Celtic’s interim accounts for the six months to 31 December 2018 were published yesterday. Income was down £21m on the corresponding period last season, to £50.015m, largely as a consequence of not qualifying for the Champions League group stage.
There was a corresponding fall in operating expenses, down £4m to £43.823m, as Champions League bonuses were not earned. The relationship between operating expenses and income is important for any business. For the period, Celtic were able to pay current level of wages and still produce a £6m operating surplus. This figure will be negative for the second half of the season, but operating expenses and income will not be hugely misaligned by the end of the season.
This six-month turnover of £50m is just £2m shy of the 12 month figure the last time we failed to reach the Champions League group stage, in season 2015-16. While Champions League revenue remains hugely important to the club, the reality is that increased revenue from season ticket sales, and significant increases in merchandising, commercial and multimedia activities, allows Celtic to carry its significantly higher wage bill without jeopardising the club.
The final six months of last season, which saw one Europa League tie and a run to the Scottish Cup Final, contributed £30m revenue. A comparable trading period this season will see annual revenue reach £80m.
For some perspective, that is higher than revenue in any Champions League season before Brendan Rodgers’ arrival, and only £10m short of the £90m revenue in Brendan’s first treble winning season. Without Champions League income, this figure would be a fantasy as recently as 18 months ago. There has been a transformational change in the robustness of the Celtic business model in that period.
The Dembele transfer to Lyon pushed the player sales revenue to £17.563m, all of which dropped to operating profit, which was £18.968m. Profit after tax was £15.233m and money in the bank (net of any loans etc.) was a very healthy £37.7m.
Since I started financial analysis on CQN in 2004 I said that Celtic spend all monies received over any business cycle you care to mention – usually taken to task on this point in seasons of surplus, then forgotten about in seasons of loss, but it has always held true. Always.
What does this mean for a club with £37.7m in the bank, which can increase its annual revenue by 30% with Champions League qualification? It means we have the money to buy central defenders and a right back in the summer, while maintaining current wage levels and not selling key players. This does not guarantee we will get the right players in, or that any of them will earn a Champions League bonus. These are the challenges.
Challenges they may be, but such problems are the fantasies of every pretender to our domination of Scottish football. Celtic have more money in the bank than any other surviving football club have turned over in a year in their history (by £5m). If others try to keep up with Celtic they will reach a familiar end. This is the established normal and it is not going to change.
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Ref@Ajax v Real,in my opinion the best I’ve seen this season.But,don’t think we could afford him!
CANAMALAR IT LOOKS LIKE OCD OBSESSION on 13TH FEBRUARY 2019 8:00 PM
Stephbhoy,
All the money goes back into the club, however paying dividends is included as back into the club, the more profit and money in the bank the higher the dividends. So making sure there’s plenty in the bank is actually diverting money from the team to pay preferential shareholders.
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NORRIEM on 13TH FEBRUARY 2019 8:45 PM
So has there been £7m paid out in dividends ????
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Firstly, please note that the accounts that you are looking at compare the position at December 2017 with December 2018 but, as they are six month interims, do not show the period 1 January 2018 to 30 June 2018. Therefore, it is hard to compare balance sheet figures without the intervening period balance.
A cash dividend of £463k was paid on the Convertible Cumulative Preference Shares. A dividend is an external distribution and under no accounting convention “is included as back into the club”
As others have mentioned, profit does not directly translate to cash in bank if some of the money is used to buy players or improve the facilities at Celtic Park (pitch and disco lights etc) or if some of the money due from the profit has not been received yet. The accounts show that we are due to collect £23m within one year and £7.795m after one year of the from “trade receivables” which likely includes player sales. This is cash to come in future.
So, you can see that a profit of £15m does not mean an extra £15m immediately in the bank.
BBC news at it again.
Prolific serial killer.
Named but no photograph or description the killer.
Wonder why?
Quick Google search.
That’s why.
