Auld: Not players fault they're not good enough

Last updated : 25 May 2009 By Mikbhoy

European champion and Celtic legend Bertie Auld insisted last night that failure to invest in the team during the January transfer window, whilst in a position of dominance, cost us the league title and that everyone at the club, from the board down, should share in the culpability. Celtic left Ibrox at the end of December with a seven point lead at the top of the table but the team have declined rapidly since the turn of the year and it could have been avoided says Auld.

"It was our own undoing," he said. "Everyone from the directors down should look at themselves and ask themselves 'did we do enough for this magnificent club?' I don't know who makes the decisions at the top but the title was ours in January if quality had come in. We had the title won in January and we let it slip. There is no doubt about it."

"We were playing well, if not outstandingly well." he added. "But we needed one, maybe two players. I can't criticise the players who have been brought to play and maybe the club is too big for them. You can't blame them. Also, we have won the reserve league eight years in a row and surely someone should be coming through from there to make the grade. But it's not sour grapes, Rangers deserved to win it in the end."

So where do we go from here? Auld doesn't claim to know what lies ahead and he's not sure if Gordon Strachan will be a part of the club's future. There has been much press speculation surrounding the Celtic boss already and the latest rumours have linked him with the vacant manager's job at Sunderland. "Gordon will make his own mind up." said Bertie. "He has the passion but it depends how he feels. Only he will know if he did enough or if the club did enough to help him."