The £11.5m loss Celtic reported yesterday was a significant upside on what could have been. Most revenue streams were cut to the bone, or in the case of match day spend, eliminated completely. That the cub survived without having to drastically change its trading levels was down to four factors.
Season book sales have been the bedrock on which Celtic’s foundations have been built since Fergus McCann took over. Fans buying tickets in the middle of a pandemic was absolutely critical, be in no doubt, you may have never scored a goal, but you played your part for Celtic. You pushed Football Operations income to £20.8m. This figure was £15m lighter than a year earlier, but with no European or cup ticket sales, no food and drinks, it was a remarkable return.
My eye was drawn to Merchandising income: £22.6m, the highest ever figure and up a remarkable £7.6m on the previous season. Achieved with zero match day walk in and very little footfall all season. This was the first season of our kit deal with Adidas and, just as importantly, our retail deal with JD Sports. If season ticket sales are the first leg on terra firma, these commercial deals are the second.
The baseline for Merchandising income is now higher than for Football operations. What does that mean? It means we can budget with a lot more confidence. Multi-year commercial income deals reflect our exposure to multi-year player contracts. This is how you build a football club; enormous credit to the unsung commercial team.
Europa League football help generate £17.3m in our ‘Multimedia and Other’ segment that also includes SPFL payments. This is £2m down on the previous season; second prize does not pay as well as first. The Europa League is not where we want to be, but when we miss out on the Champions League, it is absolutely where we need to be.
Notwithstanding the list of Japanese, Greek, English, Croatian, Israeli and Swedish internationals who arrived this summer, the contribution to our stability from those who left since our last interim reporting period ended on 31 Dec 202, is enormous. If we had not sold Odsonne Edouard, Kris Ajer, Jeremie Frompong and Patryk Klimala for the money we did, the playing squad would look remarkably poorer today.
Every club needs to manage its assets, even the biggest. Buy them at an age and profile you can develop and sell profitably. Not all will make the grade, so those who do need to compensate. The profile of the squad is not looking just as suited to this strategy than it was been for the last decade. Win the league and qualify for the Champions League, and that’s not a problem, but this is not a sustainable strategy. Celtic need to get back on the Asset Management track.
It is probably only after such an appalling season you get to see how robust the club is; built on solid granite. Let’s hope it’s a while before we get to test this again.
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Never
Good piece, Paul. Thanks.
Paul67
Win an away game in the SPL ?
P67
Who wrote this article for you?
Smells of second rate property bean counter to me.
You are trying too hard.
Good article PAUL.
After reading this, I am now certain in my assertion that Dom McKay’s lack of Asset Management in the last transfer window has led to him “standing down”, por cierto
Four pillars …
Two of them involve the fans spending money directly.
One involves our performance on the pitch.
The final one is generating a surplus on player trading.
The ironies abound in this analysis.
We sell better than we buy and we wonder why the EuL is a challenge?
Por cierto 1228
I think you are right on that one and that saddens me. For the first window in a long time I felt Celtic were showing a maturity and acknowledgment that you can’t just ‘manage assets’ and that you do need to buy ready made players at 25 or 25 years old from time to time.
If we are now going back down the route of developing ‘teenage sensations’ as a priority then we lay just have kept PL as CEO.
The next two transfer window will make it much clearer to us.
Yes, we’ll done to the unsung commercial team. That is quite something.
Also well done to the fans. Again.
Given all of these hard-earned advantages you have to question how they were deployed (destroyed) last season. It really is a masterclass in how to fail.
This squad is low on numbers and re-sale values. There is nothing in our form to date that suggests ECL football awaits next season.
Reading between the lines, Dom got shot for departing from the asset management strategy. But I presume (hope) Ange is also ‘implicated’ in this – otherwise, who decided the change?
Hmmmm – nice effort at deflection, Paul, rather than address WHY we don’t qualify for the Champions League!
We’re not exactly getting knocked out by Real Madrid and Chelsea. The four teams who have knocked us out in the last four seasons have accumulated one group stage point out of a possible 72.
We are a better resourced club but we have been badly run. No vision, no ambition, stick to the old firm, no DoF. A new CEO with a progressive vision out the door in 72 days! A guy in to recommend a way forward who thinks you develop young players by getting big men and big women together and seeing what happens! Absolute joke!
