DAVID MARTINDALE is under no illusions over the challenge his side face matching up against Celtic.
But the Livingston boss insists his men will give it their all this week despite facing a side he claims could have a budget FORTY times the size of themselves.
The Lions travel to face Ange Postecoglou’s league leaders on Wednesday night looking to become the first Scottish side to take anything from Parkhead this season.
And The Hoops have certainly splashed the cash when it comes to their activity in the transfer market as of late too.
Last week South Korean striker Oh Hyeon-gyu became the latest January addition – he arrived in Glasgow on a five-year-deal for a £2.5million fee.
Even Michael Beale admitted at the start of the month that his side can spend nowhere near the amount their Glasgow rivals can.
But while Martindale joined the Rangers boss in pointing out the financial gulf, he insists it should be taken with no disrespect, as Postecoglou has ‘earned the right’ to spend big.
He told Livingston TV: “We won’t go in to the (Celtic) game any different.
“Hearts probably have six to eight times our budget, Celtic forty? Forty times our budget. I’ll say this on ours (club TV).
“I wouldn’t say it publicly on Sky TV or BBC because I think it’s a wee bit, not disrespectful – because Celtic have earned the right to spend that money.
“You talk about points per pound collectively in the league we win it. If you were to split the points in to pounds and divide that by the budget we would win the league every season.”
Even with the budget differences Livi have still proved to be a problem for Celtic in recent years.
Martindale’s men recorded a hugely impressive 1-0 win over The Hoops in the early stages of last season before earning a 0-0 draw in Glasgow later in the campaign.
The Livi boss added: “We’ll go to Parkhead and we will give it our all but we’re up against the best team in Scotland.
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“For me Ange has done an incredible job. His recruitment has been fantastic, he’s got them playing a certain brand of football but the budgets help you do that. Of course they do.
“It will be about the balance of stopping Celtic scoring and having our own attacking threat. We’ve done it before and there’s no reason why we can’t do it again.”
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