Celtic’s Champions League failure should have no impact on recruitment

European failure should have no impact on recruitment, we can still afford to buy, don’t let anyone fool you otherwise. Don’t blame McCowan, Ralston and Dane Murray blame these three below…

Since our elimination from the Champions League, it’s been suggested by more than a few media outlets that Celtic can ill afford to splash out on much needed new players.

A percentage of these media figures are known to be the Celtic boards go to individuals in the media world, so it may well be that Dermot Desmond and his cronies are looking to curb spending to counter our Champions League failure, meaning a return to shopping in the bargain basket of the transfer market, just like back in January when four loans were secured but little or no impact brought to the team as a result.

It simply can’t be allowed to happen, as we have more than enough resources to splash out on a few quality additions.

Don’t let them tell us that they’ve already sanctioned circa £30 million on Camilo Duran, Kasper Hogh, Miko Baur, and Haissem Hassan, as that’s been more than covered by the sales of Arne Engels, Diazen Maeda, Luis Palma, Maik Nawrocki, and Hayto Inamura, not to mention the likely sale of Reo Hatate which will fetch a minimum of £5 million.

Add to that the revenue brought in by season ticket sales, and merchandise sales, then we have a serious amount of wealth to re-distribute back into the squad, not to mention the £80-100m that they’re currently hoarding in the PLC bank account.

The Europa League might not bring the same riches that the champions league ensures, but we are still guaranteed a payday of £8 million, with more to be made through performance and ticket sales for competing in Europes second tier, so that’s another major source of revenue that we can count upon.

It’s well within the clubs realm to fork out in the region of £10-£15 million, and still produce the positive balance sheet that the Celtic hierarchy likes to swoon over.

We desperately need to add more quality players to our ill-equipped squad. In particular our midfield which is a glaringly obvious area of vulnerability, and if not tended to will cost us dearly further on down the line. Two full backs are needed and a much discussed new goalkeeper.

Trying to gaslight the supporters into thinking that we can’t afford to add to our squad because of the Champions League Playoff humiliation, should not be allowed to happen. Indeed that catastrophe in Linz should be a wake-up call to the Celtic Board who incidentally say that they do NOT budget for Champions League qualification anyway.

So the funds are there, it’s just a reluctance to spend. Here’s David Friel explaining the point via Scottish Sun:

We have the resources to add to our squad, we won’t let anyone suggest otherwise. Today we will find out who we’ll face in the Europa League, the transfer window has just a few more days to run before it closes.

Then we’ll know whether we should as supporters invest in the Europa League ticket package or alternatively follow the Celtic board’s prudence and save our own hard earned money for our own rainy day.