We can debate which result last night would have been best for Celtic’s chances of winning the league was, although we don’t have enough information to answer the question completely yet. Forward projections is a different story.
Win or lose the league, Celtic will remain solvent without a drastic cut to expenditure, as will Hearts. Not so much Newco. Winning the league would almost certainly see them progress to the Champions League proper without having to go through qualification (the same is not true for Celtic and Hearts). For an organisation which has been subsidised by loans and capital injections practically every year since its inception, that would be a rare respite.
Losing the league means their current budget is unsustainable. That will have an impact on what happens next season and beyond. Last night’s Hearts win will have multi-season consequences.
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TOSB
Well, maybe, but it’s just how I see it, realistically. We could still just about do it, but I think we’ll need Motherwell to get a result against them. And we would still need to win our own three games.
Believe it or not I was a happy-clapper when I set up my account back in the day!
Maolmuire O Muirgheasa @ 1:27 pm,
It’s that tricky three times table dontcha’ know…
I blame the schools:))
Hail Hail
If we slip up on Sunday, huns will be in with a chance of second place.
Celtic not winning the league will mean wee Shaun & big Fozzy management team next season with WGS recruited to the board on some DOF role, which won’t be announced until the 53,000 old firm r us season tickets have soulled out!
Sad are the homes….
With “the most talented player in Scotland” (albeit oan the bench)…..
Can’t see getting the goals we need to be too much of a problem….
No?
Tomas Cvancara in all fairness, did what very few other strikers could have done and has the dubious distinction of making Johnny Kenny look quite good.
Wether we win the league or not,im hoping that Dermot Desmond and a few others that or on the board will no longer be associated to Celtic
All season I’ve read on here about how the title will stay in Glasgow.
At this point if you’re still underestimating the threat of Hearts then no one can help you.
If Hearts win this league, Bloom won’t sit on his hands all summer to see how they get on prior to deciding budgets. He’ll invest and prepare the squad beforehand.
If Hearts qualify and get the money. Then it will have multi season consequences.
There’s still a large element of our support that can’t see beyond Glasgow’s City limits. There may even be some of those people on our board.
Wonder if Tomas Cvancara is related to Tony Cascarino 🤔
In the seemingly unlikely event we do pull this off, somehow, anyone else think it would be a kind gesture to invite Nancy and Rodgers back for Flag day? Being led out by our CEO, followed by MON, of course.
What will the MON legacy look like if we lose the next 3 league games and are taught a reality lesson in the SCF by reality packed Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline?
Only a reality based Tim who are now the minority, wouldn’t rule any of this out.
We are so piss that we just and no more scraped past a boring as fk David Grey 10 man Hibs team ffs!
Sad are the homes around all seated dumbed down and vaxxinated Timdom….
Prestonpans
Had him down for a cult hero winning goal at Hampden, The Tomas Final, like The Tom Rogic Final
Never mind CSC
P.s. arse banjo coo’s
Nomatter what Bloom invests in Hearts playing personal, our playing squad will still be worth more than them.
Never mind what others do, just concentrate on what we do.
For starters, are we optimising our resources?
The answer is undoubtedly No.
HH.
BSR
He did score a decent goal at the bigotdome but that was his high water mark 🙄
Anyone think we should bring Arthur back in alongside Trusty and go with Scales again at left back on Sunday?
Worked in the cup.
Green Pinta 12.54
Paul 67
EVERYBODY
including MoM as it is why I bring up FSR not as a deflection but to increase understanding how licensing works.
The Cl income for 26/27 had Rangers got CL access will not feature in R2ngers accounts until 27/28 season.
They like Celtic will budget on EL income due to how the FSR Squad Cost Ratio calculation works. That produces the limit that can be spent on playing squad.
The question then as it has been for years is will Celtic spend a lot closer to that ceiling than they have in the past?
Since Rangers are unlikely to qualify it matters not and as Celtic’s income even at a lower EL level will dwarf Hearts, the question is will Celtic continue to spend less than FSR ceiling allows or will they forego increasing cash in hand and spend all that FSR will allow to put us back in the driving seat without fear of either Hearts or R2ngers.
If Celtic are second we still to get a chance to qualify for the CL especially if we spend closer to FSR ceiling at which point the same question arises as before – will we?
The 2nd question is will we spend more wisely which asks will recruitment put more emphasis on football needs than finance?
Celtic have the 2026 close season to recover from 2025 debacle and ensure the fear of R2ngers dominating is misplaced.
