CELTIC’S imminent qualification for the Champions League group stages is good news for the rest of Scottish football, including last season’s nearest challengers Aberdeen.

That is the rather surprising conclusion reached by the Pittodrie side’s chairman Stewart Milne, considering it will swell the Parkhead side’s spending power by a further guaranteed £30 million. As counter intuitive as it sounds for their title hopes, it is worth remembering that Aberdeen – in addition to the blanket £250,00 which all Scottish clubs got for Celtic’s efforts – received in excess of £1m of the Parkhead side’s money for the services of Jonny Hayes, and have positioned themselves cleverly to take the club’s cast offs such as Gary Mackay Steven and Ryan Christie. Milne, indeed, would dearly love to see Celtic’s continental involvement stretch beyond Christmas.

“I think it is great news for Scottish football,” said Milne, speaking at a Street Soccer Scotland/Sir Alex Ferguson fundraising night at the Hilton hotel in Glasgow. “I think we all really want to see Celtic doing well and it would be fantastic if they could get beyond the group stages. I think this is possible if they get a decent group.

“It is going to be very difficult to rein in Celtic in the league, especially with it now looking fairly certain that they are going to qualify for the Champions League for a second season,” he added. “That is going to give them a bit more buying power before the window closes.

“But I do feel excited about this season, I think Scottish football is in the best place it has been for a long while. I think we are going to see a very competitive league.

“Brendan has done a fantastic job since he came in. He has turned the club around, and built an extremely powerful team there – which we were on the wrong end of last season.

“But we want to be able to give Celtic a good challenge. We have Hibs back, and we will hopefully see a strong Hearts coming through and a strong Rangers coming through. St Johnstone will be there and a few other teams. It is going to be a really good season.”

With Stevie May banging in the goals, Kenny McLean and Graeme Shinnie still at the club, and the likes of Christie, Mackay Steven, Greg Stewart and emerging star Scott Wright all chipping in too, Aberdeen are entitled to feel pretty good about their transfer window so far.

Milne would not welcome any further interest from Rangers in the services of McLean and feels the Pittodrie side are probably stronger if anything than last season’s group.

“I think we have ended up with a very good squad. We are every bit as strong as we were last year and maybe a bit stronger when they all gel together. I think the players we have brought in are going to contribute a great deal this season.”

The real game changer for this Aberdeen team, of course, is their quest for planning permission for a new, 20-000 capacity, council owned stadium at Kingsford.

“I have never been a great believer in giving up but I think there would be a lot of anger expressed if we did fail this time around,” said Milne. “But I want to be positive. I would like to think there is a genuine desire in the city to deliver something.”