By Robbie Copeland

Copyright dailyrecord

Michael Stewart reckons Celtic were ‘hiding the good news’ from fans in their financial results – and reckons not investing properly in the squad has cost them £40m. The club published their accounts on their website to minimal fanfare on Friday evening with not even a post on their social media to mark the announcement. The news that they had posted a mammoth post-tax profit of £33.9m and have cash in the bank to the tune of £77.3m came after a frustrating transfer window where they missed out on a number of key targets – pinpointed by raging punters as one of the primary reasons they crashed out of the Champions League . And the accounts served to further enrage fans who have grown frustrated at their perceived lack of spending in the transfer market. Michael Stewart can see where the anger is coming from too. Speaking on Premier Sports’ coverage of the Hoops’ 4-0 win over Partick Thistle, during which fans visibly and vocally protested against the board , he 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. “That exact story 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 £40million 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.” It’s not the first time Stewart has filleted the Parkhead decision-makers either. Speaking on BBC Sportsound after their infamous 1,000 word statement backfired dramatically , he said: “The statement is an absolute PR disaster. Talk about not being able to read the room… “Of course, they were under pressure and felt like they had to speak but they’d have been better just being quiet than coming out with that. “At no juncture in that statement did the Celtic board actually say, ‘you know what, it’s not been as good as we hoped’. “That statement could’ve been one word – ‘sorry’.” Follow Record Sport on Twitter , Facebook and Instagram for all of the up-to-the minute breaking news, video and audio on the SPFL, the Scotland national team and beyond. You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Celtic page and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season. We’re also on WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Celtic community here . Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport’s newest podcast, Game On , every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.