Here is a repeat of how the licensing process works.
The idea the Huns will get hands on UEFA CL millions is based on a misunderstanding of FSR process works in practice.
I explained this on Sentinel Celts as follows.
You can check but I think the calibration of when R2ngers benefit from a CL windfall, should they get one, is a year out.
The annual UEFA licence granting cycle runs from February to end of May. I remember the 26th May 2011 being when UEFA were sent a list of licenses granted in 2011.
That means the accounts submitted to SFA in February 26 by R2ngers are for year ending 30 June 25 that reflect EL income (around £75m? football earnings ) and not CL whereas Celtic’s accounts for 30 June 25 do (around £140m? ) so Celtic can spend more on players under the Squad Cost Ratio calculation than Rangers can.
In the event of R2ngers qualifying for the 26/27 CL their 30 June 26 accounts would reflect EL football earnings in 25/26 accounts as would Celtic’s.
It is not until 27/28 that R2ngers would benefit from CL qualification that season whilst Celtic were at EL income level.
However that cash in the bank Celtic have can be invested in say better data analytics, improving youth development , improving player recruitment and retention in order to sell players at an optimum point about 3 years into a contract to get as much profit as possible to add to football earnings.
How that works using Engels as a model can be read at
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eY6hYf4uZqJOzDlEHcHP-93unX0DG3ic/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=107947982974245186134&rtpof=true&sd=true to see how the player trading process works.
The key is Celtic investing the profit in the bank, not on players as FSR does not allow that but in other areas that produce earnings that can be classified as being derived from football activity but player trading for profit to maintain playing squad quality is the most lucrative if a Matt O Reilly turns up every second season.
In short one season on EL income and R2ngers on CL income can be reversed if Celtic get their recruitment act together.
When the season ends there is a blog to be created to estimate which players can be sold for the most profit in the summer taking player amortisation into account.
For me , if Hearts beat Motherwell on Saturday night , it’s over.
Although until it’s mathematically gone , I live in hope .
Still , we must beat the huns and prevent any chance of them finishing second .
Amazing to think , as poor as we’ve been this season ,
without our US College coach’s short stint , we could be heading for another treble .
lost the league last night . according to some.
Thunder Road,
I would. I would also consider Sarrachi instead of Tierney, who looks exhausted after a season where he’s been played way more often than in his previous 3 years.
here is what i think .
hearts might. just might become a 2nd force in Scotland.
they might win the league.
takeover Celtic for their own aberdeen like dominance of Scotland. nah.
Celtic will regroup and go again.
PaddyF on 5th May 2026 2:43 pm
In the seemingly unlikely event we do pull this off, somehow, anyone else think it would be a kind gesture to invite Nancy and Rodgers back for Flag day? Being led out by our CEO, followed by MON, of course.
_____________________________
Paddy et al, without the 6 points we won under Wilfried Nancy Hearts would be 9 points clear with 3 games to go, and at least 11 better on GD.
Conversely, had we won the 4 league games that we lost under Wilfried Nancy WE would be 12 points clear with 3 games to go and heading to Asda at The Forge for a soft cloth and some silver polish!
Wilfried Nancy’s sliding doors…
My team for Sunday…
Sinisalo
Johnston, Arthur, Trusty, Scales
Yang, Engels, McGregor, Hatate, Saracchi
Maeda
(Tierney, Forrest, McCowan, Nygren and Nacho on as subs.)
flynn on 5th May 2026 2:26 pm
Celtic not winning the league will mean wee Shaun & big Fozzy management team next season with WGS recruited to the board on some DOF role, which won’t be announced until the 53,000 old firm r us season tickets have soulled out!
Sad are the homes….
====
How come you haven’t won the lottery?
Poor are the homes that have”nt. 🫠
An Dún on 5th May 2026 2:36 pm
All season I’ve read on here about how the title will stay in Glasgow.
====
Hearts can only increase their playing budger on same basis as I explained as Rangers UNLESS they sell their better players at a goodly profit and replace them with players as good.
Which is where Celtic went wrong last summer.
As I keep saying the player trading model for any club without big TV income on a plate is a roller coaster ride from one season to the next when there is more than one domestic competitor that must be bettered.
There’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip
Few Celtic supporters need reminded of this as we’ve taken a right few dull yins in the final furlongs of the league race through the years.
I previously mentioned Ivan Sproule for Hibs in 2005, a more harmful result than losing to the Muthers on the last day, albeit that one carried its own pathos.
