Strachan frustrated

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan has spoken about his frustration over a lack of transfer funds.

Strachan admits he cannot compete with other clubs in bidding for players as he revealed Dion Dublin was a possible arrival.

The 37-year-old Dublin was a shock signing last term but his return emphasises Celtic’s lack of money.

Strachan said: “The problems are obviously starring you in the face, Everton had two strikers there who had cost a speculative £15m [€22m] (James Beattie and Andy Johnson).

“Cameron Jerome has gone from Cardiff to Birmingham for £3m (€4.4m) as well, so that’s even a totally different ball game.”

Aiden McGeady came off the bench to give the Bank of Scotland Premier League champions and CIS Insurance Cup winners their first victory out of six pre-season matches against Everton at Parkhead.

But Celtic – who had Kenny Miller and Maciej Zurawski in a new-look strikeforce – are still finding goals hard to come by ahead of the big kick-off against Kilmarnock here next week.

Strachan, however, does not have long to address his problems in attack, adding: “I’ve no idea if we can get more players in but it could happen.

“I have been trying to bring in players since I got here and for this season but have not been able to because of circumstances.

“We have had to put the pressure on the shoulders of Maciej and Kenny. We need help from the youngsters or somebody coming through.

“We like Bosmans here so we might have to do more of them. Hopefully the players we bring in will have that presence.

“We lost four big players for various reasons in Chris Sutton, Roy Keane, Dion Dublin and John Hartson who were huge personalities. We have to replace them but it’s going to be hard to replace them.

“So Dion Dublin (who scored twice in 12 games last season) coming back is not impossible. We are still looking and speaking so it’s not improbable either. It’s definitely possible as we are looking for people with presence.”

Strachan is also battling to keep hold of Stilian Petrov, and Everton manager Davie Moyes said: “He is a really good player so I can see why Gordon wants to keep him so much.”

Moyes is refusing to set any targets for the new campaign other than must do better.

“We did so well two years ago to get into the Champions League but I would set myself up for a fall if I spoke about that again,” he added.

“But I would like to do better than last season and see where that takes us. We are capable of that because we have got some really good footballing players.”