By Ben Banks

Copyright glasgowworld

Michael Stewart says Celtic chiefs have cost themselves a major UEFA bounty – as a burying of their bulging accounts paints a telling picture. The outspoken pundit was on co-commentary duty for Premier Sports as the Premiership champions breezed past Partick Thistle 4-0 in the broadcaster-sponsored League Cup. Fans aimed more protests at members of the board as anger over a poor summer transfer window that sparked elimination from the Champions League versus Kairat Almaty continued. The board’s attempt to defend it by blaming the media, social media and UEFA regulations amongst other factors has also been lamented. On Friday, without a post to their social media, Celtic published on their website their annual results for year ended June 30th this year. Within them, it was revealed the club had went into the summer window with £77.3m in cash assets, posting a huge profit of £33.9m after tax. Stewart reckons the low-key results of such impressive numbers points to how poorly the transfer window was conducted, and it has cost them a Champions League windfall he believes is to the tune of £40m. Stewart said: “Celtic seem to be hiding the good news on a Friday afternoon because that sort of headline, it doesn’t help the position that the board are trying to present. Just that exact story just only goes to emphasise what a brilliant financial position Celtic are in. “But equally it just goes to emphasise how poor the transfer window was and how it is a false economy when you are penny-pinching or when you’re not investing properly at the right time. There was potentially another £40 million on the line for the Champions League that they’ve lost out on because they didn’t do their transfer business appropriately. “Nobody’s talking about spending crazy sums of money. They’re talking about spending the sums of money that they have and that they generate. To go back to the statement briefly, it’s a lot of conflating things that aren’t relevant and also some gobbledygook about UEFA regulations that really Celtic are in no danger of being in trouble with.” On the victory over the Jags, Rodgers said with praise for youngster Colby Donovan, who started at right back: “I’m really pleased with today and the rhythm in the team. The surface, even though it looked nice, was really long so you had to punch the pass in, but I thought we played really well, were really creative and we defended strong when we had to. “The fluidity and that rhythm in the team is something that we’re looking to develop and we were starting to see that. He’s been superb. I really like him. I like his temperament and his personality. It’s not easy coming into this team but he’s very aggressive and he understands the game. “So I’m really pleased for him, and that little moment at the end – this is a kid who has grown up a Celtic supporter all his life and he’s been dreaming of that moment, so to give him that, and I think the supporters, particularly in the second half, really appreciated him on that side. They see how strong he is, how aggressive he is, and I’m really pleased for him. He’s come into the team and done excellent.”