“Money in: £101, money out: £99, happiness. Money in: £100, money out: £101, distress.” Of the millions of words left on Celtic Quick News over 19 years, a few regularly come back to mind, including this one from Kojo, circa 2006.
Money determines long-term success in football, and CQN started by explaining our finances, in particular, our position in relation to our then-rivals, Rangers. Documenting the last 8 years of their journey around the plughole was educational. People refuse to believe the patently obvious until the final moment. There is no helping them.
A new era and a Newco is jostling with Celtic for the prizes in Scottish football. Who generates and spends money wisely will again determine long-term outcomes in our game.
Newco released their accounts for the year to 30 June 2023 yesterday, a year in which they matched Celtic’s operational spend (Newco: £95.2m, Celtic, £95.4m) in an attempt to bring down our dominance, “like a pack of cards”. You already know that despite achieving Champions League qualification for the first time, those cards proved remarkably durable.
Newco turnover was down £3m to £83.7m, a whopping £36.2m less than Celtic generated during the same period. That chasm reflects our higher earnings from the Champions League, domestic prize money from winning a treble, higher ticket sales and, importantly, more lucrative commercial deals.
Newco made a loss for the year of £4.1m, Celtic’s profit was £33.3m, that is despite Newco making a profit on the sale of players of £23.6m, and Celtic ‘only’ reporting a £14.4m corresponding figure. Year-end cash at Newco was £5.3m, compared to £72.3m at Celtic.
Post year-end, Michael Beale and others were sacked, resulting in a £13.1m hit to this year’s figures. The accounts note, “Our thanks go to Michael Beale and his staff for their efforts during their time at Rangers (sic.)”. I think we can all echo that.
Barring an exceptional run in the Europa League, Newco’s income will drop significantly this year. Their playing squad was overhauled in the summer, so wages will vary, quite possibly going down from the £64m of last season, a figure which eclipsed the treble winning champions’ £60.8m bill.
Both clubs are subject to the vagaries of Champions League qualification, but Celtic can afford to carry an operational cost of £95m, without needing to massively adjust if they only reach the Europa League, Newco cannot. They are trading miles above safe levels, with enormous risks which should worry fans who lived through earlier times, and have a modicum of perspective.
Administrators for Elite Sports Group have a £9.5m action raised against the club. Newco signed a kit contract with Elite and Hummel, but after an action by Sports Direct, a court ordered the club could not “wear any Official Rangers Technical Products designed by, supplied by, gifted by or manufactured by Elite or Hummel, or bearing the Hummel brand.”
The £9.5m figure is what Elite’s administrators estimate the company lost due, they have asked the court to force Newco to reveal sales of Castore kit, to allow them to prepare a detailed claim. Newco are confident the contract they signed with Elite is nothing to worry about. Good luck with that, they have an admirable track record in legal matters.
In September last year Uefa placed Newco on their financial monitoring list. Uefa requires club who participate in their competitions to meet break-even criteria. A £4.1m loss will not move the dial much either way, but the storm clouds are gathering.
No Champions League football this season, no player sales to speak of, the spectre of Elite lurking in the background, and still dependent on financial support for day-to-day operations, all add up to an acute scenario. Uefa sanctions are a risk.
We’ve been here before, you know how this plays out. This club needs to significantly downsize to give it its best chance of avoiding punitive repercussions. Let the voices of worried fans be heard loud and clear today. If they are not, there will be no sympathy when we hear “we were hard done by” claims, when the bell finally tolls.
The direction of travel could not be clearer, memories from 2012 are still fresh, and yet there are still news outlets today writing “profit” headlines accompanying these results, who do they think they are helping?
187 Comments- Pages:
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CHAIRBHOY
A large part of our financial advantage comes from not being a net spender in the transfers market
Profit from player trading is an essential part of our successful business model
TURKEYBHOY
Yip, here in Scotland the headline sports news today, and last night is a phoney baloney good news Rainjurz story, SMSM are not allowed to delve into the real news, instead we should be eternally grateful they don’t and do the same as they did, when it was Rainjurz patching the facts we read daily, on these pages, in the run up to their demise through meteoric never to be repaid debt.
