every time is very unlikely, we have 1 win in 8 at Easter Road in the league, and we haven't gone to Livi and won in about 15 years. That's tough.

Don't know if this has been posted before but I'll ask anyway. Celtic have played Motherwell away from home twice already. They're also going to be playing Rangers, Aberdeen, Livingston and Hibs away from home twice before the split. If the table stays the same come the split, we will have played all other 5 teams twice away and once at home. Does that mean our 5 post split fixtures will all be at home or what?

That is true, but you could say the same for the lower league playoffs, what's the difference between 2nd, 3rd or 4th. It works in other countries so they could possibly consider it.

Yeah but of those 10 countries only 4 countries (including Scotland) have 5 or more European spots. Also our League Cup is probably the most prestigious and important to win in Europe, given that most League Cups only started appearing in the 80s and 90s with many being abolished since then. I don't think there would be a problem from UEFA. And as you said 80% of the time the winner will be finishing in the top 5 anyway so it wouldn't matter that much, but would just give the League Cup an extra bit of shine. I would like a play-off for the last European spot like they do in the Netherlands.

With an extra European spot, could they instead have a European play-off similar to Netherlands or Northern Ireland. This would especially give the top teams in the bottom 6 something to play for. So 6th could play 7th and the winner plays 5th for a European spot. If the Scottish Cup winners take the European berth you could either just cancel the Europa playoffs or have it incorporate 4 teams. After the split, the top teams in the bottom 6, usually have nothing to play for as they are safe from relegation and obviously can't move further up the table. It would make finishing top of the bottom 6 important and give a focus at the end of season, getting big crowds for a game that feels like a cup final or semi with a European spot riding on it.

If we get an extra spot in Europe, how will it be allocated? Just to the League or will it be given to the League Cup instead like it used to? Could it be the runners up of the Scottish Cup, if the winners have already qualified?

I already did ages ago and put it in the review. I think they will at some point but don't know if there is the resources out there for the minimum requirements. If enough people ask I think they will. Far and away the best football app in pretty much every way. It's got a personalised newsfeed for all SPFL teams as well.

Couldn't make much sense of that at all sorry, don't know if its just my old age haha. I haven't lived in Ireland in over 20 years but I don't know any Irishmen that wouldn't vote for unity or wouldn't know a rebel song. Yes there are plenty of Irish people who only see Celtic as a second team or a sympathy these days.

Not trying to justify Celtic's behaviour over the years but I don't understand what's wrong with the banner. It's a line from a 60 year old Celtic song about winning the Coronation Cup.