You mentioned meritocracy the other week – there certainly seems to be a lot of merit in having Strachan as a surname. Maybe Michaela will get the CEO job!
Oh, and any idea why a manager who resigned got a payoff? Is this normal? Did Brendan Rodgers get one?
‘Season book sales have been the bedrock on which Celtic’s foundations have been built since Fergus McCann took over.’
##
I sometime wonder if Jock Stein would ever have been appointed manager if season books had been so common back then.
For me the challenge is to expand the pillars. On Sunday past, Livi, charged for a streaming service and earned some money in addition to ticketing.
I understand the Club were loath to go down this road last season in order to protect the season ticket base model but with fans now back, it seems a no brainer. Why not charge for a stream to watch the Dundee Utd game on Sunday ? The cost seems minimal given the service is already provided for overseas Celtic tv subscribers.
I’d also like to see the Club working on new income streams like the previously mentioned hotel and Club museum. Let’s maximise our match day revenue and get people going to the stadium on non match days. Such developments would further extend our revenue advantage over our Scottish football rivals.
Long term, a redevelopment of the main stand looks imperative and if we can get an extra 5K or 10K bums on seats for every home game then we’re by some way out on our own in Scotland.
The four pillars are something I want to see our CEO expand upon to provide sustainable growth. If we don’t expand the pillars then it’s hard not to see our strategy as being somewhat lazy.
Paul67 et al
Tuesdays gone
Deja vu all over again
YogiBerraCSC
Enjoyed reading this Pablo. Respect.
I for one appreciate the subject breadth you try to introduce across your articles.
The matches themselves
players and squad
management
finances
structure
sports science
sports governance
the state of other clubs or leagues
… to name a few.
Heaven forbid you post largely the same, tired, repeated messages and stances with only minor tweaks again and again and again (and again !).
Yawn
One point only … Am fine with the Commercial team getting a public pat on the back ….
….. but a very big thank you to supporters SPECIFICALLY for supporting the club through merchandise purchase is also in order.
Glasstwothirdsfull
I doubt Rodgers got a pay off. Generally on transfers contracts are paid up. So, for instance, Eddy left this summer and had 12 months on his deal. Had he stayed he’d have earned let’s say £1.5m. We tell him we want to sell him and he can ask for the £1.5m golden handshake. This usually happens when you sell a dud who will earn less at his new club than he does at us.
Clubs will generally play the “we don’t want to sell so it’s up to you” card as if the players says he wants to go the contract isn’t paid up. Usually this happens when the player will get a stinking pay rise, so ends up better off moving.
I expect Rodgers said he wanted to go, so no payment due (unless stipulated in contract) and we got £9m for him.
Lennon was either fired and thus had severance pay or put it in his contract that if he resigned he would get some sort of bonus (loyalty bonus for time served, etc).
P67 — the optimist’s optimist aka gibbering idiot.
The commercial team …
The ones that left Nike and took up with NB …
And look how that turned out — second rate gear with no global visibility.
Not one of PL’s better ideas.
Football income vs media income:
Do we count EuL performance bonuses / win bonuses as football or media income?
My thoughts would be football.
Might explain the big drop in football income.
AULDHEID on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2021 12:47 PM
JHB
from previous blog
Like you I speak from facts as I know them so here is my perspective.
In May 2013 I met Peter Lawwell and the lack professionalism at the SFA was raised. He agreed but said a Dougie Dougie moment was required to bring about change.
He was fed Dougie Dougie material from May 2013 when alerted it existed but when Canalamar’s Res12 seeking UEFA involvement was deemed unnecessary at and before the 2013 AGM the question why the material provided was not considered was rightly raised at a meeting with 2 requisitioners before the AGM and that led to an impasse on the day.
The following day the idea of an adjournment was raised after a chance meeting with BRTH and Company Lawyer. BRTH posted on CQN why at the time. I think it was the Comp Lawyer who mentioned it, Id have to check.
The thing is at no time over the two days did Celtic say what you say. To shorten it the words ‘its not in the Company’s interest to pursue this lads’ followed up with your reasoning.
I suspect that by 2018 our host was told something on those lines because the authority Celtic gave shareholders to pursue was getting too close to a truth Celtic were not prepared to share with shareholders or the support.
