Feyenoord beat Heerenveen 6-1 on Saturday, won 1-5 at Utrecht in their previous game and recorded another 6-1, home to Almere before that. That is lightening form. Draws in their opening two games of the season are the only chink in the armour. The Dutch champions are a weaker Pot 1 side, but they won a far stronger league than Celtic compete in and are formidable opponents.
When facing the media yesterday, Brendan Rodgers acknowledged there was hard work ahead, “We’re not at peak Celtic”. Acknowledging yet another knock to yet another central defender, this time Nat Phillips’ rolled ankle, he would surely want another few weeks with his embryonic squad before going into such a match.
Reassuringly, the manager spoke about the players having “flexibility”, which he explained as “when you defend… you have to have that collective responsibility and resilience.” I want to see us defensively organised. We are not Barcelona 2012 and we’re not even peak Celtic 2023, so let’s not leave shipping container-sized gaps in defence.
You and I have seen too many Champions League away games to set expectations as lofty as a single point, but as ever, we can hope.
Celtic’s preliminary accounts for the year to 30 June 2023, released yesterday evening, broke all of the right records for a Scottish football club. Turnover was close to 19% up on our previous high (35% up on the year), profit after tax was £33.332m and our net cash position was a surplus of £72.3m.
For context, our highest turnover in either of the Ronny Delia seasons was £52m, £20m less than we had in the bank at the end of June. It is financial guardianship like this that deliveres trophies and all those trebles. Football and monetary success are symbiotic. We don’t have details that will eventually be available when the final accounts are published, but the notes confirm the sale of Jota took place before the year end.
It is informative how hard information often contradicts assumed facts. Profit from the sales of Jota, Juranovic and Giakoumakis in total was £14.4m, this is after the asset write-down and money paid out to Benfica, Legia Warsaw and VVV Venlo.
The club mentioned the previous two seasons as a unitary block twice in the accounts. Peter Lawwell noted, “total spend [on player registrations was]£51.4m over the two financial years to 30 June 2023”. And went on to say, “reserves….. will be used for settling outstanding sums due from transfers over the last two seasons”.
Money in the bank also allowed the green light on the extensive upgrades to Barrowfield, which will see a dedicated facility for youth and women’s teams, including an indoor training field. We will pick up on the accounts again when we get the finals.
Let’s hope for the right result against Feyenoord this time.
120 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- »
QUADBHOY 👍
We never walk anywhere alone
Hot Smoked
Very good 👍
I welcome the news that Celtic and their Insurers are negotiating a without liability settlement with the victims.
The news couldn’t be announced unless both parties agreed.
Settling the cases is the right thing to do, the cost to Insurers/Club is irrelevant.
The victims deserve compensation and can hopefully move on with their lives with some peace and less stress.
I think it is now very obvious why Peter Lawell returned as Chairman, he knew the case and was tasked to bring it to a swift conclusion.
As a Club and as a Support we needed this to be settled,
More importantly the victims needed it settled.
£60 a ticket.
——————-
CELTIC V LAZIO TICKETS
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE | WED, 4 OCT | KO 8PM | CELTIC PARK
TICKET INFORMATION
A limited number of tickets are available on general sale to supporters who had an online Celtic ticketing account registered before Wednesday, August 30.
Tickets are available online only.
A match ticket will be issued by post and must be used for entry on matchday.
Print-at-home tickets are not available.
BUY ONLINE
PRICES
Tickets for this match are priced £60.
Booking fees apply.
BUY ONLINE
Funny thing but I am more disappointed with the news, if true, that Nat Philips is out injured than anything else. (Abada aside) Reason being he was was specifically brought in to help out our then defensive woes, and that he did have some European experience with Liverpool. Bang goes the back three option, unless Brendan, and I’m just throwing this out there, chooses to use either Johnston or Ralston in there. Could work, I think.
Agree with those posters who have suggested an ibrox style set up.
Whilst the opposition that day were far inferior to the team we’ll face tonight, the approach may yet be the correct one.
This is only the first game, we can’t win the group tonight, though we could suffer a morale sapper if we’re a bit gung ho.
Is hoping for a score draw overly optimistic? Should I be setting expectations at a narrow defeat? All will be revealed
https://live.feyenoord.nl/
“UNCLE JIMMY on 19TH SEPTEMBER 2023 2:17 PM
Whilst the opposition that day were far inferior to the team we’ll face tonight,”
Ifound that calm comment wonderfully dismissive of Sevco. Well done, UJ.
:-))))))).
Has SFTB been banned?
Haven`t seen any posts from him for a while.
RIEPERMAN on 19TH SEPTEMBER 2023 2:21 PM
ta for that link,
unfortunately the youths are wearing the camouflage kit. when they stand still you cannot see them.
will this be the first team kit for tonight ? dearie me.
Celtic v Lazio sold-out. 2:38pm
£60 tickets
5H 16M until KO. Time to start mentally preparing :-)
Cheerio for now.
