I know many of us are annoyed that a Celtic player, who didn’t appeal for a foul, is not being charged for inappropriately looking for one, is headline news today. This is all a consequence of Sky Sports pundit Neil McCann’s insistence that John Guidetti cheated, while he simultaneously acknowledged Guidetti didn’t actually claim for a penalty.
TV analysis can enrich viewers’ appreciation of the game, but it has to carry a degree of responsibility too.
Those of us from Scotland will be familiar with the summertime noise of a scramble – pennies dropping all around you. It’s a wedding-day tradition, when the father of the bride throws coins into the street for kids to collect as he and the bride leave for the ceremony.
Today’s story in the Record, lifted from a fans’ group, that newco Rangers receive approximately 75p for every £10 spent with Rangers Retail, the joint-venture between the football club and Mike Ashley, must have had pennies dropping everywhere.
These figures are for last season, so predate whatever new arrangement Ashley was able to negotiate for the return of stadium naming rights. We’ve covered this point before, but it’s worth reiterating:
Football clubs are in fact a series of business units. Few make a profit over any business cycle but there are profitable business units inside every club, including retail, trackside advertising, media rights and kit deals.
Football operations almost always lose money. The considerable cost of operating a stadium, recruiting and employing footballers (and occasionally a manager on an onerous contract) isn’t met by ticket sales, even at community football level.
The club accounts detail how much financial control Ashley has over newco’s profitable revenue streams, from retail, to kit supply to trackside advertising. The true consequences of forming the with investors looking for a financial return, as newco did in 2012, should now be apparent.
If the club has a future it will have to survive pretty much on ticket sales alone. As we’ve covered before, when you need to pay circa £17m p.a. to open the doors at a club which will occasionally house 50,000 spectators, and your gate receipts and hospitality sales totalled £12.3m last season, you have a chronic problem.
Even if ticket sales doubled in value, there would still leave only around £7m to pay for football operations, a figure the likes of Kilmarnock can survive on, but you have to wonder if a ‘Rangers’ brand is viable at that level?
Does this sound like a viable football club to you? If so, let’s see how it looks after Ashley has his pound of flesh for financing the second half of the season. No wonder fans are so keen to stop him.
I see newco have appointed WH Ireland as their nominated advisers, a name you may be familiar with. Back in May 2012, Kitalba, with an astonishing degree of understatement (“It couldn’t be clearer”), noted here in the comments section the breadcrumb trail between Craig Whyte, a whole series of his companies and associates, and the aforementioned WH Ireland. It’s worth a 15 minute read.
It’s the big Glasgow derby tomorrow and Celtic sponsor Magners have offered us two premium seats in the Jock Stein Stand. All you need to do to win the seats is to email me the name of our opponents, at celticquicknews@gmail.com
Competition closes at 22:00 tonight, so check your email thereafter. Tickets can be collected from the ticket office before the game.
Planning is underway for Mary’s Meals to build a kitchen Chibwata Primary School, Dowa, Malawi, which we in the CQN community have committed to paying for. We have already built three school kitchens in Malawi this year, so I am sure we will complete this one sometime over the coming months.
Sorry, the MyDonate page is now open for business!!
Many thanks.
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The referee in question after a brief encounter with davidopolous in a toilet.
http://www.tff.org/Resources/TFF/Auto/a49739a3f4ee45f796382ec47dfaa1ea.jpg
Geordie Munro
Cheers, seems a bit bizarre alright, pretty sure even Aberdeen and Dundee Utd will be disappointed with that
HH
My bhoy works in a sky call center to fund himself through uni. Told me last night took 2 complaints about Tanner.Don’t think it will make a blind bit of difference but if you have sky there Is a complaints procedure.
The whole lot of referreeing in Scotland at senior level is garbage, to think they get around £600 a match in the SPL and want more is a national scandal, Dallas certainly raised their profile and sense of self importance. Collum this weekend Thompson last weekend useless referrees and they are probably the best, the SPFL need to reject the appointment of these charlatans by the SFA and demand that they can hire from other associations, maybe UEFA could do this as a service to all leagues, dont remember much controversy other than Chick Young complaining when they were hired during the strike, leave it up to you to decide who organised that.
