Celtic don’t have the cash to compete

Celtic’s thrashing at the hands of Barcelona has prompted an inquest into the state of Scottish football.

To lose 6-1 in the Champions League, even if it was at the hands of Barcelona at the Nou Camp, is an embarrassing scoreline.

What does it say about our game that Celtic can hammer Hearts 7-0, then thrash Motherwell 5-0 before flying over to Spain and finding the roles reversed where they are on the wrong end of a heavy defeat?

The answer to that is fairly simple. Celtic are by far the strongest team in this country but can’t live with the best in the business at the highest level.

But I’d say most of us knew that already. It basically comes down to finances and how much money you can afford to invest in your team.

Celtic spend more money than every top-flight club put together. In fact, none of the other clubs are really spending money on players these days.

So that’s the reason they are miles ahead of the rest.

Martin O’Neill once called me when he was the Celtic manager to take issue with me for basically saying the same thing when he was in charge.

The two of us got on well but, after a European defeat, he complained that he didn’t have the same financial resources as the teams he was competing against.

My reply was that it’s the same for all the other clubs in Scotland. And that is still the case.

When you then compare what Celtic are spending on transfer fees and wages to what the likes of Barcelona and AC Milan are spending, it is night and day.

Celtic can’t compete at that level.

You have to credit Neil Lennon and his players for over-achieving last season when they reached the last 16.

And this season the key for them was to simply qualify for the group stage as the money that generates is massive for Celtic.

They’ve tried to reinvest in foreign players this season but it hasn’t worked.

The new signings haven’t performed as well as Neil would have liked.

The problem in Scotland is we don’t generate enough in TV revenue, and we aren’t bringing through enough good young players.

I can’t see TV money increasing so the only way the other teams can get better is to focus more on youth.

Right now, Celtic are the only team with any chance of being able to operate in Europe but this season they just haven’t been good enough.

That’s the bottom line.