CELTIC'S arrival in the Champions League should not be discredited. It is a fantastic achievement.

Yes, it was a bit hairy at times on Tuesday night, but Brendan Rodgers has managed to deliver the club that were European Champions back in 1967 back to where their supporters believe they belong.

As it happens, Celtic have become an increasingly endangered species - a football club that actually deserves to be there.

Let's get one thing straight, Uefa's claim that their flagship tournament should be called the 'Champions League' is about as tenuous as Gordon Strachan claiming Lionel Messi can play for Scotland as his granny once ate a Tunnock's Teacake.

Of the last 10 finals, only seven of the 20 participants have been domestic champions going into their European campaign.

Why? Because sporting integrity and fair play are about as high up on Uefa's priority list as shampoo is to this hack and his ever-balding napper.

Football long since sold its soul to the devil in the pursuit of big bucks and the desire to fill the Champions League with the biggest and richest teams possible rather than actual champions - who'd have thought it? - has long been common place. Not just that, but heavy seeding systems only add to the bias towards European superpowers in an attempt to keep them on our TV screens beyond Christmas.

Uefa's announcement yesterday that the four top-ranking nations will have a guaranteed four places in the group stage extinguished any flicker of hope that their vision is no longer clouded by pound and Euro signs. The fact this week's draw took place in Monaco, the place where the aforementioned Teacake costs the same as a semi-detached in Bothwell, was a bit of a hint, to be fair.

The footballing body's top men stressed that the Champions Route - the pathway that provided Celtic's road into the group stage - has been preserved. Regardless, the fact that we will have 12 teams from England, Italy, Germany and Spain that potentially haven't won anything in our league designed for winners is nothing more than a joke.

Neil Doncaster of the SPFL came out yesterday and quite rightly said they would defend any threat to Scotland's interests. We are all right to rejoice in Celtic making it into the competition, and many clubs within Scottish football will benefit financially as a result of it.

But if Uefa continue on this path of self-destruction, the participation, never mind the competitiveness, of Scottish clubs in the future will grow bleaker.

BEFORE YOU GO...

EARLIER this week we had Motherwell manager Mark McGhee reveal his 'disappointment' at Chris Cadden being omitted from the Scotland U21 squad.

Some thought he was out of line. Personally, I thought he did well to show the level of restraint he did.

It was a slap in a face not only to the player in question who has been a star of a resurgent Motherwell team for a year now, but to every other hopeful like him believing that hard work pays off. Well, it doesn't look like it.

Cadden has played almost 30 games for the Well first-team, not to mention captain them to the Youth Cup, yet Lewis Macleod who has only played five games for Brentford due to injury in the last year-and-a-half walks straight in. As does Celtic's Liam Henderson, who has 47 minutes of game time under his belt this season. What kind of message does this send out?

Maybe if Cadden stops playing his phone may start to ring.