WE all knew the outcome before the Celtic game even got underway on Thursday night - the Bhoys were already out of the Europa League and subsequently finished up bottom of the group with just three points.
The only positive from the game, for me, was Scott Allan getting a much-deserved start.
At the beginning of this campaign, when Molde were pulled from the pot, I will be the first to admit that I thought to myself ‘phew’ – a side we can take points off – which is rather funny in hindsight as Celtic failed to even take one off the Norwegian side, who went on to top the group.
Early fixtures against both Ajax and Fenerbahce showed promise as Celtic ended up with draws in both games that we would have happily taken a point from before kick-off.
That said, by the end of the 90 minutes I was disappointed not to come away with the full three points on both occasions.
Then we had Molde, who had beaten Fenerbahce in their opening game – a shock to many. That would have been a good time to get a win, you would think. But, yet again, a disappointing result followed.
We simply were not good enough to so much as challenge a Norwegian side that finished sixth their league last season.
On Thursday, Celtic took another point from Fenerbahce courtesy of a perfectly headed goal by Kris Commons, which saw Celtic finish the group with three points and no wins.
The result was enough for Fenerbahce to progress to the last 32 along with Molde.
This European campaign is one we will want to forget quickly. No wins in the group marks a first for Celtic, who have always managed at least three points in one fixture when they have been in the group stages.
It’s a long few months we now have ahead with no European football in the New Year.
The only thing I believe Ronny Deila can do to win back the support of many disillusioned Celtic supporters is to ensure the treble is brought back to Celtic Park this season.
Can he do that? Time will tell. But all I know is that there are no ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ here, we have been extremely poor this year in Europe.
There have been rumours of trouble in the dressing room with a few very public spats with management and players. The separate cases of Commons and Anthony Stokes have been the most publicised.
Although I am still to be won over by Deila, I stand firmly to what I have said on Twitter over the last few weeks, particularly regarding both Stokes and Commons.
Regardless of whether people like Ronny or not, he is still the manager of Celtic Football Club, so he deserves respect.
I have no love for Stokes but if he's getting 2 week ban well then so should have Commons no?
— Rachel Lynch (@Rachel_Lynchx) December 2, 2015
People praising Commons for his outburst is only fuelling more issues in the dressing room.
As for Stokes? Well his complaint about having to sit in the stands in the cold didn’t go down well with the majority of the support and I was glad to see so many agree he was wrong.
The problem with Stokes is who else will take him off Celtic’s hands to sit in their stands next season? I’m guessing not many, so attacking Deila on Twitter is certainly not going to do him many favours.
Looking on the positive side, what a signing Scott Allan is promising to be. In the small amount of game time he has been given he has proven himself and his perfectly timed passing has been something all of us have been raving about on social media.
Callum McGregor and of course Kieran Tierney will give us all a little bit of hope for the remainder of the season.
Here’s hoping Celtic can bring home the treble and give us all something to celebrate this season after another disastrous campaign in Europe.