Geordie Munro
13:48 on 2 December, 2014
The referee in question after a brief encounter with davidopolous in a toilet.
http://www.tff.org/Resources/TFF/Auto/a49739a3f4ee45f796382ec47dfaa1ea.jpg
———————————————-
To be fair, he wasn’t actually looking at me when he made the judgement…
Davidopolous,
Boom boom. :)
Paul67
Don’t forget David Spanner initiated the agenda against John Guidetti.
Aff oot H H
The craziest thing being said is the mini huns would have got back in the game , had the penalty not been given,hearts are pure shit and we did not have to play anywhere near our level of last season to win
KEEP CHRISTIANITY OUT OF IRELAND NO MORE MISSIONARIES
SORRY MEANT AFRICA
mullet and co 2
13:26 on
2 December, 2014
Why though would Ashley do that? Probably the most in profit he could ever hope to see out of Rangers in a single season would be a decent CL Group stage campaign and that might get him around £15-20M total profit including merchandise. The problem is he’s going to have to put in another £8M this season, at least the same again next season + replacing more than half the first team, if not more. Then even bigger losses IF he gets straight into the CL at the first time available until that CL money comes in.
I’d say you’re looking at at least £50M input to get even close to a sniff of the Champions League money. So let’s say he manages to get Rangers in at 1st time of asking. He needs 3 years of CL Group football on the trot to cover what he’s put in but with squad refreshment there’s probably been at least another £20M or so required for the squad in that time. So that’s another season of CL Group football. So his first hope of any actual profit is after 5 seasons of CL group football – 7 years after his initial investment. Each year he’s not in the CL it means he needs 2 years back in to recover the losses.
I’m sorry I don’t see it. If he’s able to get them chuntering along for almost zero input and still take £3-5M out each year, that’s what he’ll do.
Bsr,
To be fair, that was the first time Tanner has been a little turd since the last time :)
Lawwellsacountants,
I always get them two muddled up.
So far this year we’ve had trial by TV on Derk Bo, Aleksander Tonev and now John Guidetti, it’s getting so that practically every game we play the pundits are screaming for some kind of action against our players perhaps it’s time someone reigned these clowns in, overpaid bloated pimples on the ugly arse of a game so corrupt it makes you boak.
And to think I used to laugh at Arthur Montford, more fool me…
“It’s a floater”
Keevins was banned for much less than what McCann is up to, any sky match he is spurred on by tanner to have a pop at celtic even more so since lennie left as he thinks RD will not pull him on it, we should insist that he apologises to celtic and JG before he is allowed back into CP, onceahun
Have a look at the back and front cover of the 2015 CQN Annual on our Facebook page…
https://www.facebook.com/CQNMagazine
Celtic have had two SC home draws out of the last seventeen.
proudbhoy
12:52 on 2 December, 2014
Doooohhhh ….. Everyone has problems, especially during this recession and, in our Club’s case, the difficulty competing with big spenders……. But, hey, why let facts get in the way ….. HH ……. Let’s see how the transition goes with Ronny …… I am a delighted Celtic Supporter, but have to admit that a major element of that SHEER ELATION is done to the fact that the hate-filled bhuns are deed, gone, liquified, zombiefied…and spat out by Green & Whyte, so far haha haha haha haha haha……. TICK TOCK
bournesouprecipe
14:15 on 2 December, 2014
Bless them, and their wee furry balls …….. Hahahahahahaha
bournesouprecipe
Two too many if you ask me, we should also play with ten men in the Cup just to make the field level:)))
I would encourage everyone to go to article from Kitalba that Paul links in his main article.
Then scroll to the top of the page, a podium clean sweep:-)
Ah the memories:-)
Starry plough,
“overpaid bloated pimples on the ugly arse of a game so corrupt it makes you boak.”
