Naughty footballers, financial transparency

1029

After Celtic’s reversal in Astana I pinned the decision to allow Kelvin Wilson to leave after the Elfsborg tie as critical.  It left us playing an unaccustomed central defensive partnership against Shakhter while generating only £2.5m.

Before Saturday’s game with Dundee United Neil Lennon suggested the player and his agent had been “naughty”, which might explain things.

It is not unknown for players to cite that they are “not in the right frame of mind” to compete for the club which pays their wages while there is an alternative deal on the table.  This tactic is a certified banker for the player, who does not need to fail a fitness test, he just needs to look a bit down in the dumps.  It is a shocking state of affairs which can cost their employers dearly.

I’m absolutely delighted to see the emergence of some interest in Celtic’s financial position over the last week.  The club have long term loan agreements, an overdraft facility, and, at any point in time, cash on deposit.  We have preference shares which, as long as the club attains certain financial covenants, will attract a dividend.  At any point in time we also money owe trade creditors, utility companies, other football clubs and HMRC, but as you know, for 126 years Celtic have always paid their bills.

Our NET debt position at on 30 June 2012 was £2.77m.  Since then we have had an excellent financial and footballing year.  In 2005 UK accounting rules changed, re-classifying some equity categories and debt.   In their 2006 financial statement, then chairman, Brian Quinn wrote:

“Under FRS 25 the group’s Preference Shares and Convertible Preferred Ordinary Shares, previously defined as equity, were reclassified as a combination of debt and equity; and non-equity dividends were in essence re-classified as interest.  As a result, net assets were £3.8m lower, net debt £4.7m higher and interest charges £771,000 higher than would have been reported prior to the implementation of FRS 25.”

This was “hidden” away on page one of the accounts.  Further details were published at appropriate places throughout the accounts.  A video presentation was also given to shareholders and the media to explain the situation further.

Perhaps the word “transparency” should be used instead of “hidden” by some.

For further reading on FRS 25 see page 5 of this report.
[calameo code=000390171c1dd95770bec lang=en page=100 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]

Click Here for Comments >
Share.

About Author

1,029 Comments
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. ...
  4. 16
  5. 17
  6. 18
  7. 19
  8. 20
  9. 21
  10. 22
  11. ...
  12. 28

  1. The issue of our BORED now having been adequately discussed & the opposing factions having exhausted their arguments, it is my onerous duty to rule on tonight’s debate.

     

     

    The NAYs have it,..the NAYs have it.

     

    I would ask that those of us in the YEA lobby try to accept the will of the forum with as much grace as we can muster.

     

     

    You are now free to discuss any other Celtic business.

  2. whats wrong with you all, we praise the club finances, but we slate the buisness men who run it . wake up!!! buisness make money and thats all they care about why are you all being silly about it, well done DD & PL for running my club so well

  3. What is the Stars

     

     

    23:25 on 2 September, 2013

     

     

    ‘ernie lynch

     

     

    so what’

     

     

    ####

     

     

    Those are the views of the man who dictates Celtic policy.

     

     

    That’s what.

  4. Turkeybhoy

     

    23:19 on

     

    2 September, 2013

     

     

    “Rangers is a great football club, it has a great history and it’s unfortunate that they have been relegated,” said the Irish businessman.

     

     

     

    Sorry – I don’t remember that bit? – can show me a source

  5. calabam

     

     

    23:29 on 2 September, 2013

     

     

    It’s not really your club though is it?

     

     

    You don’t own it.

     

     

    You don’t control it.

  6. bournesouprecipe

     

    23:29 on

     

    2 September, 2013

     

     

    Scroll up it’s in a BBC link, not a video clip, just his quotes

  7. ernie lynch

     

     

    Look auld yin! it will always be my club, I dont care what your opinion’s of who owns it or controls it matters, I am a Celtic fan always will be I support them on & off the field and always will.

  8. What is the Stars

     

    No one mentioned PL.If you think that any Celtic fan on here was waiting for Celtic to lose last week so they could get one up on PL,you my friend,are quite mad.

     

    DD,does not care one fig for you or me or any Celtic fan.Its buisness all the way.And Sevco returning in his eyes is great business.We are going nowhere,he knows it,so theO– F— is the main attraction in his eyes for sponsors,TV money,his idea of prestige.

     

    “Their great support”,bigoted ,sectarian scum who have murdered Celtic fans

     

    “Their proud history”over 100 years of an anti Catholic signing policy.

     

    A total slap in the face to me,my father before me,and the generations of Celtic fans to come.

  9. What is the Stars on

    ernie

     

     

    you should get out more

     

    who cares what he thinks

     

    look in the real world outside the cqn cocoon a lot of football fans would agree with the sentiments expressed by The Great Satan DD

     

    “pity the got relegated etc”

     

     

    So what it proves is that Dermot Desmond is not as fanatical about Celtic as you and others on here

     

     

    Is that really news to anyone

     

     

    As i said

     

    So What

  10. bournesouprecipe

     

     

    23:29 on 2 September, 2013

     

     

     

     

    Celtic backer Dermot Desmond misses rivalry with Rangers

     

     

    Celtic majority shareholder Dermot Desmond admits he misses the city rivalry with Rangers in the Scottish Premier League.

     

     

    Rangers are playing in Division Three following a summer financial meltdown, leaving Celtic to dominate the SPL.

     

     

    “For us, it’s disappointing that they’re not there,” Desmond told BBC Sport.

     

     

    “But that was a decision by the various clubs, a decision by the various leagues and we accept those decisions.”

