Celtic hero demands board take spending to another level to finally crack the Champions League

Paul Lambert has warned Celtic that simply strengthening in the summer won't be enough to keep up with their Champions League rivals – they need to take their recruitment to another level.

Brendan Rodgers' side crashed out of this season's competition in heartbreaking fashion after a last gasp Bayern Munich goal saw Vincent Kompany's side sneak through the playoff round 3-2 on aggregate. But the Scottish champions got their continental credibility back with a much improved showing in the new UEFA format, reaching the knock out stage for the first time in almost 15 years. And the Celtic boss now wants to tool up for another crack it at it. he said: "Hopefully come next season we can improve the squad even more. At this level to be able to bring quality off the bench and have that freshness is the next step."

But former Parkhead favourite and Champions League winner Paul Lambert has warned that everyone else will be doing the same thing, so simply keeping up will make it hard to improve upon this year's showing, and will take another level of player.

When only half seriously asked if he thought Rodgers would get the whole Champions League pot to spend if Celtic qualify next season, Lambert told talkSport: "Not a chance! Listen the downfall for Celtic is that the league in Scotland isn’t the most powerful, as everybody knows. They can only beat what's in front of them.

"The club do great with the finances. They've got really clever guys there so they've got to live within their means. They can't go and buy somebody for £50million. It's impossible. They don't want to be going bankrupt or into liquidation and things like that. They have to look after themselves, which they do and they fight brilliantly within their means.

"If