Three points from this. one I see already mentioned .
1 The issue was about SFA governance.
2. Peter Lawwell ,having been put between a rock and a hard place by Rangers behaviour , allowed a widely held belief that Celtic would always stand for probity when it came to facing up to SFA and Rangers to continue. How bad for him and Celtic would the optics have been if Celtic had stated what you said?
3. From the beginning in May 2013 the reason why Res12 began can be laid at the door of PL who gave impression Celtic were for pursuing the matter and sought the material that would have them to do so but in the event ignored it without giving your explanation.
Thus Res12 embarked on a false premise/belief certainly on my part having provided material to Celtic to achieve change at SFA.
Having embarked on that false premise and imo to keep the optics of Celtic wanting to pursue the case , other false premises had to be used which brings me to the UEFA one.
The UEFA response in 2016 left the door open for Celtic to take up the issue, whilst providing by chance the new club company information that has proved useful for our supporters who do not accept the same club myth but, having had a copy Celtic of UEFA reply did not pursue the matter on non compliance or raise the new club matter with SFA.
Folk forget there was non compliance that came out in 2017 when the CW trial revealed what requisitioners were saying, but focussing on the monitoring period only after SFA granted the licence. What was said about the grant period was ignored. That SFA investigation was halted by a clause in the 5WA that required CAS to investigate matters relating to the agreement, an Agreement that Celtic accepted in 2012 but never brought up when requisitioners met them to stop Res12 going further as described above.
Significantly after the 2016 UEFA reply, rulings at CAS on Malaga and Giannina FC placed focus on the grant period providing an insight to the intent of UEFA FFP. Whilst the requisitioners always thought there was something dodgy there, it was not until May 2018 when evidence turned up that when put to a lawyer with some experience of criminal law to opine, based on that evidence, that the licence had been granted by false pretence ie fraud.
That evidence was provided to SFA in June 2018 but never examined and to Celtic on at least three occasions since , leading to statements at the 2019 AGM iro a new Res12 to take case to UEFA from SFA that used UEFA’s response you mention to vote against the 2019 Res12 but totally ignored the information provided regarding the non compliance at the grant period.
That is a major concern to many shareholders who are not in any way foolish in wanting our Directors to be honest with us, we are not stupid and act from self respect when misled.
The Directors should have been in 2013 and it is time they started to be so at next if Celtic are to lay any claim to being not just a club of probity but one who will challenge it where it is lacking, not run away from the truth.
Finally to this day no one in football authority, SFA, UEFA or Celtic or those reporting on football has stated that having looked at the evidence of what took place at the grant period, the UEFA licence was granted properly as UEFA FFP require. NO ONE.
Think about it, why has that been avoided when a full answer of compliance would have ended the issue?
If Asset Management is to remain a major part of the strategy that doesn’t involve asking the fans to contribute more or pursuing an ambituous winning strategy in Europe (with all it riches) then we need to expect a quicker exit for the diminishing asset given age.
He has an absolute stellar season then we need to draw down on the profit for Kyogo next summer as he turns 27 mid-season. Possibly Juranovic and GG too as they hit late 20s. Jury out on the latter.
McCarthy & Hart have no asset value and shipped has sailed on Callum and Jamesey, Abada might come good and could clearly stay for a few years and we have to buy Jota and CCV before actually trading them…
The Academy bhoys still don’t look first team picks yet (Mikey, Welsh, Dane Murray, Dembele or Monty) and the 2 SW fellas look all at sea and in the Benyu / Connell category.
In short, our asset trading pillar looks a bit crap at the moment. Here’s hoping we refocus efforts on winning trophies.
HH
Good article.
The question for me is, how do we future proof these pillars? How to we ensure they continue to contribute?
Profits from resales would suggest we need a robust recruitment strategy to start with.
Season ticket and commercial monies would, ultimately, require success on the pitch.
The pillars need good foundations
AD @ 12.56
What you describe is a growth agenda.
It takes time / effort / planning / investment — no chance DD will sign up for that.
He prefers to bide his time and wait for the EPL to call.
He knows we will keep buying in the meantime.
So why should he put in the effort?