Could you clarify, please….hahahahahaahah
Phil’s latest:
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/the-devil-is-in-the-retail/#more-5356
HH
Oops! Wrong link. Try this.
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/welcome-to-the-pity-party/#more-5369
HH
Yet again more crap from Sky/DR etc,yet again the Club does nothing.They asked the DR for comments, re the belittling of a serious assault on Zaluska,big wow,nothing happened.The Club love it when blogs like this fight their corner,they perceive that any issues are being dealt with IMO.The Club love playing the ‘poor victim’ card constantly.
God bless arthur montford, but when we were growing up, he was regarded as being a bit old fashioned and not as good as archie macpherson.
Scotsport seemed inferior at the time to sportscene.
Then arthur left scotsport and jim white with gerry mcnee came in and the real succulent lamb stuff kicked off
Bsr,
Are you sure? It was mentioned last night.
I’m sure I counted 4 outta 18. Still pretty odd imo.
67Heaven … I am Neil Lennon ….The angels are with Wee Oscar in Heaven.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors
I’m being nice:))
Bring on Glasgow’s second team The Harry Wraggs!
From phil’s piece….
“As The People wallow in self-pity the mood can quickly turn ugly and the lynch mob barracking outside of Glasgow sheriff court is another manifestation of klan performance art.”
Should we await the launch of a new fan website for the new club?
‘Wallow Wallow’ anybody?
HH jamesgang
geordie
Most of the stuff on the ole Internet is made up copyright DBBIA
Weeminger 14:03
Spot on. The MSM think Rangers (sic) getting back (sic) to where they were five years ago means getting back to a well-run club. They refuse to see it was a financial basket-case . But we know the reality.
‘Watch your back Archie’
AM RIP
That awkward moment when there’s a man on your train wearing a Christmas jumper.
Bsr,
Lol.
I’m getting Arbroath, dons, Dundee and Queens Park in last 18.
Part of me thinks that’s terrible.
The lazy assed part of me that can’t be bothered moving from the couch doesn’t worry so much :)
New Article somewhere?
A lot of talk about Mick “The Tim” running things over at Poundland, whatever ever happened to those lovable rascals The Sleazedales?? Out the picture? Sleeping with the trainers? In one of Ally’s pies?? The clot thickens…
http://youtu.be/ruHNBNzNovU
The man himself, his sports jackets the envy of half of Glasgow:)))
A dire warning from the past that should resonate with considered humility, but is instead ridiculed, often with virulent disdain.
Adam shakes Ibrox pillars with warning of bankruptcy
Published on the 02/02/2002 00:00 The Scotsman
THERE are licensed premises in Glasgow where the regular patrons will consider the recent deeds and utterances of the former Rangers director, Hugh Adam, to be nothing less than acts of treason.
This should be regarded as a natural, almost understandable, reaction from immovably devoted supporters of the Ibrox club to the decision by Adam to unload his 59,000 shares in Rangers on the basis that they were heading towards worthlessness, thanks to the unsatisfactory business methods of the chairman, David Murray.
Almost certainly viewed as an even more heinous offence would be Adam’s claim that Celtic are run much more competently and that investment in the Parkhead club would be a much sounder proposition for anyone wishing to purchase shares in a football institution.
It would be tempting for many to dismiss Adam’s action as merely a gratuitous attack on Murray by a disillusioned, 76-year-old ex-employee carrying a grudge. But Adam has been a candid critic of the way Rangers have operated for years, ever willing to voice his unease – indeed, his incomprehension – at losses he has always insisted were unsustainable.
He also has impressive credentials, having been chairman and managing director of Rangers Development and Rangers Pools since 1971, raising the millions which built the modern Ibrox. Adam’s efforts brought the club around 18million, about 60million at today’s values.
To say that his final severance with Ibrox, after three separate terms as a director amounting to about 15 years of service, was done in a fury would be inaccurate, but in conversation this week it became evident that his decision is underpinned by unmistakable disgust.
Not given to sensationalism, this essentially conservative disciple of prudent forward planning and low-risk business principles did, however, cause something of a shock by observing almost matter-of-factly that, if Rangers continue on their present track, their ultimate destination will be bankruptcy.