It’s only natural that Celtic supporters don’t like the equilibrium that a brand new club are awarded in society, if only there had been a guilty plea, proper sanctions, then contrition some more might have have wished the new club rivals every good fortune, in the same way as Walter Smith did.
Had they started up with a new name like Penalty Rainjurz FC things might have been different. The bells will toll for Sevco, and Third Rainjurz has a definite ring to it.
BSR,
Spot on…I have unresolved issues from 2012.
Not confident the next version would be any different.
HH
Of course we can compete in the CL- we are doing so just now.
We do not win regularly at CL Group Level, however, and neither do other peripheral clubs outwith the big money leagues.
If we spend more money we can get better players but we cannot get the level of player bought by the teams who would still spend double or treble our increased spend.
In short, we can do better but not a lot better.
CELTIC40ME @ 1:41 PM,
That’s very true, in fact all of the money we have in the bank is due to cash from player sales.
The two criticisms could be…
Firstly, we don’t do this well enough, there is far greater profit to be made from a much better structured player development, recruitment and sales strategy.
Secondly as well as having a good business model, we need to have a good football model.
Celtic are first and foremost a PLC.
Yet most of their customers comes as result of the football support and Club traditions.
The last ten years have proven, the better we are at football, the more revenue we generate and cash surplus we enjoy.
With more investment in the football club the more successful we will be in the round – imo
Hail Hail
You only die twice 🤭
lol
They are proving very difficult to kill off. I think it will require a stake through the heart, a silver bullet or maybe just exposure to the light. Perhaps one day they will see themselves in a mirror.
Thanks, Paul67.
Let’s hope the demise is permanent this time, although I doubt if the SFA, SPFL and the MSM will allow that to happen.
CHAIRBHOY on 14TH NOVEMBER 2023 1:58 PM
I think youre asking for a lot if you want to see “far greater” profit than the £34m we made last year.
I’m not sure the day when we’re comparing the financials of us and them is the best time to be criticising our business model.
Nice work today Paul, channeling your inner Hemingway. You’re spot on when you say: “People refuse to believe the patently obvious until the final moment” and ponder the motives of news outlets today writing “profit” headlines accompanying these results……”.
In his first novel, ‘The Sun Also Rises’ Hemingway wrote the lines:
“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked.
“Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.”
“What brought it on?”
“Friends,” said Mike. “I had a lot of friends. False friends. Then I had creditors, too. Probably had more creditors than anybody in England.”
In ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls he wrote: “There’s no one thing that’s true. It’s all true. There is nothing else than now. There is neither yesterday, certainly, nor is there any tomorrow”.
Financially we are closer to Atletico Madrid than Ross County are to us.
There is more than just financial clout in Football, although it cannot be denied it does help.
For us European football refreshes the parts that domestic football cannot reach.
The money
The prestige
The media focus
The making of legends on the park.
The legendary nights off the park
The challenge
The pride and status.
The travel and occasion
The memories.
Playing in Scotland we need European football. Let’s hope the underachievement has peaked.
We are not entitled, but our recent record is not great.
On a slightly different context but nevertheless related. Entitlement is not necessarily a taboo and derogatory word.
I’m sure many on CQN have a national Entitlement card in their wallet.
Entitled to travel or entitled to want and expect better from our famous club.
HH. In Brendan we trust.
Underachievement. Don’t get me started on Lennoxtown.
“ The game…. slight pause …. the game is over, the rebels have won “
Brian Dempsey
Our >£70m in the bank.
Have you seen the cost of new / upgraded stands today. Palace, Forrest, Fulham, Liverpool, Man City. et al.
We will soon be compelled to upgrade our main stand.
HH.
I don’t know how I feel. I’m hoping against hope that the deid team will finally come to an end. Trouble is I don’t think it is going to be allowed to happen, no matter how badly they conduct their financial affairs.
