By Michael Grant

Dr John Reid, the Celtic chairman, has claimed it is still "possible" that the club could spend £4 million on a single signing under Tony Mowbray.

That was the highest amount paid by previous manager Gordon Strachan but the club was criticised for not spending during the last transfer window, when Willo Flood was the only senior acquisition for just £50,000. That led to acc-usations that the club valued a healthy balance sheet over the depth of its squad and surrendered the SPL title to Rangers as a consequence. The club did bid £2.5m for Steven Fletcher but that was unsuccessful.

However, Reid insisted that, if a suitable signing target was identified, Mowbray could be given the go-ahead to match the £4.4m Strachan spent to land Scott Brown from Hibs. "Yes, it is still possible," he said. "If you look at the Gordon years I think we spent about £34m. That's quite a lot of money for a club in Scottish football. We want to help the manager in whatever way we can.

"It's the manager's prerog-ative to shape his team in terms of philosophy and personnel. I think Tony made the point that he would give due respect to the current squad. Ultimately it is the manager who is the boss on the park."

Mowbray has let it be known that he might be prepared to sell one star player - Brown, Aiden McGeady, Artur Boruc and Scott McDonald are the club's most valued assets - to generate money for three signings.

"He is the guy who will say yes or no at the end of the day, within our known limits," said Reid. "That's something he will discuss and if that's what he wants, then ultimately that's what we will do."

Reid would not comment on Celtic bidding again for Fletcher this summer but he conceded that Shunsuke Nakamura had been lost to Espanyol. "From where we sit at the moment I don't see the prospect of him coming back and neither does Peter Lawwell, the chief executive."

Reid was sure that Mowbray would bring substance as well as style, although he agreed that managers at major clubs rarely survive long these days unless they deliver trophies.

"We've got a manager who we think is the best man for the job. I think the supporters believe that too and we will give him the support necessary to sustain him as he pursues us regaining supremacy in Scottish football.

"As a general statement, the pressures of modern football are far greater than they were 20, 30 or 40 years ago. You can look back at the greatest manager ever, Sir Alex Ferguson. In today's frenetic atmosphere would Manchester United have supported him for four years? That's how long it took him to start regularly winning trophies for the club. Maybe it's a bad thing when you see some clubs changing managers four times a season."