“That’s the logical conclusion to a strategy that incurs serious loss year on year,” said Adam. “In the past five years – and it’s all there in the last annual report – Rangers have lost 80million.
“Now, the banks are well known for being a bit more tolerant of companies whose core business is a popular pursuit like football. But there is a limit to how far backwards they can bend to accommodate you.
“David Murray has always had an amazing persuasiveness when it comes to getting people to put money into his businesses, but the signs are that those sources have dried up.
“The 40million worth of shares that ENIC (English National Investment Company) bought a few years ago are now worth about 15million, with no evidence to suggest that they will recover. The money itself, that which was actually invested, was lost some time ago.
“Now the latest investor, Dave King from South Africa, will know that his 20million shareholding is worth around half, or even less, of what it was when he bought. No proper businessman will want to buy into that kind of loss.”
ADAM sold 12,000 of his 59,000 shares last year and the balance of 47,000 just recently. For the latter, he got 1.15 each; three years ago, they were valued at 3.45. He is convinced Rangers cannot trade their way out of trouble, unless they gain access to a league that will attract higher-bracket income from TV. He was in favour of the proposed Atlantic League, involving the Old Firm and clubs from Holland, Portugal and other countries, but is extremely sceptical of their chances of joining the English Premiership.
He is adamant that Rangers do not have the customer base to improve their financial standing through merchandising. “Rangers’ so-called global appeal is a myth,” he said. “When I was there, we did an exercise which involved asking 50,000 fans on the database to recommend a friend or a relative abroad.
“A big response was expected – some were even talking about getting 100,000 names – because everybody in Scotland seems to know somebody abroad.
“We got back 2,800 names and three-quarters of them didn’t know they had been nominated. It’s no surprise that Celtic are officially the best-supported football club in North America, with more official clubs than anybody else. The difference is the Irish connection.
“Many Irish people may support Manchester United, Liverpool or whoever, but they all – every one of them – have an affection for Celtic. And, of course, Celtic also have a great Scottish following.
“The difference is that, while the Irish all have an allegiance to Parkhead, there are millions of Scots who not only don’t support Rangers, but actively dislike them.
“Despite the claims of international appeal, Rangers are, essentially, a West of Scotland club. They talk of supporters’ buses leaving from all parts of Scotland, but if you look closely, you’ll see there aren’t many from each area and they are not all full.
“This doesn’t mean that even Celtic will earn fortunes from emigrant supporters. There may be more of them than Rangers fans, but it doesn’t mount to the kind of income necessary to fund their ambitions. But Celtic have been, since Fergus McCann’s arrival, much the better-run club.
“Fergus was the most unjustly maligned man in the history of the game, when you consider that he took the club from bankruptcy into the mainstream and built that stadium along the way.
‘NOW, the Celtic board have more financial heavyweights than Rangers, with people like Brian Quinn, Dermot Desmond and Sir Patrick Sheehy.
“It’s only in the last couple of years that Celtic have sustained losses, but over the five-year period they break even. But Brian Quinn and his board are taking steps to warn people that they are not in the business of heading towards bankruptcy.
“For their pains – for doing their job properly – they get crucified in the media, accused of penny-pinching. I don’t understand it.
“They are determined to keep Celtic properly managed, while Rangers, with Murray, is a one-party state and the man in power has an allergy to any form of personal criticism. But he’s not a businessman in the long-term sense of planning and prudence, he’s more of an impresario.
“But what has been happening is unfair on shareholders, and they’re being short-changed.
“It’s a nonsense, too, to say that Rangers’ shareholders are all supporters who aren’t interested in dividends or profits.
“That’s okay for the man with 50 shares, framed and hung on his wall. The number of shareholders in that category would amount to a minuscule percentage of the equity.
“But I’m 76 and haven’t had a dividend in years, so what’s the point of me keeping shares until they dwindle to nothing? And I’m certain the people at ENIC won’t be too pleased with their investment.”