FRANKIEBHOY on 19TH SEPTEMBER 2023 2:36 PM
Celtic families priced out, always someone more wealthier willing to pay for the experience.
No one in that B Team is anywhere near first team squad. Being entirely outplayed and can’t make even the simplest of passes. Could be any score Feyenoord want.
Five of the ten CL away points have come via BR Rodgers. The others are spread across MON GS, NL and AP
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 19TH SEPTEMBER 2023 2:51 PM
Five of the ten CL away points have come via BR Rodgers. The others are spread across MON GS, NL and AP
that is a good quiz question – we have been consistenly beaten away from home in groups, I have little hope for tonight tbh.
Where did we get those away points ?
A win in Anderlecht ?
Considering how poor our youth set up and academy are and how few players we get from it. What are the benefits of upgrading Barrowfield
Are the first team going to be using it.
Today’s news was not entirely unexpected given the upcoming group action, I hope the survivors can be allowed the space to move on and adequately compensated for the unimaginable hurt they have suffered.
I’ve no idea what insurance we have in place but it is possible to attain retroactive cover, maybe we have it, maybe we don’t.
Man City put in place a compensation scheme without admission of liability in which pay outs were capped at 100K. The scale they used was broadly in keeping with that used by Courts.
I imagine we will do something similar, talk of tens of millions seem way of the mark but its hardly a subject worth discussing in detail.
I hope this is concluded soon and all can move on.
The whole tickets topic may be a little dull, but when I read that Celtic are still mailing tickets out after purchase, it suggests the system is woefully behind the times and needs replaced. This is not a huge undertaking or expense, and the benefits to customer experience should be self evident. I don’t know when I last got a physical ticket for a live sporting or music event (Celtic Park excepted). A new system will allow exploration of ticket exchange options. The downside is that the ticket management companies will want to add an upcharge for every ticket which everyone hates paying. This may well be the hurdle that Celtic are dealing with.
Re the women’s team
It should be set up on the basis that it is self financing and so does not impact upon the first team.
Wages paid to the players and management, transfer fees etc should be based upon what is affordable from the cash generated by attendances and sponsorship attracted by the team, not financed by men’s team.
Also the first team should have use of the Barrowfield facility when they need it.
U19s never laid a glove on Feyenoord….
Good evening, friends.
Been a distinct lack of sun here in Mallorca since we arrived at lunchtime on Dunday and a heavy afternoon thunderstorm has seen us stuck in our hotel room for the past couple of hours. But hopefully better weather lies ahead.
Really looking forward to tonight’s game and hoping my Firestick complies OK!
SENCELPOTY@GMAIL.COM
CORKCELT on 19TH SEPTEMBER 2023 2:14 PM
I welcome the news that Celtic and their Insurers are negotiating a without liability settlement with the victims.
The news couldn’t be announced unless both parties agreed.
Settling the cases is the right thing to do, the cost to Insurers/Club is irrelevant.
The victims deserve compensation and can hopefully move on with their lives with some peace and less stress.
I think it is now very obvious why Peter Lawell returned as Chairman, he knew the case and was tasked to bring it to a swift conclusion.
As a Club and as a Support we needed this to be settled,
More importantly the victims needed it settled.
==============================
Well said Corkcelt.
My answer to Quadbhoy 1.10
You are correct to assume that public liability insurance will cover any payout.it is they who are driving for the settlement and the club agree its time.Payments from the insurance fund,NOT the clubs cash resources.
HH
Dear oh Dear i am away over to read the proper meat beaters on FF.better there than tbe new vermin here
HH
About this time way back in 83-85 I would be sitting in the Glasgow College of Building and Printing, 7th floor and a view of Celtic Park, a few miles away.
I loved when we had a midweek game, and I could go straight from the College out to the park, the lights would slowly come on as the darkness crept across the eastern sky.
A pint in Wenches, a pie and beans, and a walk out ,
marvellous.
AN TEARMANN on 19TH SEPTEMBER 2023 4:02 PM
I did already, some seriously disturbed view points, but some of the language being used has recently been repeated here.
So, i am going to avoid engagement,
Saint Stivs
30 or so away games in the CL
MNCELT on 19TH SEPTEMBER 2023 3:45 PM
These new £60 tickets could be left overs from the u13 £96 package. Parent may think its to expensive and didn’t buy any or didn’t buy the kids as the whole deal is north of £400 for parent plus two.
BADA BING – Sorry to hear the B team were easily beaten (3-0). I have no idea if the CL Youth League is competitive or not and if teams elsewhere have much better youth leagues to develop and play in, I imagine so (at least in the bigger leagues).
Maybe these games are a good scouting opportunity if nothing else? Both for us and also for those looking at our players. Stephen McManus might spot a few potential signings on his travels.
My last comment on the CBS case is that it would appear we do have insurance in place.
Peter Lawwell said in 2019 “Some time ago our insurers appointed a wholly independent and experienced lawyer who is investigating and dealing with this matter on behalf of the club”.
