You and I have discussed the need to upgrade Celtic Park for a long time. It is a 20th century stadium that is showing its age through the second quarter of the 21st. I am unfamiliar with the South Stand, but I hear that is most in need of renovation, which is hard to believe, as I am familiar with the condition and facilitates in the North Stand.
I have raised the question many times over the years with the club, with incredible budget estimates thrown back as the determining issue. Post-Brexit and with geo-political issues going on, the cost of construction skills and materials have risen to new heights.
Glasgow is not London, which is its own special category of crazy when it comes to construction costs, but Crystal Palace redevelopment of their main stand caught my eye. Work is underway to increase capacity from 26,000 to 34,000. The initial budget when the project was conceived in 2017 sat at £76m (not much above what I heard redeveloping the Main Stand at Celtic Park would cost). Current cost estimate is £200m.
For Palace, it is not really about the extra 8,000 seats, those seats will have a higher average price, as they will bring significant new hospitality facilities. £125m of the funding requirement comes from Goldman Sacks. The rate on this was not disclosed, but Goldman replaced Palace previous lender, who charged 11% (costing £9.2m interest, and that was before construction).
We look back on the 1990s as a time of trauma: one league title, one Scottish Cup and one League Cup. £40m was also spent that decade on re-building Celtic Park. That was an astronomical figure for the club back then, but the new ground brought additional income streams online from season 1995-96. When the stadium was finished in 1998, Celtic were in an unrecognisable income position.
I don’t think we can put off stadium upgrades forever. Fans of the future will expect (and will pay for) better facilities. But I’m not sure a Crystal Palace-type project is a viable risk.
CQN Golf Day 2026
This year’s CQN Golf Day will be at Dunblane Golf Course on Friday 10 July. Our guest speaker is celebrated film and TV actor David Hayman. David broke through when he starred as Jimmy Boyle in a Sense of Freedom (1981), and went on to appear in major cinema successes such as The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008). More importantly, he founded the charity Spirit Aid, which works with children whose lives have been devastated by war, genocide, or poverty. I will be speaking as well.
It is a great day, if you would like to attend, email Taggsybhoy: cqngolf@gmail.com . See you there.
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Someone has to empty the colostomy bags.
Until we’re in possession of such consultation reports – as Feyenoord furnished their fans with then no one can say anything with authority.
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I worked in corporate real estate for over 20 years and I am now retired. I had experiences across the globe on proper construction projects, some on a massive scale, and through this the working of Real Estate Investment funds, and how a company can finance infrastructure projects.
Forget about the scale of the works required for Celtic plc, and simplify it, forget the engineering , the techinical stuff, and concentrate on what do we need, and how can we pay for it.
Then let the experts tell you what can realistically be built, and then the options to finance it.
That is what feasability studies are for. Looking at your options.
For a longtime, especially during the Ronnie years, I was set against any expansion development, particularly against the context of where we physically play our football (east end, Glasgow, not even an attractive investment for Scottish terms) and what market we were in, again Scottish dominanace with occassional profitable escapades in Europe.
This while REIT were financing mega projects for the EPL and the big 5 leagues alongside tournament hosts enjoying governement favourable investments. Stadium DB has over 300 stadium projects completed or planned in the last 20 years.
Finance terms might have been attractive, but in the sub 50,000 attendance days, I thought, honestly, why bother.
So what changed –
post covid – we had our highest ever agregatte attendnances during Brendans last term, over 1.6 million came to Celtic Park (down 200,000 last season). People want to attend football, many have more spending power, the willingness to spend big on corporate level tickets astounds me tbh.
Sell outs even wehn we do not play so well, stadium is sold out for everything that happens there, even if only 59000 turn up.
Those last games, Hearts, Rangers, Falkirk, and the cup final, hundreds outside offering money for a seat.
The waiting list, if it exists, public sale tickets circa 5,000 sell out in minutes when put up for sale. I note Newcastle just published they now have a confirmed waiting list up to date of 35,000 plus.
