Lawwell pledges Celtic spending

Lawwell said Gordon Strachan would be given money to spend

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell has pledged to support manager Gordon Strachan's spending plans to help the club make further progress in Europe.

Defeat by Barcelona saw the SPL club knocked out of the last 16 of the Champions League for the second successive season.

"Now we must push on and I believe we can. We must keep our good players and bring in better ones," said Lawwell.

"We have a plan and understand where Gordon wants to strengthen."

Celtic exited this season's Champions League after a 4-2 aggregate defeat by Barcelona, but Lawwell said there was grounds for optimism.

"It's a fantastic achievement to get into the last 16 two years running when you put into context the gulf in finance and resources between us and the big European clubs," Lawwell said.

Gordon is as hungry as ever and wants to take us forward Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell

"We enjoyed the occasion on Tuesday night and at Celtic Park in the first leg but we are bitterly disappointed with the result.

"Now we must push on and I believe we can. We must keep our good players and bring in better quality players to supplement what we have here.

"Like Gordon, I'm very optimistic of doing that."

Lawwell said he was confident Celtic could progress to the last eight of the Champions League in coming seasons.

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"We are 100% behind Gordon and together we believe there isn't a glass ceiling and that we can progress the club," he added.

Lawwell added: "We have flexibility and a financial foundation that enables us to maintain a standard of player.

"Gordon is as hungry as ever and wants to take us forward. He understands the ambition, expectations and what it means to be involved with Celtic and he is happy to take that on.

"We have a plan and we understand where Gordon wants to strengthen. There are a lot of options."