Criticism of our board on the delays to settling these claims are way off the mark for me. This appears to be a process driven by our insurance partners.
Let’s hope things now move a pace.
Timbhoy
Where in the south stand are there any restricted views ?
I have sat there in the past and never once noticed a seat with a restricted view.
QUADBHOY on 19TH SEPTEMBER 2023 2:03 PM
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 19TH SEPTEMBER 2023 1:55 PM
Beautiful South CSC surely?
On Palma – I’d sooner add Holm to MF and lose a winger even if it means 4-4-1-1 or similar
QB
…………………..
Good shout. I totally agree with you on that. I think we need to be very strong in midfield tonight and Holm would help give us that. I’d like to see more of Yang and Palma to see how they compare to Jota and Abada.
BIGRAILROADBLUES on 18TH SEPTEMBER 2023 9:02 PM
Tam
Wednesday 27th suit? Or you could come through to Ayr to meet iniquitousiv, BMCUWP, CoseyCornerBhoy et al in the market inn on the 28th. Or the Shipbank Shipwrecks on the 29th?
May come along to that meet up at the Market Inn, is it a morning, afternoon or evening sesh or all three.
What time are you gathering ??
Could be that the teams in our group are all capable of taking points of each other. If so we have an outsider’s or should that be an outlander’s chance. Not an easy match to start off with, what is, but we have three home matches too, so who knows, I’m not writing us off before a ball is kicked.
Incidentally, pictures from yesterday’s training show Nat Philips out running with the team so maybe he will be available after all. The more defenders the merrier.
This site is at its best today, both in the editorial sense and in the comments.
It is defintitely a positive that the club is moving forward to settle these cases, and as usual it has been done without fanfare or hoopla or anything else. The club gets stick for a lot of things, from a lot of people, bu the stick it has taken over this matter, down through the years, has been some of the worst and most ignorant.
Well done to the guys who’ve pointed to the Chairman’s previous statement that this was in the hands of the insurers. The idea that “companies can’t be insured for illegal actions” is sadly untrue, unless the actions in question arise from deliberate policies instigated by the organisation itself.
In a case like this, one of “vicarious liability” where the blame doesn’t even lie within the organisation but with an outside agency in which we had some influence, the case for insurers handling the matter is even stronger than in circumstances where this was simply the act of someone on the payroll (which liability insurance has long covered across the boards.)
I’ve always wondered if the club’s continued lack of communication on this was not something the insurance company was insisting on behind the scenes. Mad fantasies which exist on the websites of mad fantasists that this would “bankrupt Celtic” and avenge 2012 have always been fanciful rubbish.
The idea that Celtic doesn’t care about the victims has always been reprehensible rubbish.
In a case like this, it is pretty much standard practice – harsh thought it might be – for the insurers to test the legal validity of a case before writing a cheque. They do not have to concern themselves with the moral and ethical elements involved in doing that. Which is all I’ve ever thought this was.
I know that people who were at Celtic in the past could, and should, have put a stop to this stuff right quick. But I also know that this is not something unique to Celtic but happened in institutions across the globe from schools and orphanages to churches and political entities. There’s a great line in Stephen King’s “The Stand” which I always wondered if he got it direct from an official history or if he just made it up on the spot; if he made it up on the spot it’s a testament to his craft.
A minor character, a military general, is considering groupthink in the light of a major disaster (the superflu accident which starts that book.) And he remembers a colleague of his speaking to him in light of the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War.
“Gentlemen,” this guys says, “a regrettable incident has occured. And when a regrettable incident occurs which involves any branch of the United States Military, we don’t question the roots of that incident but rather how the branches may best be pruned.The service is mother and father to us. And if you find your mother raped or your father beaten and robbed, before you call the police or begin an investigation, you cover their nakedness. Because you love them.”
And that excuse – for that’s what it is – has been used by institutions and individuals great and small, from time immeorial and up to even the present day. We will cover this up out of love or respect or for the greatness of the institution brought low by the actions of renegade actors.
What actually happens, of course, is that corrupt the institution itself.
We learn slowly when we learn at all.
But the people running Celtic today were not involved in it, played no role in covering up and have basically been trying to deal with it ever since. However we got here, it’s right that we did and proper because even if there’s no legal responsibility there’s certainly a moral one.
I hope these people get every penny they are due. I hope the club can work with them to put this in the rearview mirror. And I hope when it’s done those at the club now apologise for those events and for what amounts to Celtic’s institutional failure.
Those who actually were involved in looking the other way … we know your names, and the day will come when some of us will be expected to pay tribute to you. I’d rather eat my own underwear.
JF – Good post. You must have some memory for books/history/movies the amount of times you use them to illustrate points in your blogs. I’ve read 100s of books but doubt I could recall a quote from any of them.
HH
Lullabies 4.57
I’m not organising that session but I believe it’s a High Noon start.
“Faithless is he who says farewell when the road darkens.” Gimli, TLOTR, JRR TOLKEIN)
C’MON THE CELTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Team sheet latest…………………….Reo Hatate