Elena Sadiku, the Celtic women’s manager, has revealed that her budget with the current SWPL champions is akin to that of Hearts and Hibs rather than Rangers and Glasgow City.
The Swede took Celtic to their first title last year when they won the Championship with virtually the last kick of the ball. She then successfully led them through the qualifiers and into the group stages of the newly formatted Champions League group stages of the competition, where they failed to register a single point from a group that contained both Chelsea and Real Madrid.
“We need more investment for the squad,” said Sadiku, who was shortlisted for FIFA’s Best women’s manager this year. “We don’t have the biggest budget when it comes to players and that is something we need to increase.
“We need to make it more like Rangers and Glasgow City.
“Michael Nicholson and the board support me and the strategy we have but it will take time. Things are getting better and we are getting better staff and the structure is getting bigger.
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“But we need more leaders and experienced players. But to do that we need a higher budget when it comes to recruiting players who have that experience, players that we can’t afford today.
“Our budget is not much bigger than Hearts and Hibs, to be honest, which is part of the reason why it is getting closer.
“As a club we have to look at how we want to invest and how we want to grow.”
Sadiku lost Caitlin Hayes in the January transfer window, arguably the most high profile player at the club, when the Republic of Ireland internationalist moved to Brighton.
The Celtic manager later revealed she had known the move was pending throughout December but she was not able to source a suitable replacement for the centre-half.
Sadiku has said she had a replacement lined up only for the deal to fall through, with the inference being that finance was at the heart of the issue.
“Was about to bring in a centre-back but it went how it went and I can’t control that,” she said.
“All I can do is focus on the players that I do have.”
Celtic went to the top of the table on Friday night on the back of an 8-0 win over Dundee United at Tannadice, although Glasgow City can return to the summit with a win over Montrose.
The two are currently level on goal difference so any victory will take Leanne Ross’ side, who beat Celtic 3-2 last week in the Scottish Cup, back to the top.
