IF it wasn't an icy cold day in a post-industrial heartland in the North West of England, Manchester City's Etihad Campus could be mistaken for one of those six-star luxury hotels in the Gulf. Which isn't exactly surprising, considering the best part of £200m of Skeikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan's petrochemical fortune has been lavished to produce a facility which is the envy of the world. Opened in 2014, this network of space age curves, gyms, pitches, conference rooms and auditoriums connects via an overhead walkway to the expanded Etihad Stadium on the other side of the road. It feels like it should feature on Grand Designs not Match of the Day.
City, and their benefactor from the UAE royal family, have grand designs of their own, of course, even if Saturday's tousy defeat at the hands of Chelsea pointed up a few teething problems in the Pep Guardiola project. But at least one moment at the Catalan's bravura pre-match press conference at this state of the art venue yesterday must have sent a chill down the spine of any Celtic supporter who will make that journey for tonight's Champions League Group C dead rubber.
Asked to comment on the fact that twelve of the teams who have already qualified for Monday's Champions League group stage draw play their football in the top four leagues in Europe, with another two are likely to follow in the course of the week, Guardiola laid things out in rather stark terms.
“That’s fantastic, what is the problem?" said the Manchester City manager. "You cannot expect to play in the quarter finals or the semi-finals with the minor leagues. The major leagues have better players, more money, the history. That is a normal situation and it is good, I prefer for football, for everybody, the best teams to be there. I like that.”
It was the kind of statement which must have made Peter Lawwell and Brendan Rodgers gulp, considering it is exactly what the Celtic chief executive and his manager are attempting to achieve, in the face of an ever-increasing restructure in favour of the continent's biggest clubs. Lawwell's suggestion in Herald Sport yesterday that the Parkhead side would become the biggest club in Britain were they granted access to the Barclays Premier League was backed up yesterday by Rodgers, even if the Celtic manager could hardly stifle an involuntary laugh at the fact that the prize purse on offer for tonight's dead rubber in the Champions League - £1.27m - represents the lion's share of what the club earns for an entire season of domestic league TV revenue.
It isn't just about the money, though. For a developing group of players, the experience gained from trips like these should be priceless.
“I’m not sure [if that could buy me a player]," said Rodgers. “But then everything you gain financially at this level is huge for the club. If you look at it in terms of the numbers it’s frightening. Financially our boys shouldn’t even be in the same league as the group they’re in. Even Moenchengladbach, you’re talking a budget of £110m. That’s then dwarfed by Manchester City and Barcelona, you know.
“You can sometimes take it for granted what every club in the Premier League gets in money. I think the TV rights for Scottish football is, what £2m, which is incredible. When you compare that to the money for a win here then it’s massive. It’s absolutely massive money.
“But we fight for more than the money. We fight for pride, we fight for the development of the team and we fight for the supporters so they can be proud of their team. Of course, from the commercial side of things and building process at Celtic the money is vital. But for our boys this season the experience has been invaluable. Take away the monetary side, it’s about learning in this environment and you can’t put a price on that."
Attempting to hypothesise as to where Celtic would finish were they granted access to the Barclays Premier League is one of the great guessing games of our time. "Just look at the numbers," is Rodgers' take on things. "Celtic are the third highest average attendance in Britain this season behind Manchester United and Arsenal. That says everything about the power and the size of Celtic. The support base is worldwide and every player that comes to play at Celtic Park - the Lionel Messis, everybody, talk about the cauldron and the atmosphere.
“If you bring that and have that base at the club and instead of getting £2m in TV money, you get £100m, plus the other revenues that you will generate, you are in a different ball game altogether because of the players you could attract, the worldwide viewing figures, everything. That’s probably what Peter was talking about. He wasn’t talking about right now but what could happen potentially if Celtic was ever in the Premier League.”
One of these players who has developed his game this season in the heat of Champions League action is Stuart Armstrong, one half of a formidable midfield partnership with Scott Brown. "Sometimes you’ve got to bide your time and Stuart has done that and been unbelievable when he’s got his chance," said Brown. "He’s doing my running for me and it’s about time someone did it! He seems to be getting better and better and I’m sure he’s got a nice little collection of champagne to show for it as well.”
Armstrong famously did a law degree in his spare time and Brown joked that the two midfielders represent something of an odd couple. “Aye, he reads and I cannae! He studies law and I’ve been in trouble too so he can bail me out! No, it’s a good sidekick to have. He’s one of the first names on the teamsheet and it’s great for us having him and Tom Rogic pushing on from midfield and scoring goals. I get to do all their dirty work."
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