HRVATSKI JIM @ 10.10
Post more often
Down with ’embezzlement’ CSC
£45m cash in bank (gross of loans) = lack of investment in team= failure to qualify for CL group stages= reduced turnover= reduced profit= further downsizing ( See Ronnie years!) = reduced season ticket sales and so on
Just an alternative to balance out the lead article
Of course, a balance needs to be found
HH
CRC
16 ROADS. on 13TH FEBRUARY 2019 10:15 PM
BBC news at it again.
————-
Missed that – who was it?
“Since I started financial analysis on CQN in 2004 I said that Celtic spend all monies received over any business cycle you care to mention – usually taken to task on this point in seasons of surplus, then forgotten about in seasons of loss, but it has always held true. Always.”
Paul67- With £45m gross in the bank and accumulated profits of £25m this statement can only hold true if there is a high spending cycle ahead, Otherwise, we are not re-investing all monies received. I look forward to further investment in the squad :-)
HH
CRC
Norrie M
Profit does not always equal cash.
Changes in working capital (i.e stock, debtors and creditors), loan movements, investment in disco lights and other assets, spend on players and dividends paid account for the changes in cash outside of any cash generated from profits.
HH
CRC
BIG GEORGES FAN CLUB – HAIL, HAIL, WEE OSCAR on 13TH FEBRUARY 2019 10:34 PM
———————-
Samuel Little name of the killer.
Over 90 victims.
HH. ?
https://youtu.be/x4_K0kTAihA
Brilliant stuff
For all those that are bitchin about the money we seem to be storing don’t forget what almost happened around 25 years ago and also what Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás aka George Santayana once said
16 ROADS. on 13TH FEBRUARY 2019 10:15 PM
BBC news at it again.
——————
Not sure what you’re getting at here.
At what exactly?
HH
MACJAY1 FOR NEIL LENNON on 13TH FEBRUARY 2019 8:44 PM
Success is great and signing players makes headlines. money in the bank to secure our future not so much a easy sell in the footballing community. Still it makes sense to me.
When kt broke into our team no one was jumping for joy, we needed better bla, bla, bla if kt was sold tomorrow most would be pissed off in a major way, even class needs a chance to grow into a first teamers when coming through the academy. Same applies to mcgregor and forrest etc… And there appears to be another group following too.
I have no doubt our future success will be as much about getting academy bhoys through the system to support our first teamers (hopefully the best youngish players we can purchasing) as anything else.
We dont need to spend millions every transfer window on several players, if we scout well, train our own well and offer quicker opportunities for the kids to get into the first team.
The current model is ok, selling players for profit is ok, promoting into first team from the academy appears to be improving.
we need better forward planning regards recruitment and replacement and we need to reduce the first team squad to allow for a maybe 3 top range players rather than having 10 or 15 players ‘squad player’, or last resort options. The first and last resort should be the academy when first teamers are not available,
HH
16 Roads – cheers – I’llhave a read
16 Roads
I just checked the BBC news online and the article is about the FBI today releasing drawings made by the killer of his victims to serve the purpose of identifying these marginalised and vulnerable people. That is the purpose of the article and it is a worthwhile one. Those pictures were just released and they are the news.
If you want to see a picture of the killer, you can click on the link on the same page to the coverage of the confession/disclosure which dates from last November; it starts with a full picture of the killer and his race is clearly identified, for what its worth. I really do not see the purpose in highlighting the race of the killer AT THIS TIME. It was already shown without any attempt to hide it once the already imprisoned killer admitted the scale of his killings back in November.
His racial profile is no more important than that of Jeffrey Dahmer or other US serial killers who were not African-American.
The real scandal in this story is the sad and unnoticed deaths of his many victims – and it does not look like there was any racial discrimination in his targetting of victims.
Of course, if you are referring to BBC news TV coverage rather than online, then I did not catch it and I cannot make out what it is that you think is being kept secret here.
bada bing
season 4 of billions starts march 17th on showtime over here.
I don`t blame supporters whingeing about what they perceive to be a lack of financial investment in the team .
I just happen to disagree with them.
The trajectory for Celtic has imho improved dramatically since the departure of Ronny.
I view us as being a work in progress ( awful cliche ) . And progress there has been.
