You can’t go into the campaign undercooked- former Celt at a loss over continued failure

Alan Stubbs can’t understand why Celtic went into the Champions League weaker than they were a year ago.

A day after publishing record breaking accounts there was little in the way of assets on the park as Brendan Rodgers’ side lost 2-0 to Feyenoord.

Despite reporting a bank balance of £72.9m at the end of June just two of the seven permanent summer signings made it into the side that started against the Dutch champions.

It was hardly a surprise that Gus Lagerbielke and Luis Palma struggled to make an impact with Liam Scales and Alistair Johnston the only players in the Celtic side that came away with any credit from the match.

Without the qualifiers to negotiate Celtic should have been better prepared but Stubbs was left puzzled by the outcome on Tuesday night.

The Daily Record reports the former Hibs boss saying:

Celtic are not as strong as they were last year going into the Champions League groups. That’s a real disappointment when you consider the financial results that came out before the game. They’ve £70m+ reserves in the bank. The financial results tell you the club is in a really healthy position.

I thought it was odd for them to say that it’s there just in case they don’t qualify for future Champions League campaigns. To say that, for whatever reason, we might finish second one year doesn’t really send a positive message. I thought Celtic needed two marquee signings, especially for the Champions League.

Stubbs added:

This is the time where Celtic should be putting the foot on the pedal and driving it home, staying way ahead of Rangers and building a squad where they can become really competitive in the Champions League.

With projects, you’re willing to give them more time. But qualifying from a Champions League group is not something you can wait for to come to you somewhere along the line. It’s an instant demand.

You can’t go into the campaign undercooked and hoping that projects just in the door will get you through. The Celtic faithful will be wondering why they didn’t spend more in the summer.

Rodgers has matches against Livingston and Motherwell to get his squad into condition to take on Italian giants Lazio on October 4.