Access to the Champions League, at least 4 games now worth £35m per season (LR67, thanks for The BG example, they are planning to be successful, and then spending that monies for the benefit of the club and fans).
Imagine flipping the 7 from 10 non qualification for CL, to participation , the 3 seasons of auto qualification were our highest ever revenues and highest ever profits , playing there and selling high ? that is why we had £70m in the bank.
So, what next ?
I was told last season, by people in the industry, that feasability studies were asked for. Now what we do not do is give a context on affordability, if you tell a company, we will spend £300m they will find a way to spend it. Instead just say, we want to modernise, like Palace or Villa, some up and over build, , with lots of additional hospitality, followed by a refurb of the lower main stand, new media facilities, ……….
so Messrs Real Estate , what do you propose ? give me a concept.
They willl provide, high, medium and lowest cost options. Your then decide what you can afford, short, medium, long term payback.
The key for me / being in the champions league is mandatory to fund developments.
I could do it for them if they bothered asking.
celtic40me
This is a Celtic fitba blog, not an MBA presentation. The chap made a reasonable suggestion that can be read and taken in the round. We have cash, we have certain parties currently hungry to invest and we’re a good credit risk. Add in some commercial deals and other bits and bobs and there’s the basis of a well funded project there.
Hi all,
Following an exhausting, ‘interesting’ and ultimately successful season, and after a couple of weeks to recuperate, the Collective will now necessarily turn its thoughts to next season and our future activity and structure. Circumstances forced us to focus largely on protests from September 2025 until the final five or six weeks of the season but, contrary to popular belief, that is not what the Collective is primarily about and is not, in any case, sustainable.
Leaving aside the very difficult circumstances of the last year, most of us recognise that there have been long-standing issues of poor recruitment, poor engagement with fans and generally poor corporate governance of the club. Those problems have not gone away, and it remains crucial for fans to be united in demanding better from those who currently run our club. The way we do that, however, cannot be to remain in constant protest mode, albeit that those protests were, and continue to be, successful in a number of respects and may be necessary again.
The Board cannot be allowed to think that the League and Cup Double, as unexpected and as welcome as it was, makes everything okay – not while they continue to show very little evidence of professional and timely recruitment practices, not while they continue to allow the principal shareholder to run the club like a feudal lord, and certainly not while they continue to attack and hound two of our fellow fans in a vindictive and totally unnecessary way.
However, it is possible for us to unite, to engage and to continue to seek dialogue with the club in order to progress our interests as fans, while aiming to keep matchdays clear for us to simply enjoy the game. We have a number of positive proposals remaining from the initial campaign, e.g. a Fan Advisory Board, and a united fan body such as the Collective is the best way to progress those proposals with the club.
The circumstances of last season also meant that we had little time to focus on the structure of the Collective, how it would make decisions, how voting would work and so on. During this summer, we need to take the time to consider these matters and ensure that we can build a representative body that is united in how it makes decisions and how it takes those decisions forward.
A number of alternative models were tabled at the last meeting of the signatories, and the Steering Group will further consider and develop them so that we have a proposal to put to members in time to have an agreed structure in place for the start of the 2026–27 season.
So, enjoy your break and watch out for communications from the Collective on the timetable for this process.
Many Thanks,
St Stivs – would you do it for us if we asked nicely? Pretty please?
THE BADA BING on 10TH JUNE 2026 3:15 PM
Nicholson elected to SPFL board for next season ,the Cardboard Cutout is going nowhere….
_____________________________
Awesome. Now we have the other 41 clubs in the SPFL trolling Celtic fans by electing our CEO to the board!
Greenpinata on 10th June 2026 2:52 pm
It was reported that DD personally paid Robbie Keanes wages. Circa 70k per week it is believed.
He was a loan players, so can that be interpreted as a loan payment. 🤨
HH.
