Celtic could spend £1bn on player recruitment and still lag behind Champions League heavyweights such as Real Madrid.
That’s according to former Hoops manager Gordon Strachan, who has poured cold water on any ambitions Celtic may have in levelling the playing field at Europe’s top table.
Strachan joined former Scotland boss Craig Levein and Sky Sports loudmouth Kris Boyd on the SPFL’s new podcast ‘The Warm-Up Unfiltered’ as they initially discussed whether a club outwith Celtic or Rangers could win the Premiership title.
Boyd stated that Hearts have more of a chance if indeed they secure investment and expertise from Brighton & Hove Albion chairman Tony Bloom’s analytical company.
But Levein and Strachan weren’t so definitive and said both Celtic and Rangers would have to have ‘freaky’ seasons at the same time for Hearts or Aberdeen to have any sort of opportunity.
Levein and Strachan then went on to compare the financial gulf between Hearts and Aberdeen to Celtic and Rangers with the divide between the Bhoys and European football giants such as Real Madrid.
And Strachan explained why it would be futile for Celtic to ditch their very successful current player trading model and splash the cash recklessly in an attempt to compete with the Champions League big boys.
The futility of Celtic trying to compete with Real Madrid
Here’s the conversation in full:
Levein: “The thing with Celtic is, they know they can’t close the gap on the European giants, they can’t do it.
Strachan: “There’s no point in doing that. What if you spend £200m, how many players are you going to get for that? Then you have to pay the wages.
“So say you pay £10m for someone, they’ll want £50k a week. Then the other players there (at Celtic) say, ‘well I want £50k a week, I want £45k, I want £40k’.
“And before you know it, it’s out of control. If you then have one bad season, you’re done and the club is at risk (financially). That’s the problem you’ve got.”
Levein: “There’s no point in Celtic spending fortunes to try and compete with Real Madrid.”
Strachan: “They’re not going to get anywhere. If you gave them £1bn, they still won’t get there!”
Strachan on Celtic’s development strategy
Earlier in the podcast, Strachan stressed that Celtic’s current player trading model is the way to go, for instance combining analytical data and player development while spending within your means.
He said: “There’s two things you have to have. You don’t just have data and recruitment, then the next stage is development.
“You don’t have to chuck a lot of money about, but fans want money chucked about. If you look at Celtic, they want £5m or £6m players, maybe even £8m players.
“But Hatate was £800k, Kyogo was £1.6m, Maeda was £1.6m, Matt O’Riley was £1.2m. What I’m saying is, you don’t have to spend a lot of money. It has to be data AND development.”
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