Brendan`s surprising , to me , statement that he wishes to sign Scottish players is heart warming and , coming from an Irishman , most welcome. He patently understands the meaning of the word Celtic and the reason our name was chosen.
Hopefully , as you suggest ,some are promoted from the ranks of the ” reserves “.
As far as reducing the squad numbers is concerned , I think that the current spate of injuries has justified the current size.
The caveat :
Brendan and the backroom boys know what they are doing.
Just maybe , more than I do.
:-)
Above is a response to :
STEPHBHOY on 13TH FEBRUARY 2019 11:46 PM
No one seems to be writing home about our chances against Valencia tomorrow night.
We seem to blinded by the attractiveness of La Liga and the silky skills on on show.
Howevva, with a wee doff of my bunnet, the form of Valencia does not stack up very well under the spotlight.
They are mid table.
They have won ONLY 2 of their last 10 games.
They have won only three from 11 away games.
They have only scored 10 goals in those 11 games.
Granted they don’t ship a lot of goals. A goal a game on average.
So there is absolutely no reason why we should approach this game with any sense of trepidation.
We are scoring freely.
Clean sheets are as common as refs missing red cards against the Huns.
We have stiff competition for places, incentivizing players to excel.
Celtic Park under the lights.
The Green Brigade led wall of noise.
Astute team management.
Valencia will fold. Weak at the knees and blown away.
COYBIG.
STEPHBHOY on 13TH FEBRUARY 2019 7:42 PM
Will never understand why supporters get so annoyed with celtic having money in the bank. I dont think its unreasonable for celtic to have a plan to .
Where did anyone post that it’s unreasonable for Celtic to have money in the bank?
I thought the annoyance was at not strengthening known weaknesses in the team as we had money in the bank.
Most Celtic fans i know are happy Celtic have cash reserves as a well run plc but would like the footballing side to be given some priority as well.
GG
Our patchy performances in Europe have given supporters cause for caution.
There was optimism before playing Salzburg at home and the team not for the first time in Europe under Brendan did not turn up.
We have the individual players to win at this level but under Ronnie and Brendan in the last few European adventures we have rarely shown up as a team.
That the spl is weaker than La liga is not in doubt and gives rise to the cautious views.
To a degree i feel the team and coaches also lacks belief at this level.
In recent spl games we have looked more cohesive and less vulnerable so hopefully it will continue against Valencia.
David 17 5pm ish – 2nd page
It may even be synchronicity or even a propinquity.
HANKRAY 5:23
Excellent post. If KT or Izzy are not available; go with Johnny bhoy at left back… we need oor Cal in midfield. Hail Hail ??☘️
Matt, night night.
Fan-A-Tic
Hopefully our November December CL form will continue and even improve.
I’m sure the team will want to grab this second chance to show our 2018 CL form wasn’t the norm.
And we have certainly seen better football since the break.
Mild mannered… – last post on page 2
Spot on HH
Cana @ 7:51
Spot on too…. it happened with “We’re all……” too
SFTB – 2 HUNbelievable statements of factual untruths.
I got 31 out of 40… happy enough with that… HH T ?
STAIRHEEDRAMMY on 13TH FEBRUARY 2019 8:19 PM
It has to be the most heinous of crimes, punishable only by death….Or as, I agree, my old Da rightly said….”why punish poor wee mice and rats….? We have human rats to test this stuff on?”
Here’s where I’m at with this nonsense…
Did atrocities happen within the Catholic Church – yes
Do these atrocities happen out with the Catholic Church -yes
Should these atrocities ever be used to point score – no
It’s completely wrong and quite sick.
HH????☘️
BIGYINMILAN on 13TH FEBRUARY 2019 8:28 PM
Disagree. Oor KT, Oor Ryan and Oor Cal ain’t here for the money, neither is Brendan. HH???☘️☘️?
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 13TH FEBRUARY 2019 9:51 PM
???one of CQN’s finest HH ?☘️?
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 13TH FEBRUARY 2019 9:51 PM
Can’t disagree with any of that HH
Just the three of us….la la la just the three of us….and then it came to an end.
