Alan Stubbs puts Celtic board in his cross hairs over 'odd' statement as he condemns transfer strategy

Alan Stubbs has slammed the Celtic board for sending Brendan Rodgers into the Champions League weaker than they were last season after announcing record-breaking financial results.

The former Hoops defender is adamant the Treble winners should have made “two marquee signings” for Rodgers, who lost Jota and Carl Starfelt from last season’s squad, with a staggering £40 million profit - an increase of 600 per cent - posted in their annual accounts. In his chairman’s address, Peter Lawwell said: “It is vital that we retain a cash buffer in reserve,” adding “history tells us that we will not always qualify for the Champions League,” while adding that "this sum also contains the cash required to fund the significant investment that the club is planning to make in developing our Barrowfield training facility". But Stubbs claims he found that statement “odd”. The Scottish Premiership winners will qualify automatically for the richest tournament in world football for a third consecutive season next year, however, the volatile nature of the coefficient could lead league winners back into qualifying.

But the 2001 Treble winner says “they’ve missed a trick” by not strengthening after watching his old club go down 2-0 to Feyenoord in their Champions League Group E opener - and says they should be putting a bigger gap between themselves and rivals Rangers domestically. Stubbs told ShareMarketCap: "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