Celtic rested a goalkeeper, four defenders, two central midfielders, a striker and a winger, but were able to shine on against Championship Raith Rovers. The 5-0 scoreline reflected the gap between clubs at the top of the Premiership and those mid-table in the division below. Rovers manager Barry Robson is only six weeks in the job and is the third manager the club have had this season. A turnaround will not be easy.
Raith sit two points below Queen’s Park, although the Kirkcaldy side have a game in hand. Queen’s also have the burden of a Scottish Cup quarterfinal to contend with (in case you missed some of the weekend’s results).
Queen’s are in a miserable run of form. They have lost five and drawn one and won one of their seven league games in the last two months. Manager Callum Davidson seemed to have hit the wall, but can rely on his old modus operandi of winning Scottish Cup ties at Ibrox to keep himself in a job for a few weeks yet.
Saturday was the 25th anniversary of a pivotal moment in our modern history. Championship side Inverness Caledonian Thistle knocked Celtic out of the Scottish Cup on 8 February 2000. Celtic knew they could do better and the following day manager John Barnes was sacked.
When a club considers sacking their manager this is always the crucial question: Can we do better, or is this acceptable? I will go out on a limb here and predict Newco will not sack Philippe Clement after yet another humiliation. Results like this are now accepted at Ibrox. In a few years, the fans will be comfortably numb, humiliations will no longer hurt.
“Money”, is often Phil’s cited defence, but he was unable to rely on that excuse last night. He also diverted blame away from himself and to the players, saying, “Today was nothing to do with tactics. It’s about the quality of the moment.” Which is an interesting strategy. His claim that Newco players “wanted it too much” suggests he had yet to watch a reply of Jefte at the Queen’s goal.
And that penalty kick! Referee Calum Scott; hmmmm.
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The Rainjurz are comin
Message to Celtic
Give off your very best, I know you will. BUT, remember, big ‘Arry is a diving twat. Makes me laugh when you see the size of him, a fekkin fraud of a man
KINGLuBO
BigChipsUK on 10th February 2025 2:37 pm
FRITZSONG, rangers have had far fewer penalties this season than in past seasons,
Yes, BigChips. But my guess is that the ‘Penalty to Rangers’ stats were becoming an international embarrassment. Again, my guess is that, as an experiment, Scottish referees were instructed to award penalties to Rangers only when penalty offences had been committed.
BIGCHIPSUK
And should Celtic (as expected) lift both the SPL and Scottish Cup this season, rangers’ tally will be 3 out of 43 trophies. For comparison, Celtic will have won 30/43.
And still some Celtic supporters will claim that the board are happy to sit just ahead of the Govan mob.
The ending to yesterday’s game with the penalty award and VAR review to see if the goalie had moved off his line speaks to the desperation of Scottish refs to pull out all the stops to prevent their beloved team from losing no matter what how much their own personal reputation for being honest and professional might suffer. The worst incident of this kind, however, was surely John Beaton, when Rangers were trailing 0-1 to Albion Rovers in the last minute of a Cup game at Ibrox some years ago when Mohsni bundled the Rovers goalie into the net from a corner kick and Beaton pointed straight to the centre circle to signal a goal.
Was unaware zombies suffer from a(upthe)rachnophobia.
A very nourishing Sunday.
We’re gonna need new Duraglip.
TEEHEEHEEcsc :0)
Then they brought Dessers on
TheOriginalSadiesBhoy on 10th February 2025 4:03 pm
“The worst incident of this kind, however, was surely John Beaton, when Rangers were trailing 0-1 to Albion Rovers in the last minute of a Cup game at Ibrox some years ago when Mohsni bundled the Rovers goalie into the net from a corner kick and Beaton pointed straight to the centre circle to signal a goal.”
Not seen that one but it must have been bad to beat Clint Hill scissoring (!) Griffiths from behind – two legs waist height and nowhere near the ball. GK. No penalty for us. That might have been Beaton too.
Worse decision I’d seen since the Neil Lennon no penalty at £1brox. Not seen the weekend’s penalty back yet (Sportscene is on tonight’s list) but no doubt the whole panel will agree it was a stone-waller. Does the VAR review show cover Cup games as well as SPFL ?
The referee awarded the Hun penalty AFTER the clock had ticked over the 5 minutes stoppage time mark, yet after the save and the desperate var check on the legality of the keeper’s dive, Rangers were afforded such additional time as to take not one but two corners before the official decided to call a halt.
WTF is going on?
itscalledthemalvinas on 10th February 2025 1:21 pm
Radio phone in’s should be a delight tonight.
Bet its full of adverts,lol 2 calls by 6.30
Still …….
HH
is he gone yet?
T.O.S.B
Re that Alloa game was that the game that gave song to the banter years👇
https://youtube.com/shorts/2dLNKHtQTWw?si=MGwKrp_p4RWi9ogS
Or am i getting basted in banter :-))
Still laughin
HH
!!Bada Bing!! on 10th February 2025 1:50 pm
I helped Mrs Maeda witht he two weans up the stairs at hampden couple of seasons ago, the bhoy was just a baby.
watching him run off the park yesterday, get him signed up now, he has those buzz bomb dna.