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that would be an off the celtic plc books then, and would be illegal.
only celtic plc can pay a player on loan.
Shelbourne v Celtic 7th July, 6pm ko Tolka Park
The Battered Bunnet on 10th June 2026 4:04 pm
St Stivs – would you do it for us if we asked nicely? Pretty please?
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I was up on saturday at the history conference event , and excellent it was to.
Btw, the host told the 300 gathered, Celtic plc had given the Kerrydale suite for free , and the staff for morning rolls and the tea breaks, so it is a little thing but well done.
I had a good wee look around the lounge, at the fabric and condition, it too could do with a refresh.
Outside I walked to the car-park with St Anthony, who had given a superb passionate celticwiki talk, we looked at the main stand, I told him what I thought we could do, I could see his eyes glazing over as he thought how do I get to my car.
If I am boring on here, imagine me at the stadium.
TBB- The Board Loyal are staunch on here….
ST STIVS – what TBB 4:04pm said.
I know a director at Populous and can assure you that some work has been done, but unsurprisingly our board have not progressed it.
Candidly, this is a standard business expansion strategy review. Not only would there be emphasis on how to finance the project, per the many other comments, but additional revenue streams would be created. One thing from The Celtic Paradox document that stands out, is how low our per seat matchday revenue is compared to Sevco.
THE BATTERED BUNNET on 10TH JUNE 2026 4:01 PM
celtic40me
This is a Celtic fitba blog, not an MBA presentation. The chap made a reasonable suggestion that can be read and taken in the round
If you’re talking about context then you’re more likely to see contrary or provocative posts on the first page of CQN from certain posters than reasonable suggestions. We know what to expect, what followed tells you what you need to know, a change of line of attack. If it was something other than more of what we’ve seen before then it deserves respect, if its not then expect a challenge
Nobody expects an MBA presentation, but if you have strong opinions then expect to be challenged. Asking for some basic numbers to back up your argument isnt unreasonable. If you;re arguing its affordable then at least try and show how. If you’re arguing savings are there to be made, say what savings. If you think capital can be raised from a shared issue then explain how you can square that with the guy you constantly criticise owner a larger stake in the club. Read the article, understand how much it costs a football club to borrow and suggest how much we might need to borrow and how much it might cost the club
Throwing your hands up when challenged and saying its the job of the person you criticise for doing a poor job to work out the numbers isnt a reasonable suggestion.
Good luck to Stephen Welsh on his new adventure with Swansea.
Thanks for your efforts in helping us win the league.
Did Stephen get any medals from us this season?he played in Scottish cup.
St Stivs
Your post was not boring at all. Really interesting. I worked in commercial property law for a long time but did the boring stuff. Always envied the strategy guys. Doesn’t sound too different from any home renovation. This is what we want, this is what we can afford – get in the experts and see if anything is feasible. As TBB says, if the money is there and people want to invest, then hopefully it’s feasible. Also interesting that you think there could be a market for expanding. My sense would be upgrade with similar number of seats as at present, but maybe put in more executive seats, which helps keep price down for those of us in the cheap seats.
ss
I wouldn’t be bored by your plan
It has been suggested (very credibly) that Brian Wilson – currently serving as interim Chairman – wishes to retire from the board.
Tom Allison – the senior independent director – retired a couple of months ago.
Peter Lawwell resigned in December.
That leaved Dermot Desmond, Sharon Brown and Brian Rose as the current non-executive directors of the company.
Dermot Desmond does not attend board meetings, instead sending a representative.
The board has three standing committees: Audit & Risk, Remuneration and Nomination. Each committee comprised three members and membership is restricted to non-execs. Following recent resignations and retirements, membership of these committees is as follows:
Audit & Risk Committee: Sharon Brown, Dermot Desmond (proxy) and Brian Rose
Remuneration Committee: Brian Wilson (interim) Vacancy, Vacancy
Nomination Committee: Dermot Desmond (proxy), Vacancy, Vacancy
It’s interesting to consider, in all of the circumstances, quite how the company might adequately be governed. The Remuneration committee can’t sign off on a package for the new management team and the new Head of Football Ops, and even if they could, the Nomination committee can’t nominate any candidates for the roles.