     

    Continue reading the main story

     

     

    “Rangers is a fantastic football club”

     

     

    Dermot Desmond Celtic majority shareholder

     

     

    The only chance of an Old Firm derby this season will come in knock-out competitions, with the next possibility coming in Thursday’s draw for the quarter-finals of the Scottish Communities League Cup.

     

     

    Desmond was talking the day after Celtic ended their long wait for an away win in the group stages of the Champions League with a 3-2 victory over Spartak Moscow.

     

     

    And he would have relished the continued domestic competition with Rangers at a time when he believes manager Neil Lennon has created a particularly strong squad.

     

     

    “Rangers is a great football club, it has a great history and it’s unfortunate that they have been relegated,” said the Irish businessman.

     

     

    “We would certainly like to contest with them every week – we believe we’ve got a better team and a better management structure.

     

     

    “Rangers is a fantastic football club, it is one of the greatest football clubs in Great Britain, we’ve got to acknowledge that. But we can only look after ourselves.”

     

     

    Desmond is sure that the Ibrox club will eventually return to Scotland’s top flight and believes they are needed there for the size of their support alone.

     

     

    However, in the meantime, he believes that Celtic, following a summer of turmoil and division in Scottish football, can help lift the spirits of the nation by their exploits in the Champions League.

     

     

    “There’s been some controversial issues, but the performance in the Champions League certainly boosts everybody who takes a pride in Scottish football, pride in the club itself, but also it creates an appetite to support Scottish football in its entirety,” he added.

     

     

     

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19823518

  11. Canamalar:

     

     

    The main reason I was asking, was you used it to point out the “one simple flaw” in Auldheid’s argument that it was a “legal responsibility to maximise profits” when its clearly not. So Auldheid’s argument would not fall on that point.

     

     

     

    canamalar prays Oscar can do it again

     

     

    16:24 on 1 September, 2013

     

     

    Auldheid…,

     

    Your argument

     

    “Football Clubs are a strange beast, as an organisation they don’t quite fit into the – not for profit category, yet although many are PLCs, their main aims & objectives isn’t maximising profit.”

     

    Is flawed for one simple reason, it is a PLC’s legal responsibility to maximise profit, I think it was Mike in Toronto who has been trying to get this discussion off the ground, he used the example of a ice hockey team who have not won a trophy in years but keep making a big profit and that’s all they are responsible to do.

  12. DD is not one of us, that much is clear (as if that was ever in doubt). At the start of the STV clip he talks about it Moscow result being great for the ‘Celtic fans’ before remembering to talk about us and we.

  13. #fearless wee oscar

     

     

    We will be praying that our wee adopted son will fight this horrible condition to it’s demise. He has done it before, and with the power of this site, like it did for my ole mum, and I firmly believe that, he will beat it again. I will never forget him running to his dad at Celtic Park. Tears still well,up in my eyes every time I think about it. Unforgettable. Xxxxx to him tonight.

     

     

    Weefra HH supporting Wee Oscar

  14. calabam

     

     

    23:34 on 2 September, 2013

     

     

    Aye, OK then.

     

     

    It’s ‘your club’.

     

     

    There, feel better now?

  15. What is the Stars on

    Turkeybhoy

     

     

    A total slap in the face to me,my father before me,and the generations of Celtic fans to come.

     

     

    interesting words from someone who bandies about words like “Irish Twat” on a Celtic Forum

     

     

    Hmmmm

  16. Mike in Toronto supports Oscar Knox on

    I don’t know how anyone can seriously doubt what DD said. We might not like it, but we all heard it …

     

     

    Everon get lukaku on loan … Think he might be what they need to stay up

  17. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS forza Oscar and Mackenzie on

    CELTICROLLERCOASTER

     

     

    Amazing the sheer will to live which the wee fella possesses.

  18. WitS

     

     

    Sadly he controls the way the club is run, that is why it’s important as to what he thinks.

     

    ……………………

     

     

    weeminger

     

     

    Nail on the head, he doesn’t give a toss for the support, but we knew that anyways, didn’t we >}

     

     

    HH

  19. Celtic_First

     

     

    23:11 on 2 September, 2013

     

     

    I hope Hamilton get a piece of the McCarthy money.

     

     

    ====================================

     

     

    As far as I know they will now receive around £1-1.5 million. Well done.

     

     

     

    Dermot Desmond.:

     

     

    His statement on the Huns was, at the time, taken at its face value – a neutral, bland corporate platitude to give his ‘official’ comment on the biggest seismic event to hit Scottish football.

     

     

    Someone in his position CANNOT use anything other than appeasement.

     

     

    Some kind of crazy flake statement condemning them, wallowing in their demise would have two effects – market instability for his own various companies’ share value and secondly…

     

     

    …MOST importantly there would be the blood of young Celtic supporters on his hands, murdered in the streets by Hun vermin using his words of derision as motive enough.

     

     

    You know it and I know it, so stop kidding yourselves that he’s some kind of fifth columnist out to dilute Celtic.

  20. So …….

     

     

    Celtic spend more money this window than 11 premiership sides?

     

     

    And take away man uniteds £27m fellani? Arsenals £40m ozil and west hams £15m Carroll signings then our net spend would have these clubs too

  21. paolosboots Good Luck Wee Oscar on

    What a great well run wee club Hamilton accies are due another 2m for James mccarthy sell on clause . They rent out offices to companies so they can survive without huge crowds. If some others could have learned their lesson they’d still be in business!

  22. canamalar prays Oscar can do it again on

    Wycombe,

     

    I’m sue Mike answered you, I’ll defer to his knowledge will you ?

     

    Or is it only me you want to argue with ?

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. ...
  4. 16
  5. 17
  6. 18
  7. 19
  8. 20
  9. 21
  10. 22
  11. ...
  12. 28