Martin O’Neill throw a brutal dig at Celtic after being asked about his future at Glasgow following late 2-2 draw vs Heart fc

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It was Europe that triggered the anger in the stands at Celtic that led to all out civil war between the supporters and their club.

Now continental competition needs to be canned altogether to give them any semblance of a chance of domestic salvation.

Celtic are gearing up to face Utrecht on Thursday night in their final Europa League clash and folk should be looking forward to a thrilling night under the lights with a brilliant chance of getting to the knockout stages.

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But, instead, it will feel like a major pain in the backside. A game – and a competition – Celtic could really do without.

This Hoops squad is running on fumes and the prospect of another two matches – the second of which would be just days before a monumental league encounter at Ibrox – is making this Utrecht game a Sophie’s Choice clash.

There are too many players who are already looking clapped out so there are going to be tough decisions that will have to be made.

Martin O’Neill has been ringing every single drop out of this current group to keep them in the title race with Hearts and Rangers and competing in Europe.

But something has got to give.

The Irishman should send out his Auchinleck Talbot team against Utrecht. If they win, then fair enough, it might give some fringe men the boost they didn’t get against the Juniors. Lose and go out? It will do them a favour.

Face it, Celtic have a fitness problem. Too many have been flogged for too long, some who have not fully up to speed, and others are too valuable to be risked for a game where the rewards are minimal.

Look at Daizen Maeda. The poor Japanese star has actually taken flak this season – but it’s way offside.

The last six months of last season he played through the middle and scored the goals that won Celts the league. More often than not he’d shuffle across to the flank and complete the 90 minutes as well.

This year he’s had even more on his shoulders. The guy has been run into the ground.

You could see it at Tynecastle with his half-hearted challenge that led to the free kick en route to the leveller.

That wasn’t the usual Maeda. But after a lung busting night in Bologna a few days earlier – when he yet again played in about five different roles – it seemed like his legs were like jelly.

Despite years of evidence to the contrary, the Japanese attacker IS human. He’s also a player who never hides and never gives anything less than his all, This is a guy who is hardly ever injured, who busts a gut to come back on the rare occasion he is, and refused to spit the dummy or down tools despite Celtic’s uselessness in the transfer market denying him a move to earn more money for his family. A move that might now never come again.

If anyone was entitled to pull a phantom hammy it’s him, yet that’s not his style.

Fans should lay off him – and the manager as well. Similarly Kieran Tierney has silenced critics about his fitness but he still needs to be managed.

He limped off in Gorgie and can’t be risked again on Thursday. Others like new boys Julian Araujo and Tomas Cvancara have’t played a lot of football and are not yet able to complete 90 minutes, which is another example of the shambolic recruitment at Parkhead. They could break down at any minute.

Callum McGregor is almost 33 and carries the team every single week – and even played against Talbot.

Give the man the night off, along with plenty others.

Of course, getting through to the knockouts would be good for Parkhead pride and the coefficient, while chucking a few more notes on the cash pile, but the chances are they’d run in to a far better equipped side in the next round and they’ll be out and even more knackered.

It would be different if this was the Hoops team from perhaps even 12 months ago, where fans could hope for a decent run in the Europa – maybe even ending this 20 year hoodoo to win a knockout tie.

But not now. This Celtic squad is barely hanging on in Scotland let alone ready to conquer Europe.

And that is perhaps the biggest kick in the teeth. It feels grubby suggesting a Scottish team bails out in Europe, especially when these pages have been constantly banging the drum for more ambition at that level.

But that’s what it has come to for Celtic. It’s priorities.

A few seasons ago Ange Postecoglou sent out a teamsheet in the Conference second leg at Bodo/Glimt that looked more like a surrender note.

But he knew he needed his powder to win the title. Likewise the big Aussie nuked Tottenham’s Premier League campaign to make sure he got his hands on the Europa League.

Big Ange – like most bosses – knows sacrifices have to be made.

And this painful choice should be the major lesson Michael Nicholson and co take from this dumpster fire of a season.

Celtic fans wanted their hard-earned cash spent on a European push but the abject failure to do so has left them seriously toiling on all fronts.