Livingston boss David Martindale insists his side would be the champions of Scotland IF the league was decided on a points per pound basis.
And he pointed to the spending discrepancy with the sides above him as he believes champions Celtic have a budget 40 times that of the West Lothian outfit. Rangers boss Michael Beale claimed Ange Postecoglou was a "lucky man" to boast the biggest budget in Scottish football in comments the Englishman doubled down on before his side's Scottish Cup clash with St Johnstone. But Martindale insists he is keenly aware Celtic have earned the right to spend how they see fit and made sure to clarify he isn't looking to be disrespectful with assertion.
Speaking to Livingston TV, he said: "We won't go in to the (Celtic) game any different. Hearts probably have six to eight times our budget, Celtic forty? Forty times our budget. I'll say this on ours (club TV). I wouldn't say it publicly on Sky TV or BBC because I think it’s a wee bit ... not disrespectful – because Celtic have earned the right to spend that money. You talk about points per pound collectively in the league we win it. If you were to split the points in to pounds and divide that by the budget we would win the league every season."
And Martindale is up for the fight as Celtic host his side on Wednesday as the visitors aim to become the first side to earn a point at Parkhead this season. It's a feat they managed last season and would love to replicate again.
"We'll go to Parkhead and we will give it our all but we're up against the best team in Scotland. For me Ange has done an incredible job. His recruitment has been fantastic, he's got them playing a certain brand of football but the budgets help you do that. Of course they do.
"It will be about the balance of stopping Celtic scoring and having our own attacking threat. We've done it before and there's no reason why we can't do it again."
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