Emdy mind Austin McCann rattling in a worldie off the inside of the post in injury time at Tynecastle in 2003? That cost us a point in a league we lost by a single goal.
The Excuciatus curse that was Easter Road midweek on the 2nd last game of the 2008/09 season, ahead by just a handful of goals. Try as we did time and time and time again, we couldn’t get the ball over the line. It ended 0-0, two points dropped and just like that the title gone, a lousy bookend to WGS’s time at the club.
2012 and Lenny took his team of young strollers to Inverness, 2 points ahead with 4 to play. We lost the match 3-2 and the title by a point.
Hearts don’t know this. They haven’t lived it – most of them have no memory of 1986 let alone 1965, it’s a family secret, kept out of sight and out of mind. They’ve heard about it but it was a one off, right?
Nup, it happens in every tight league race. It might happen to us, or it might happen to them, but it’ll happen.
Sure, Hearts are sitting pretty, 3 points ahead with 3 matches to play, but as the games pass and the title gets ever so close it’s a heck of a lot easier to chalk up a win on paper than it is on the pitch.
Best keep you napkins handy.
Auldheid @ 3:12pm – nice one.
“if Celtic get their recruitment act together”
Putting everyone (that includes fans) on the same page / in the same neighborhood would do me for starters
“When the season ends there is a blog to be created to estimate which players can be sold for the most profit in the summer taking player amortisation into account”
Great idea.
Not bad, Paul.
Familiar enough tease about R2ngers’ finances … with details to follow no doubt?
Remember to remember them narratives !
“Hearts beat 9-man Hibs 2-1 with VERY late goal and Hibs goal being unassisted?
Warriors. The stuff of champions elect”
Versus ….
“Celtic best 10-man Hibs 2-1 with Hibs goal being VAR assisted?
Uninspiring !”
Cheeky wee Hoople puzzle today
AULDHEID @ ages ago
Apologies match weekend interlude
It’s all been posted, a wiseman on here said a couple of months ago.
I hope the Michael Nicholson gives you back that book you lent him, but not before he’s read it. It’s a shame that an interim Chairman has to intervene in the process of reconciliation, symptomatic of our season. At least there are moves in the right direction. Yes, it’s all connected to 2012 and relevant there were no adequate public relations, and probably never have been. As you said before, any room (a bit like a blog) filled with Celtic supporters and reps is a potential hoot.
Eight defeats for Celtic before the split feels so alien, I still feel yer man’s so called evisceration cemented more than Brendan Rodgers.
MON’s miraculous medals CSC
HH
Beaton should be nowhere near VAR on Sunday, we should have called him out again….
BSR
The book I sent MN from Amazon was
” The Secret of Staying in Love” which according to Jesuit author John Powell is COMMUNICATION and that goes both ways.
B2B 4.11pm, and remember to remember that Celtic should have had a penalty, which would have probably made for a 3-0 win had Hibs’ illegal “goal” not stood.
Also best in mind that the 2-2 v Hearts and the 1-2 defeat to Hibs were both materially impacted by the dark arts, both of which would likely have been Celtic wins but for the MIBs.
St Johnstone giving us 3 stands next season
407 E 25 is where I hide you sanctimonious tosser. I only pop in here now and again in the hope of seeing some blame being apportioned where it is due. Maybe an end of season blog will ask why we scored 40 goals fewer than last season; allowing a team with a fraction of our resources to lead the league with 3 games to go
Ziggydoc1 @ 1:15pm
Wee Ronnie Corbett in a centrefold wearing a Hearts strip.
———
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I remember it well Ziggy.
I recall sharing incredulous looks with my father when we saw this.
Never has the stock phrase
“They’re really coming out of the woodwork”
… been more apt.
From the guys at Huddle Breakdown
“Given the relative quality and sequencing of chances, Statsbomb had Rangers at about 50% to win 3-points and Hearts 20%, with a draw at roughly 30%.”
In other words, given everything that happened in the match, if the computer reruns the match 10 times, R2ngers win 5 times, there are 3 draws and Hearts get 2 wins. Given the performance of the two teams, Hearts ought to have dropped at least 2 points yesterday.
This is a huge part of the story of Hearts’ season. When a match could go either way, they have won the coin toss time and again, to the point where they can’t regress back to the average now – there aren’t sufficient games remaining to get enough bad luck to make up.
All we can do is win our matches and see what happens. That’s what we’ve been doing lately, more of the same please.