Charlie Nicholas believes Celtic's board must release funds following Gordon Strachan's departure.
Nicholas wants policy change at Celtic
Charlie Nicholas told
Sky Sports News he believes Gordon Strachan was driven out of the Celtic managerial job by the financial policies of the club's board.
Nicholas said the lack of money available to Strachan to sign quality players ultimately cost Celtic a fourth straight league title and believes the board needs to re-think its mentality and provide the Celtic fans with a far stronger squad.
Celtic missed out on the league crown by four points and Nicholas was not surprised by Strachan's decision to announce his departure from the club.
"The timing was right, in fact I thought he might have left last season," said the former Celtic forward. "The writing was on the wall. This team has been running as a prudence test in terms of finance. Gordon has had to slash the budget every year.
"It's been a very successful time for Strachan - three back-to-back titles, reaching the last 16 of the Champions League twice - but recently he has been telling a lot of people Celtic were playing really attractive football and things would be fine.
"The facts were there was no football, the team was not good enough, they needed a little bit more financial backing.
"I remember being critical when they got knocked out of the Champions League. The Chief Executive said I was out of order, the Celtic fans would see them splash the cash in January and get a fourth title.
"They brought in a guy called Willo Flood from Dundee United and that was it.
"They could have got Steven Fletcher from Hibs for about £2m but they refused to budge on the price, yet they paid £4.5m for Scott Brown who doesn't score many goals from midfield.
Not a surprise
"I think Gordon became a glove puppet manager because the people controlling the funds were controlling the issues. It's not a surprise he has flown away today.
"I'm led to believe Dermot Desmond, who is the real financial muscle man has said Gordon Strachan has left Celtic football club far better off financially. Well, you tell the Celtic fans who are grieving after blowing the title that -are they really that interested that the budget is in a good state?
"I think most of them would rather the team was better. This team has hit a brick wall and it will take a lot of financial repair to get it back to a decent level.
"Rangers are probably the poorest Rangers team to win the premier league in quite a number of years.
Warning signs
"Rangers should have won the title last season so warning signs have been there but financial guys have clearly told Strachan they were not going to get that many more players in and Gordon has probably said 'enough, I can't really do much more with this team'."
Nicholas is now hoping the Celtic board help the new manager give the current squad the overhaul he believes it needs. "Celtic can go with the status quo and only allow the manager to spend money he gets for selling the deadwood or they can get someone bigger in and construct a five-year plan to get the house in order.
"Celtic have got to motivate the people who are the heartbeat of the club again - the fans."
Despite Celtic's strife Nicholas does see Strachan having a bright future in the game and expects a quick return to the game, with the Scot the bookies' favourite to take over at Sunderland.
"Gordon will probably have a bit of time out, play some golf, get his confidence back after losing the title. He has a great CV and if Sunderland are serious about finding a manger with a good CV then Strachan is ticking a lot of the boxes."
