Celtic, that great European side. They are one of the select few to have won the European Cup, admittedly it was in 1967 and other clubs to have won the trophy on a single occasion include Aston Villa, Steau Bucharest, Hamburg and PSV Eindhoven.

In fact that says it all. They are no bigger on the European stage than any of those clubs. Yet they insist that because they were the first British side to win the trophy they ought to be spoken of alongside three times champions Manchester United and five times winners Liverpool.

Celtic have won their domestic title on 42 separate occasions and will make it 43 this season barring a miracle. They have competed in European competition almost every year since its inception in the 1950’s yet their only successes in the competition are that European Cup victory in ’67 and reaching the UEFA Cup final in 2003.

Other than that their great European nights have been limited to Champions League clashes with English sides, which inevitably end up with straight forward wins for the English team.

Domestically, yes Celtic are a power house. They, along with Rangers tend to win everything in sight at a canter but is that really an achievement? Aberdeen, under Sir Alex Ferguson were the last Scottish side to break the Glasgow strangle hold on the league.

They were also the last Scottish side to win a European trophy, the Cup Winners Cup in 1983. If a club of Aberdeen’s stature can match Celtic for European triumphs then they are hardly a major player in World Football. The one thing Celtic can do better than anyone is violence from the fans.

They are matched only by their neighbours Rangers. Every time the two clubs meet you can guarantee their will be huge amounts of violence across Glasgow. It is not even limited to footballing violence. Celtic fans will attack people simply for being Protestant and Rangers fans will attack Catholics. It is a racist, bigoted, sectarian problem and it is only encouraged by the two clubs in their attempts to big up the rivalry andtheir two clubs.

Celtic will never be a big club. There is not enough room in Scotland for even one European giant. Whilst Rangers and Celtic believe they are both in the top ranking English clubs the rest of Europe is laughing at them.

They are both the laughing stock of European football and I can say fairly confidently that in my life time it is unlikely that either side will ever rank alongside the likes of Liverpool, Man United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and other true European giants.