AJ interview ahead of Bayern @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCIPCfOzLVA
meanwhile over on ff, they are debating the appropriatness of The Onion Pears singing GOD SAVE THE KING on the 90th minute, when the team needs support.
as a spectacle it just reminded me of trying to get out the rankin hall in greenock before they sang it at the end of the night.
i was up the cathedral early afternoon, some german fans in town already and doing the bus tour.
Enjoyable stuff Paul.
A few different things in today’s fryup.
Top of SPFL plays Championship midtable.
Very top of SPFL rest plenty and get job done.
Nearly top (OK, not nearly) rest few but crash.
I’m particularly grateful to Paul for this gem
“Today was nothing to do with tactics. It’s about the quality of the moment.”
Words cobbled together without meaning.
Ted Rodgers used to do the same … often immediately by “You’ve won Dusty Bin”.
One aspect of yesterday’s sorry tale hasn’t aired much yet.
The irretrievably staunch likely feel their … ahem … heroes fell three rounds short in the cup.
Bless ’em (or perhaps not in fact. Not to their faces anyway).
The club leadership – responsible for more realistic financial planning – could reasonably expect reaching the semis.
My fag packet estimate of revenue lost?
£1m.
Go Radio football show is absolutely wonderful listen tjid evening this is why they are in this shambolic state 🍿🤣
https://thisisgo.co.uk/shows/the-go-radio-football-show/
TheOriginalSadiesBhoy on 10th February 2025 4:03 pm
The ending to yesterday’s game with…
—
Remember that one. A total disgrace.
Wasn’t he the clown that went ape shit after Motherwell beat thek in rhe playoffs? That was true comedy gold.
Just watched Sportscene. To be fair to the huns, if that Penalty incident was against us, I’d be claiming it. I’d never expect the ref to give us it mind, and if he did, I’d expect VAR to intervene.
The panel seemed to focus on if it was a corner or not; with only one (inconclusive) angle shown – camera behind the goal used for other highlights but not used to clear that one up and strangely the “Tavernier didn’t complain so the ref must have got it right” type logic was not uttered as it always is anytime we are denied a foul / penalty and our players don’t protest (or even when they do – see Trusty’s recent winning of a penalty).
Billy Dodds looked raging. Hehehe
Saint Stivs on 10th February 2025 5:02 pm
meanwhile over on ff, they are debating the appropriatness of The Onion Pears singing GOD SAVE THE KING on the 90th minute, when the team needs support.
as a spectacle it just reminded me of trying to get out the rankin hall in greenock before they sang it at the end of the night.
_____
😂😂
Saint Stivs on 10th February 2025 5:02 pm
meanwhile over on ff, they are debating the appropriatness of The Onion Pears singing GOD SAVE THE KING on the 90th minute, when the team needs support.
as a spectacle it just reminded me of trying to get out the rankin hall in greenock before they sang it at the end of the night.
____
😂😂I remember it used to be played in the pictures (cinema for any young yins) before the film started. The good old days 😁
Celtic have announced a pre tax profit of £43.9million – up almost £12m from this time last year. And the Parkhead club still have £65m sitting in the bank despite breaking their transfer record twice
Celtic have released their Interim Report for the six months to December 31, 2024.
Key Operational Items
14 home fixtures (2023: 14).
Participation in the UEFA Champions League group stages for both the Men’s and Women’s first teams.
Post period end qualification for the play-off round of the Men’s UEFA Champions League.
Winners of the Premier Sports Cup 2024.
Key Financial Items
Revenue reduced by 2.1% to £83.5m (2023: £85.2m).
Profit from trading before intangible asset transactions was £26.9m (2023: £32.0m).
Profit from transfer of player registrations (shown as profit on disposal of intangible assets) £21.5m (2023: £2.6m).
Profit before taxation of £43.9m (2023: £30.3m).
Acquisition of player registrations of £28.1m (2023: £12.9m).
Period end cash of £65.4m (2023: £67.3m).
Tax to be taken off that figure of £11 Million.
CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
The results for the six months ended 31 December 2024 show revenues of £83.5m (2023: £85.2m) and a profit from trading, representing the profit excluding other income and player related gains and charges, totalling £26.9m (2023: profit of £32.0m). The profit before finance income & expense and taxation (“PBIT”) amounted to £43.9m (2023: £30.3m).
Although reported revenue has fallen by £1.7m (or 2.1%), and the total matches played over the period of 14 was in line with the same period last year, the match composition varied from the prior period and consequently, this impacted the amount recognised per match in the first half of the year. In addition, as the new UEFA format now introduces games in the second half of the financial year, an element of UEFA revenue requires to be deferred and recognised in the second half of the year. Both factors have led to the reduction in reported revenue but will reverse in FY25 H2.
