Board urged to back O’Neill with cash for Champions League

CELTIC skipper Paul Lambert has urged the club’s board to do everything in their power to keep the management team at Parkhead and give Martin O’Neill the cash to take them into the latter stages of the Champions League.

Just hours after being presented with their third championship trophy in four years, the players and supporters are bracing themselves for an influx of English clubs knocking on the door trying to prize O’Neill and his backroom men away.

However, fears about Liverpool or any other English Premiership club would not be high if the Celtic directors handed the former Leicester boss the financial resources he needs to rebuild his squad.

He already wants millions to replace departing stars Henrik Larsson and Liam Miller but he will want more money to make the club more competitive in Europe.

Celtic have narrowly missed out on the second stage of the competition in recent years, although they have enhanced their reputation in Europe with impressive runs in the UEFA Cup.

And Lambert knows that keeping O’Neill happy at Parkhead and backing him in the transfer market is the only way they are going to become one of the continent’s elite.

“It’s been great this season,” said the veteran midfielder.

“It’s not just this season though it’s everything that has happened over the last four years and the sheer consistency of the team throughout that time. We have lost so few games and worked hard and ensured that we approach every single game with the intention of winning it and I think what has been achieved by this squad of players is pretty incredible.

“Now we want to continue it with another decent crack at the Champions League next season. It is such an important competition to be in especially for a club the size and stature of Celtic’s but you don’t want to be in it just to make up the numbers.

“I’m sure that the manager will probably want to bring in some new players to add to the current squad and aim for a place in the in the second group stages. The manager, along with John Robertson and Steve Walford, deserve a lot of credit for the way they have turned things around here over the last four years.

“They are the focal point of the club and as a team they work so well together too and it’s so important that the club can keep them here.”

Meanwhile, O’Neill has counted Robert Douglas in and ruled John Hartson out of the Tennent’s Scottish Cup final against Dunfermline on May 22.