EK BHOY 1.40
So true,Scotlands business failure system at play(thi brithers)
No accounting for “Big Geordies cut”
:-))
HH
https://thecelticstar.com/football-without-fans-the-history-of-celtic-supporters-clubs/
Great article on suppkrters clubs by @Celticbars
HH
GREENPINATA on 14TH NOVEMBER 2023 2:51 PM
How much of a hit to the football departments budget are we prepared to take for the sake of a new stand?
Are we looking at giving up some European aspirations in the short and medium term?
I don’t think the Huns Mark II will be liquidated. I don’t read it today’s excellent article as saying the sevco will be liquidated nor even enter administration.
The possibility of either can not be ruled out but what we’re more likely looking at, is a Sevco forced by UEFA to live within its means.
Long term austerity is how this most likely ends for the Huns. All the while, barring a covid season melt down, we win the league.
This will be more than enough for a lot of Celtic fans.
Other fans, like myself, will want and demand more in European competition.
This debate will rage on because Celtic don’t strike me as a Club looking to change course anytime soon.
AT – A GREAT SHARE THANKS FOR THAT.
from the article –
I spoke to Jackie Meehan who was the founder and first president of the North American Federation, a post he held for 20 years. He pointed me in the direction of the other North American CSCs and regaled me with some of their stories, like the CSC who had a ‘whip roon’ for the driver, which just happened to be on a plane where the treasurer went to the cockpit to give to the pilot.
——-
doing the family research i came across a load of port glasgow express stories from the 50s as they followed my great uncle pats story of emigration from the port to kearny nj in 1953.
the express was published on wed and fri, and revelled in pics and stories of “portonions abroad”
he was a labour councillor, and he went to america with a letter from the socialist club with the opening note of
dear comrade,
and another letter from the port AOH to be used for introduction to the society in america, and another from the port celtic
his council job was treasurer, and sitting on all the spending commitees, this contiued in a way with becoming treasure for the kearny csc operating out of the irish club.
it was he who organised the trips home, sometimes chartered a flight, filled it up with subscirbers for the trip home, to coincide with a celtic end of season game, many of them stayed all summer, as pat said to enjoy the medical services they had once fought for and paid for.
CELTIC40ME @ 1.31
Wouldnt be that fussed if Jambos went the same way, good riddance.
Paul 67, fantastic article today, very well done wee you
KINGLuBO
CELTIC40ME on 14TH NOVEMBER 2023 3:07 PM.
No retreat from our European aspiration in the short, medium or long term.
We need smart signings and a better return from our substantial investment in Lennoxtown. I see promising signs in some of our projects.
Our thrashing in Madrid was as much physiological as physical. In all my years watching Celtic I have never witnessed such sheer fear on our players faces. We were thus damned.
We set our own standards in the first leg.
We failed to maintain that standard due to a combination of events..( Most within our own control )
European football will ultimately finance our stadium upgrade.
Upgrading the main stand will become unavoidable in the medium term. It is inevitable.
We must prepare accordingly.
We absolutely financialy dwarf all teams bar one basket case domestically.
European football is our benchmark.
Cheers and HH.
As an aside –
for those familiar with the Port AOH hall, it was opened in 1934 as scribed on the building, so I always assumed that was when it was founded,
However trawling the newspaper archives there is an article of a Mr O’Higgins coming to Scotland from Boston in 1890s to expand the American AOH and presenting at the st john hall to prominent catholics in the town.
The Iirhs nationailst causes represenbted by the AOH, The Forresters and saint johns band.
so probably in the town from 1890 ish.
———–
Glasgow Observer and Catholic Herald – Saturday 16 October 1920
AOH Port GLASGOW CANVASSED THE PUBLIC AND RAISED £200 FOR THE ULSTER RELIEF FUND AFTER THE RECENT ORANGE OUTRAGES
Hmm.
Said already by others but worth saying again.
BPTYE = Best Player Trading Year Ever
FECLR = First Ever Champions League Revenue
BPTYE + FECLR = £4.1m loss 🤦🤦🤦🤦
Incredible.
