PETER LAWWELL insists the Celtic board are shouldering the blame for the club’s shock Champions League exit to Kairat Almaty.
Brendan Rodgers made it clear he wanted to strengthen his squad before the Champions League play-off showdown, but Celtic went into the two legs undercooked.
1
The Hoops hadn’t replaced Nicolas Kuhn and were still without a replacement for Kyogo Furuhashi when they faced the Kazakh side at Celtic Park and away from home.
Celtic crashed out of the competition on penalties and later snapped up Michel-Ange Balikwisha, Sebastian Tounekti and Marcelo Saracchi to complete their summer window.
Although the club spent money in the end, Rodgers made it clear there must be improvements made going forward in terms of the TIMING of player investment.
And Lawwell echoes those comments as he issued a lengthy statement as part of Celtic releasing their annual financial report.
The Scottish champions have seen their profit more than DOUBLE from 2024 as after tax Celtic have raked in £33.9million, compared to £13.4m the previous year.
And reacting to the club’s Champions League shocker in Kazakhstan, Lawwell wrote: “Our objective each year is to compete in the Champions League. Unfortunately this season, we suffered a loss on penalties in the tie against Kairat Almaty, which resulted in Europa League entry instead.
“As a Board, we take responsibility for the failure to achieve that key objective and commit to improving going forward.
“We now look ahead to our Europa League fixtures against FK Crvena Zvezda, SC Braga, SK Sturm Graz, FC Midtjylland, Feyenoord, AS Roma, Bologna FC 1909 and FC Utrecht, where we will hope to perform strongly and progress in the competition.”
Despite investing ‘record sums’ in transfer fees and wages last year, the Celtic board understand they did not achieve their objectives in the recent summer transfer window.
He said: “Aligned to our core objective of competing in the Champions League is successful player trading. Last year, we invested record sums between transfer fees and first team player wages.
“This year, regretfully we did not achieve all of our objectives in the transfer window. We share and understand our supporters’ disappointment and frustration, and we will continue to seek to review and improve our strategy and execution as the market continues to evolve.”
More to follow.
Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