Criss Cross Oz, around Africa, New Zealand north and south….and finally Antofagasta in Chile and as the in-between-toe-straps eventually dissolved, we parted..feckin wimps!
The three amigos indeed…me and ma flip flops…..Oh how I miss them.
As I pushed them out to sea, I said these final words of affection.
Burns eat yer heart out….To a Flip Flop.
At last they’ve said ‘we’ve had enough’
‘through mud and slush we’ve no more puff
‘Gale and quake and worser stuff
‘no more smooth’n, no more rough’
Antofagasta seen their end
No stitch in time would ever mend
The heel or sole or thong, or lend
A suppleness to sun dried bend.
They simply said with saddened eyes
“It’s not with you our future lies
Recycling now with grubs and flies
Consigned to brine – our last goodbyes”
“But let us say afore we go
That we’ve enjoyed the to and fro
From lions that bite and worms that glow
No challenge brought the answer ‘no’
“Mountains high and valley’s deep
Escarpments treacherous and steep
Where mountain goats would stand and weep
No look we took afore our leap
“But now our flips will flop no more
our walking boots stride aff the floor
for here on Chile’s sun drenched shore
It’s ‘adios’ ….the party’s o’er!”
Hail hail
Matt
WILLIE MALEY: THE MAN WHOSE 30 NATIONAL TROPHIES IN 43 YEARS CHANGED THE FACE OF CELTIC
14/02/2019 by MATTHEW EVANS
When Arséne Wenger stepped down from the helm at Arsenal after 22 years, the platitudes came from far and wide, drowning out the minority of dissenting voices who claimed the game had left him behind. Yet Wenger’s exit signalled the end of an era for British football, five years after his old rival Sir Alex Ferguson brought the curtain down on his own 26-year spell at Old Trafford.
The two led lengthy, trophy-laden careers; contributions that the British game is not likely to see again, with Ferguson even outlasting fellow Scot Sir Matt Busby in the Red Devils hot seat by a year. But while Ferguson’s trophy haul dwarfed the other two, there was one gentleman whose achievements hold up even against the great man from Govan.
Willie Maley was born in Newry, Northern Ireland in 1868, one of three children. His father was stationed there as a sergeant in the Fusiliers before moving the family to a small village on the outskirts of Glasgow when Willie was three years old. The youngest Maley sibling showed a brief interest in athletics before football became his life, after a chance encounter with Celtic’s founder, Andrew ‘Brother Wilfrid’ Kerins. Shortly after the club was formed in 1888, the Irish Marist brother visited the Maley’s family home in Cathcart to invite the eldest son Tom to play for the club and, as legend has it, Willie was asked to accompany his brother to Celtic Park.
Maley had a fairly nondescript career over the next nine years and it wasn’t until he was asked to become secretary/manager in 1897 that his true impact would be felt at the club. Though the first decade of Celtic’s existence saw a hefty fortune spent on attracting professional players to Glasgow, it wasn’t until the 29-year-old’s appointment that the focus turned to the vast array of young footballers the area had to offer.
One thing Maley was keen to do was distinguish Celtic from other teams with Irish roots. This went not only for the fans but also the players, as Maley quoted as saying: “It is not the creed, nor his nationality that counts. It’s the man himself “ .
His impact was immediate, Celtic won the league in Maley’s first season at the helm, winning their fourth and his first league title. Despite this early success, Maley wasn’t a hands-on manager. He stayed away from the training pitch, opted against team talks, and left the players to read in the local newspaper whether they had been picked for the upcoming match.
Whilst this approach is unheard of in the modern game, Maley spent most of his time securing the future stars of Celtic Park. Scouting and procuring the best young talent became an obsession for Maley, who would dig deep into the well, repeatedly rebuilding during his time at the club. One such player was Jimmy Quinn. Maley prised him away from junior club Smithston Albion and, whilst it took some time for him to find his preferred position as a centre-forward, when he did, everything clicked into place.