Our thrashing in Madrid was as much physiological as physical. In all my years watching Celtic I have never witnessed such sheer fear on our players faces. We were thus damned.
———–
did you miss Artmedia ? Neuchetel ? the gibratler imps ?
GREENPINATA on 14TH NOVEMBER 2023 3:34 PM
Couldn’t agree more about the need for European progress
Hail! Hail!
Paul67
“and yet there are still news outlets today writing “profit” headlines accompanying these results, who do they think they are helping?”
——–
Themselves … to Sevco fans’ money
“ If we spend more money we can get better players but we cannot get the level of player bought by the teams who would still spend double or treble our increased spend.”
If only the football management understanders could get this, Benfica spent £25M on one player alone ( they can well afford it ) and sit bottom of their group.
I’d rather we spent the money on stadium improvement, or finished the footprint where there’s a definite need.
Saint Stivs,
Yes, I watched them all. I stand by the sheer look of fear on our players faces in Madrid.
We could have lost by double figures.
That includes hammerings by Barcelona and PSG.
PS: I also watched us reverse the Red Imps result.
HH.
Willesden Chronicle – Saturday 14 April 1894
THE CELTIC FOOTBALL CLUB.
Last week the Celtic Football Club, who are an English tour, visited London, and made the Continental Hotel. Kings’ Cross, their headquarters, where they were well taken oars of by the genial proprietor, Mr. and his good lady. The team is accompanied by the committee who are doing everything to make the trip real holiday. Whilst in London they visited the House of Commons, the Oxford Theatre and the-Tower. On Saturday evening they played the London Caledonians, and showed Londoners what football in Scotland is like. The manner in which the Celts headed the latter in passing.” was really marvellous. though it was quite evident that the game was friendly one, and the visitors did not went to score. Throe of their beet mSn were upholding the honour of Scotland in Glasgow, and right well they did their work. The visit of the Cuts to London was not extensively known, and I feel confident if it had bean, the -Caledonian Park would not hold the Celts, who would have attended to honour their countrymen from Far North.” The club is only mvui years old, but from its inauguration till the present time, their career has been one magnificent success. They carried off the throe groat Scottish trophies In one year. They held last year the Scottish end Glasgow Charity Cope, and the League Cup this year. There is not a football club existence which has given so much money to charities. Brother Wolf rid, the Principal of the Catholic School in Regent Square, is founder of the Club.
Just been reading the info about the book Football Without Fans. My Dad was on the committee of the Shettleston No 1 along with Matt Lyden and Wille McLeod for a long time. Never knew Pat Woods was a member. Travelled with them many a time all over the country.
Interesting that the famous £50m champions league cash bonanza myth seems to have been debunked in their accounts
Uefa prize money amounted to £18.5m according to the accounts.
CELTIC40ME @ 2:24 PM,
Well am I asking a lot?
Its this,
Part of the profit we make be reinvested in the team.
It’s ten years ago yet we were told that every penny made would go back into the club.
That has obviously changed
Yet few are demanding every penny, only that a substantial amount is reinvested in the Football Club.
So what does reinvested mean?
It means finding ways to use the money that is going to give us a ROI.
It’s not wasting the money, IF, and granted it’s a big if…
…If the folks spending the money know what they are doing.
Better players = better returns
Innovative projects = better returns
Winning European Football’s financial controller of the year award every season is not cutting it…
Hail Hail
CHAIRBHOY on 14TH NOVEMBER 2023 4:04 PM
This is not news to me
Although how it relates to the topic being discussed I’m not entirely sure
You do seem to be asking for far greater profit than £34m which does seem a lot
Sunday Mail (Glasgow) – Sunday 14 August 1938
LEAGUE FLAG UNFURLED \‘TE
had a happy little function – at Parkhead yesterday—the unfurling of the League Championship flag. Nearly twenty thousand saw Miss White, the daughter of the Celtic chairman, perform the unfurling ceremony. And the proudest onlooker of all- was none other than Manager Willie Maley.