How about better management of the assets that are in the youth set-up? How about those who could have become assets but for want of a bit of vision instead of playing hardball? McGinn, Toney come to mind. Moreover with better asset management we would have gotten more for Edouard, Ajer and Christie as their value plummeted after last season when none of them wanted to be here. The only one we really made a killing on was wee Jeremy and that still mystifies me. Clearly Leverkusen saw something the fans didn’t see. Or was it the fact that their asset management included good coaching and good medical care that helped them to make the decision to buy?
Also why did a lot of promising youngsters leave and others are hardly being challenged by being loaned out to lower leagues. If you are talking about asset management then you need to be sure what good asset management consists of. It seems to me it means more than just buying low and selling high.
Finally given the contribution of the fans in terms of merchandising and ticket sales is so great it makes me ask two questions:
(i) why don’t the board show more respect to the fans?
(ii) why don’t the fans use their strength to force the board to modernis=ze?
Oops! “modernize “
An Dun – completely agree with you that we need to expand the pillars and we’re a bit lazy. We seem to have taken the approach that the fans will always deliver on pillars 1 and 2, pillar 3 is EL with CL being a bonus, and on pillar 4 we’ll kiss a lot of frogs and hope we find enough princes!
We need to look at the things you set out, but we definitely need a close look at how the football side of things works so as to maximise our potential to grow pillars 3 and 4 (which will also provide certainty/growth on the first two pillars. That means implementing a strategy that looks like:
A standardised way of playing across the first team and B team. Below the B-team the focus should be on skills, technique, tactical development and fitness/nutrition best practice;
The First and B teams should play the same way. So the focus for the B team should be on developing the kids to play the way the first team do – if our preferred way of playing is inverted full backs the B team should play that way too. Thus the step up is “easier”. That means First team and B team managers/coaches who fit our style – Ange and Tommy MacIntyre don’t seem a good match in that respect. It also means the manager/first team coaches being more hands on with the B Team.
A clear pathway from B team to first team. This is one of our biggest issues. Some players get lucky and get a run in the team and make a spot their own – Forrest, CalMac, Tierney. Some get spectacularly lucky that they end up being the only available player in their position (Ralston, Welsh). Most don’t make any more than fleeting appearances and leave at the end of their contracts. Even more depressingly, Some players also seem like world beaters at B level but never get a proper chance (Dembele) or disappear to other clubs (the boys who went to Munich, Liverpool, even Hjelde). We need a proper plan to give the boys a chance – start at 18, give them 2 years in the B team and those who kick on are retained and then spend a year or two on loan at a good level. By 21-22 we should be prepared to include the best of them in the first team and that should be our first port of call rather than bringing in a cheap punt to fill a place in the squad.
On recruitment, we need to calibrate our scouting and buying to our style better. We’re a team that passes the ball around and is on the front foot in 90% of matches in a season so need to scout and buy players who fit the bill. No more Bayo’s who have poor control, Klimala’s who play best in a counter-attacking set up, or Duffy’s who need to play in a deep line.
We also need fewer punts – we spread the net relatively wide, bringing in a few each year who need developing. But we don’t have the coaching network to support that (I’ll come to that in a minute) or give them the game time they need to develop. So having a smaller number means we can focus more on that player’s development and our Academy kids who are on the cusp, rather than having to share it around a number of punts. We also need the manager to sign off on the gambles – is he committed to developing and playing them? If not (a la O’Connor, Afolabi, Oko-Flex, the Sheffield Wednesday boys) there’s no point in bringing them to the club. When it works it works well – Frimpong, Ajer – but it needs to be planned better.
We need to be less worried about buying experience – a core of role models is needed to support and guide our Academy graduates and punts. We need to have around 8-10 players who form the core of the team – we may not make any money from them, but they are important for the stability of the team (especially in August when we have traditionally chopped and changed).
We need to be best in class at fitness, nutrition, rehab. We might not be the best team there is but we can be the fittest and seek to minimise injuries and absences.
We should recognise that the manager/first team coach is intrinsic to our success. We should stretch the budget here to get the best we can – someone who signs up to our way of playing/ethos and can develop players while bringing results. That way we support the player trading element of the strategy, the youth development element, and minimise the qualifying disasters we seem to regularly experience.