Quinn first brought himself to the attention of all and sundry during the 1904 Scottish Cup final against Rangers. The Gers went into the break leading 2-0 until a hat-trick in the second half from Quinn secured a memorable comeback from the Bhoys. This provided a springboard for Celtic who went on a run of six successive league wins from 1906 to 1910, giving Maley seven titles in his first 13 years at the club. Despite the success, he refused to rest on his laurels and, aware of the increasing age of his side, he set about building his second team.
The likes of Jimmy McMenemy, James Young and Patsy Gallacher starred for the Bhoys as fans flocked to Celtic Park to witness Maley’s second wave of stars. Europe had descended into the turgid grind of war, and whilst Maley was a firm military supporter, he remained keen on keeping his players out of harm’s way, helping to secure positions in mining and shipbuilding for many of his side.
For those who faced the enemy at close quarters, Maley ensured telegrams of results were sent to the front line in a bid to keep morale up in increasingly difficult circumstances. Upon their return, free entry to Celtic Park was guaranteed to all serviceman, at the behest of Maley.
The second string of title wins began on the eve of World War One in 1913 and lasted until 1917. Within this run of titles, Celtic put themselves in the record books, going 62 games undefeated from November 1915 to April 1917. The unbeaten run, which set a British record, began and ended against Kilmarnock and consisted of 49 wins and 13 draws. The Bhoys plundered 126 goals whilst conceding a mere 16. The cycle of Maley’s second great side continued throughout the 1920s with many more trophies landing at Parkhead.
Maley’s advancing years did nothing to dull his fervour as he approached his fourth decade in charge. His eye for talent still as sharp as a tack, outside right Jimmy Delaney arrived from Stoneyburn Juniors and, alongside the diminutive Jimmy McGrory, Celtic plundered another two league titles in the 1930s taking the total under Maley to 16.
By 1940, he was 72 and Celtic could be found languishing at the bottom of the table. Following a meeting with the board of directors, Maley stood down. The 16 titles along with 14 Scottish Cup victories during his tenure gave Maley 30 major trophies to show for his mammoth 43 years at the helm of the club.
Celtic’s post-war success under the likes of Jock Stein, Billy McNeill and Martin O’Neill risked putting Maley’s achievements in the distant, forgotten past. They were brought back into focus, however, when under Brendan Rodgers’ tutelage Celtic embarked on an unbeaten run of their own. The pinnacle came in 2017 when, a century after the original record was set, Celtic equalled it with a goalless draw against none other than Kilmarnock.
Out of the 62 games, 56 were victories, but the reaction when the record fell the following week emphasised what a remarkable feat Maley’s side had originally achieved. Rodgers spoke of Maley’s team in the national press: “That was a great team with great players, who achieved so much. For us to go beyond them and make it to 63 unbeaten is a special feeling. It is no mean feat.”
Whilst the game has changed since the time of Maley’s Celtic, the standard his team set lasted a century. All that Celtic have achieved over the years may not have been possible without the bar being raised by the man dubbed ‘Mr Celtic‘ .
HH
Valencia fan, “Is it a bird? …Is it a plane?….Aw FFS naw, it’s Oliver Burke!” Ave Ave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=281&v=TjJR-fvGOXc
Good morning CQN from an optimistic Garngad
Come on the leather belts.
Anything where the away team do not score will do.
D. :)
Good morning friends and Happy Matchday. Can’t wait!
Good morning, lovely chilled morning in the Chilterns…
Thanks for all those who broke down the numbers.
16 ROADS. @ 10:15 PM,
That’s a very strange thing go say and well put SFTB.
The guys mum was a prostitute, what colour was she, what colour or religion was his Dad who knows..?
Fact is he doesn’t look black, to me he looks mixed race. Which in the melting pot of America could mean anything.
If your suggesting he has black genetics in that mix and that somehow is the cause of his behaviour you really need to take a long hard look at yourself.
Hail Hail
CHAIRBHOY on 14TH FEBRUARY 2019 6:36 AM
My distinct impression is that 16 ROADS. @ 10:15 PM, was referring to political correctness.