Scotland limits Celtic income

The Celtic chairman, John Reid insists the Scottish champions will continue to live within their means, despite admitting they are unable to complete with the financial might of their fellow European heavyweights.

Reid is eager to increase the worldwide appeal of Celtic, claiming playing in Scotland limits the club's ability to generate income. But he claims the club are more than capable of "punching above our weight".

He said: "We're quite happy taking the (television) money that we got and doing what we have. The key thing about it is not to have somebody who is just handing money out to you, but to run a good business model.

"And despite all of the problems we've had and the limited resources, at our AGM last week we were able to report again that, on the business side, we had the board and shareholders had made a small profit.

"We had allocated some towards strengthening our squad, but, there's no doubt about it, we're in a limited market in Scotland for multimedia sales.

"Therefore, when we have to play the Barcelonas or the Manchester Uniteds of the world, we have to punch above our weight because of our sport's size, because of our sporting ability, because of our management and because of the added value we put into that type of players." He added: "But we would like access to a bigger platform, whether in Europe or outside Scotland, or whatever."

A driving case against the Celtic striker Georgios Samaras was dropped after prosecutors decided not to pursue the matter. His Range Rover was clocked doing 58mph in a 50mph zone on the A74 near Carlisle, Cumbria, in March.

The 23-year-old Greece international was ordered to appear before Carlisle magistrates last month to explain why he had not responded to a fixed penalty notice sent through the post.

He did not attend and was convicted in his absence of failing to provide the identification of the driver.

That conviction was set aside when Samaras explained through a letter from his solicitors that he had moved address since joining the Scottish side on loan from Manchester City in January and had seen no correspondence on the matter. The Crown Prosecution Service has now decided it is not in the public interest to continue the case.

A spokesman for Knutsford-based Nexus Solicitors, who represented the footballer, confirmed that Samaras was still registered at his Manchester address at the time of the alleged offence but was living in Glasgow while he was on loan at Celtic.

Samaras signed a full-time contract with Celtic in July.