Soon you’ll read Crystal Palace earn more than Inter

The biggest story in the Deloitte money league table, out this morning, is that of Milan and Inter, 14th and 19th place respectively. Inter are stuck between Everton (pining for a new stadium to remove the biggest inhibitor on revenue) and West Ham (soon moving to a new stadium).

Juventus are 10th and Roma 16th but that’s it for Italian clubs, who were able to attract the top talent from Law to Ronaldo and all generations in between. The fabled ‘lure of the lira’ wasn’t replaced by the lure of Italian stocked euros. Football in Italy is still a huge business, but the TV market is not as generous as the deal in the confederated league in England and Wales.

It’s not so long since Celtic regularly featured in Deloitte’s report but our TV revenues have stagnated while those elsewhere have grown considerably. We’ve recognised our place in the food chain, but next to slip off the list when the new English TV deal kicks in will be the big Milanese clubs. Good.

Celtic were first to suffer the consequences of the TV and football markets cartels. There’s little we can do about it alone, we need big clubs in big countries to also be unhappy at being pushed out of the tent.

We’ll soon read that Crystal Palace earn more money than Inter Milan. Experience suggests that football clubs, once disenfranchised in this manner, become advocates for change. Even those near the top, like Karl-Heinz Rummenigge’s Bayern Munich, are talking about a European league, as their domestic TV deal is holding them back.

Magners Ticket Competition

Fancy two Premium Seats in the Jock Stein Stand for Saturday’s game against St Johnstone, courtesy of Magners? You can win by answering this question, which will hopefully bring back some memories:

We said “Cheerio to 10-in-a-row” on 9 Mary 1998, but just before halftime that day, a St Johnstone player went within inches of equalising with a header. Who was that player?

Send his surname in the subject line of an email to celticquicknews@gmail.com to enter.

And while you are at it, why don’t you put a £1 into our Mary’s Meals school kitchen appeal here…