Profit from trading has reduced £5.1m between the six months ended 31 December 2024 compared to the same period last year due to a number of factors including, higher labour costs, the full year effect of higher utility contracts entered into in the prior year and significant stadium preventative maintenance spending. The increase in the PBIT of £13.6m to £43.9m was mainly driven by the exit of seven players resulting in the net gain on player trading of £21.5m (2023: £2.6m) which included Matt O’Riley, Bosun Lawal, Tomoki Iwata, Michael Johnston, Yuki Kobayashi, Daniel Kelly and Hyeongyu Oh.
It is important to note with respect to cash and cash equivalents, that over the last six months, despite significant profitability from player trading and a successful Champions League campaign, we saw a £11.8m reduction in cash reserves from £77.2m at 30 June 2024 to £65.4m at 31 December 2024 (31 December 2023: £67.3m). The key drivers of this were the significant transfer spend incurred in the period, where we exceeded our record transfer spend twice, and the investment into the first team playing squad wage costs, and our continued investment into infrastructure including our Barrowfield development, Lennoxtown and Celtic Park.
During the January 2025 transfer window, we acquired the permanent registration of Jota and the temporary registration of Jeffrey Schlupp. In addition, we extended the contract of Kasper Schmeichel and entered into a pre-contract agreement that will see Keiran Tierney return to Celtic in July 2025. We disposed of the registrations of Kyogo Furuhashi, Alexander Bernabei and placed Luis Palma, Odin Holm and Stephen Welsh on Loan.
Our commitment as always is to invest in continuous improvement in all areas of the club and, most importantly, in the first team squad. The success of our model has ensured that funding is available to acquire players who will contribute to ongoing success. We invested significantly in the summer transfer window and while we aimed to do more in the recent window, we go into the remainder of the season from a strong position and with confidence.
At the time of writing, we sit in first position and 13 points ahead in the SPFL and in December 2024 secured a victory over Rangers to win the Premier Sports Cup. We have also progressed to the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup as we aim to retain this trophy for the third consecutive year. Following finishing 21st of 36 in the Champions League group phase, we entered the knock-out round of the competition, which sees us drawn against German Bundesliga league leaders and six times European Champions Bayern Munich, in what will be both a challenging and exciting tie.
Our Women’s team reached its first ever Champions League Group Stage competition where we were drawn against Chelsea, Real Madrid and Twente. This was a challenging group and whilst we were unable to secure a victory in our first venture in the Women’s Champions League, we were proud of the performances, and Elena and the team took much experience from it. At the time of writing, our Celtic Women’s team sits joint top with Glasgow City in the SWPL in what is an exciting and highly competitive league. Four teams sit within two points of each other and with 12 games remaining our Women’s team are competing to retain the SWPL title won last season for the first time.
The Club’s earnings profile and cash generation from trading is biased toward the first half of our financial year and we naturally expect a seasonal downturn in earnings in the second half of the year. This reflects the fact that receipts from European competition are largely recognised in the first half of the year, whereas the second half does not benefit from this. In addition, strong player trading gains in August 2024 were not replicated in January 2025. This seasonal profiling is entirely within expectations and our planning assumptions. Our outturn earnings can also be materially impacted by football success and the year-end assessment of player registration carrying values. Taking all of this into consideration, we would expect our total outturn financial performance for the year ending 30 June 2025 to be significantly lower than the result posted for the first six months of the financial year.
I wish to extend our gratitude and appreciation to our supporters for the backing of our Club on behalf of the Board. Thanks also must go to our employees, shareholders and commercial partners for their continued support.
Peter Lawwell
Chairman
10 February 2025
INTERIM RESULTS 2024
Released 10 February 2025
https://cdn.celticfc.com/assets/downloads/SE_notifications/CelticPLC-Interim-Report-2024.pdf
That’s all very good but what happened to the Kyogo money?!
somebody phone clyde and tell them we made so much profit we actually gave HMRC £11M in tax.
That £ 11 should have been invested on a Fanzone,that says it all about our club,they don’t care about the ordinary Celtic Fan who stand outside Celtic Park in all kinds of weather.
quadrophenian on 10th February 2025 12:03 pm
Hello
====
Think you missed a trick there after Paul’s Floyd references…
the wall
comfortably numb,
Money
=====
Hello? (Hello, hello, hello)
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me
Is there anyone home?
Come on (Come on, come on), now
I hear you’re feeling down
Well, I can ease your pain
😁😉
Timbhoy163
Re tax
We had a gross profit of £43m paying £11m tax leaving £32m net profit.
In order to pay no tax we would have to spend £43m on projects.
If we spent £11m on projects then our gross profit would be £32m paying £8m in tax
From memory I think we paid over £4m in the 6 month period prior to this one, so £15m for the year
We would then have something to show for the spend .
I understand about £94Bn is raised in corporation tax – what if every company paid none.
Celtic plc seems to lack imagination on how to deal with all this money in the bank and by charging the prices they do for tickets merchandise etc the club turns a hefty profit regularly , how many season tickets does £11million buy? That is what we have handed back to HMRC.
Im not advocating none , but look after the needs of the team and supporter better. Use some of the money , financials look stable so it can be planned for.
How many nurses does £11m pay for