We should support the manager with a good coaching and support network. There’s no point taking a rough gem and trying to polish them up when there’s only 3 members of the coaching team who pack the time to do one on one coaching to improve players. Equally, a good analytic team can work with a player to highlight areas to improve (are they too slow turning to the left compared to the right? Do they take up the optimal positions when not on the ball?).
In short, spend our money more wisely – we take the lottery ticket approach – buy a load of tickets and we’ll get lucky with one. Really we should be taking an approach that focusses our spending to maximises our potential.
We lost the spine of the team …. So what to do replace with experience or a bunch of youngsters ….. it’s so obvious what to do it’s ridiculous but apparently said correct course of action got the new CEO his jotters … comedy hour filling up the internet again.
I guess this is symptomatic of when you lose / fall off a pedestal, folks start thrashing about looking for reasons / excuses …. Someone must be to blame , surely …. Manager, coaches , recruitment, sports science , Pete , and on and on , etc etc etc …. all of the above .
Paul’s piece is a collection of facts – whether folk like them, or, not, they are what they are.
We will never ever be able to replace like for like when we trade players. It will always be top quality out ( because they are quality and someone higher up the ‘food chain wants to buy), and decent pros and prospects in, with the hope that some may develop, be sought after, and sold.
That’s the world we live on – a world where we get c£4m when winning our league, and the likes of Watford, Brighton, Burnley, Crystal Palace, Norwich…etc, can expect £150m over three seasons (incl parachute payments) if finishing in the bottom three and are relegated from the EPL.
Champions League football gives us a taste of the high-life periodically, however although still within our reach, it is consistently outwith our grasp during qualification. The Europa League is now our level, however as the last couple of seasons have shown, a build-up of coefficient points in conjunction with our ‘friends’ across the city, can provide automatic entry into the CL, if a number of other variables throughout Europe fall into place – a bit like the Lottery really.
The supporters who buy season tickets and club merchandise have excelled in this very difficult time, as have those who run the club in a proper financial manner. However some executive decisions in the past couple of years have impacted us on the field, together with a collection of disgraceful performances by highly-paid players on the pitch last season.
Finally on Dom – I believe, reading between the lines, he fell on his own sword…why? Maybe “personal” will always stay personal.
Spidey101
Just seems a bit strange. If he was sacked then pay him what he is due and say he was sacked. If he resigned then surely that’s his choice and I would have thought that would have meant he gives up any entitlement to anything?
Let’s rewind a year and a bit and consider the mindset of ourselves and our rivals across town. We were all in for 10IAR and they were all in for stopping it. They maxed out on season books and so did we. We matched them £ for £, and then some.
This was all played out against a background of Covid and lockdown. The Jason Leitch’s of this world sounded confident that fans would be back in grounds around October’20, so we would watch from home the first half dozen games at CP, and come the autumn, pile back in to witness the 10. Didn’t happen.
If we had known that CP would be out-of-bounds for the entire season, and if we were only going for, say 3IAR, would the support have forked out £20.8m of our hard earned ? I don’t think so. Nowhere near it.
The board got lucky that the support donated £20.8m as a result of the historical significance of the season. Very lucky indeed. Like the Kelly’s and White’s before them, their luck will eventually max out.
Being a Wednesday, it’s Brian Wilson day over at The Herald. Sleepy Brian’s weekly it-would-never-have-happened-in-my-day column. Today is about the gas supply issue and, for once, Sleepy Brian doesn’t have a dig at the Nats, but the Greens get a wee slap.
Maybe one day our elderly historian will give some opinions on Celtic FC, and if he agrees with P67 that asset management is more enjoyable that a big Champions League night under the disco lights.
Just had the misfortune of watching much of the BBC’s One O’clock News.
The level of incompetence of the UK Government is staggering.
Asset management — PL style …
Two huge talents in KA and OE and we sold them for relative buttons.
One — because we had to.
Two — they had been playing in a failing team for the last 12 months.
Outcome — sold for a pittance.
If they had been playing in a good footballing side in 20/21 with games in the CL then we would have made double on them. That is the lack of depth and sophistication that is beyond DD and his well paid stooge aka PL.
Our target has to be the CL group stages every season.
No excuses / no NB at CB / no last minute scrambles — just hard work and preparation.
Finally why do we need to be a selling club — run a surplus in player trading?
