Celtic chief Peter Lawwell insists they will continue to back Gordon Strachan after their rise into the top 20 of world football's money table.The revenue-based league table shows Celtic at 17th place, with £75.2million for the 2006/07 season.

They are the only club outside Europe's established big five leagues - Spain, Italy, England, Germany and France - to feature in the top 20.

Rangers featured in last year's table but drop out in the latest standings.

Lawwell hailed Celtic's financial success and stressed the club would continue to support Strachan as he builds a team to achieve on the field, with Champions League qualification increasingly vital in maintaining high levels of profitability.

The Celtic chief executive said: "It is a fantastic achievement for Celtic to be the 17th in the world in terms of turnover.

"This demonstrates the level of financial commitment from our supporters around the world, together with the highly successful management of the club's commercial activity and excellent on-field success.

"To be the only club in the world in this league table outwith the top five footballing nations is particularly pleasing, when considering the insignificant value of media rights in Scotland compared to these other nations.

"The benefit of such turnover levels is clearly that this has given us the opportunity to invest in the team on the field, something which we will continue to do."

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