Do we not bring in enough money as a football business or do we pay mediocrity too much?
Currently both the club and its PL inspired business model are not fit for purpose.
All we have between us and footballing collapse is AP.
There is no learned behaviour at CP to fall back on.
Facts — there are P67 facts and then there is reality.
The CL is beyond us — tell that to the Moldovans / tell that to JH / tell that YBofB.
That attitude — 100 years ago — determined that working people should not have baths in the house as they would only keep coal in them.
Tripe then / Tripe now.
S101 @ 1.14
We need to play more football — all across the patch.
We need to keep the B team.
We need to invest in women’s football.
We need to provide more visibility for the youths — U17 / U18 / U19 / U20’s.
We need to put a team into the Juniors to give more game time to the 21/22 year olds that can’t make into the matchday squad / challenge .
We need a feeder team / franchise in the US / Canada / Australia.
We need links to football in Ireland — break the hold of the EPL in the 22 counties that ignore us.
We need to more / better prospecting in Iceland / Norway / Sweden.
We need to keep our finger on the Israeli market — any more LA’s?
Also work the AP angle in East Asia — Japan / Korea / AN Other.
Also take a punt in the Iranian market — use MI6 if we need to.
All we need is effort and focus.
DD offers neither and should be retired ASAP.
Then we can try the fridge phone.
We need
… a growth agenda / leadership / lots of inspiration.
Statement to the SE says “resigned”. Accounts says “settlement agreements on contract termination”.
Make of that what you will!
AULDHEID on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2021 1:08
—–
Thank you for your reply, which in keeping with all you post is clear, concise and erudite.
Of course I agree with you that during that time there was cheating and subterfuge involving those at Ibrox and the authorities in Scottish football. Like you I wish that certain things could have been selected out and dealt with separately whilst the maelstrom was raging, e.g. the licence thing and the LNS debacle. However in explosive situations like these an overview and appteciation on how the debris falls, who is held ultimately responsible and how it affects them, whether through consequences, or, punishment, is the best we can expect.
An example may be the Levinson Enquiry into the disgusting long-term practices of the media. The overall picture was exposed but not every single wrong was righted, not every victim acknowledged and compensated.
However new standards were set and vigilance heightened. We at Celtic will be aware and recognise the signs sooner if there was a ‘next time’.
My view is that we must move on from 2012 – continually holding our club officers in contempt for decisions they may have/ may not have, made in the interests of Celtic, is counter-productive and undermines the fabric of the club.
They whole farce was not of Celtic’s making and yet some would partially tar it with the same brush that should be reserved only for those who perpetrated and facilitated this dastardly, wilful and premeditated fraud.
Respectfully I say, your efforts have been admirable and driven by right – however it is now time to move.
The Club’s communication to fans is appalling. As a share holder and fan, I’ve no idea what our KPIs are – we’ve a board that continues to congratulate themselves on a job well done but without known KPIs, how do we measure their success ?
Where is the review Dom McKay promised ? Where is the commitment to be the best we can be in all facets of the Club ? Where is the growth strategy ? Where is the youth strategy that Spidey refers to ?
If you engage fans then we move forward but this board seems to mistrust the support. We’ve so much more we need to improve upon outside the four pillars in P67’s article.
25 years post Fergus we’re still very much exclusively about season tickets and shirt sales. Where is the 21st century strategy that I thought McKay was going to initiate?
We all know Lenny was going nowhere without his payout (despite his previous public assurances to fans). He got his pay out and we now move on.
I think we will find that Eduoard got more than his £1.5m end bonus. For a start he would get a 10% cut of the transfer fee. I had heard that Eduoard was not taking any transfer and was awaiting a Bosman. Now on the Final day he changed his mind and left for a Fee reported as £14m.
Now I reckon he would have got a bigger cut to agree the transfer. £1.5m + £1,5m plus what extra bonus say another £3m. 40% was going to PSG anyway. Of course agents fees on top of that. I reckon we only got our £9m back and 40% of £0 to PSG.
This could have been repeated in Christies deal to a lesser extent.
It seems clear that Desmond lost confidence in McKay by the end of the Transfer window. With Desmond I reckon it has to be about money. Follow the money they say. Non asset Management has to be at least part of the issue.