Of course there are workarounds, but that’s a pretty shabby place for a mid-cap listed company to find itself.
I’m sure Ross Desmond will be along shortly to tell us that the board acts prudently, not recklessly, that those who criticise the board misunderstand the responsibility of the fiduciary, and that competing for high quality directors is very challenging for a company in a sub-market of a larger stock exchange.
QCA CSC
SS,
Brilliant thought provoking posts.
Not boring g in the slightest, rather interesting and engaging.
HH.
I think by ‘savings’ he meant cash balances, doubtless much diminished from the previously reported £77M.
You’re experienced enough I’m sure to see the merit in the suggestion – that Celtic can afford to finance a major capital project – through ordinary course sources.
THE BATTERED BUNNET on 10TH JUNE 2026 4:01 PM
I know a little about financing and football, not as much as some and not as much as I used to but enough to make a reasonable (!) judgement. Which doesnt make me right of course.
“We have cash, we have certain parties currently hungry to invest and we’re a good credit risk. Add in some commercial deals and other bits and bobs and there’s the basis of a well funded project there.”
I dont know who’s hungry to invest and how much they’d be prepared to invest in a new stand, rather than seeing it on the pitch.
I dont know what value the commercial deals would be either, my guess is less than people think. Naming rights sounds like money for nothing but an old ground with a new stand in the SPL wont be worth much unfortunately.
Football clubs are not good credit risks, but a football club playing in a league with almost no guaranteed tv revenue can expect to pay a lot more in finance costs than, for example Crystal Palace, who Paul talks about. Palace will have increased revenue from 8000 more seats which we wont, a big uplift in match day sales from hospitality, more than us. A new stand will take a long time to pay for itself. Borrowing costs will reflect that.
Seagulls, seagulls everywhere.
THE BATTERED BUNNET on 10TH JUNE 2026 4:45 PM
You’re experienced enough I’m sure to see the merit in the suggestion – that Celtic can afford to finance a major capital project – through ordinary course sources.
I dont have a problem with the suggestion, I do have a problem with the suggestion that its wilful negligence thats stopping us doing it. Its the risk, and personally and with a little understanding of it I dont think its worth it. And dont think raising the money is easy at all
Where that leaves us I dont know, but you cant just ignore it
One can. And one will.
I sat with a Spurs fan through a few games last season in their fantastic ground. As stressful as the end of our season was, there’s was much much worse. Football shouldnt be like that
There are a few reasons for why they found themselves where they did, but they have massively overreached with the new ground.
celtic40me
David Low’s CSL and Willie Haughey’s Season Ticket Alliance are actively buying shares with the purpose of increasing their position. Each group wants to get to 30% over time. They are responsible for the recent spike in the share price.
Haughey certainly has the wherewithal, Desmond would want to maintain his position, others too, while a whole generation of fans have grown up without an invitation to invest. It’s not a major stretch to consider that a new share issue would be well subscribed.
The stadium naming rights thing has nowt to do with the condition of the stadium and everything to do with its exposure to the public. I’m not a fan of these things and would be antipathetic if Celtic suggested it, but they happen. For example, Barclays have put in a tonne of money for naming rights to the dilapidated hovel that is Hampden. Jings, lowly EKFC have just done a deal with Bumblebee EV charging and the place is pure buzzing.
Bank facilities might be trickier than before to support operations but as St Stivs has described, there’s no shortage of debt for construction and infrastructure.
Getting a funding package that delivers a major project is entirely within our reach, if only we had directors on the board to put it together. See my earlier post above.
I disagree about finding the monies.
It is relatively easy, and the payback terms do not need to be higher than Palace for example.
I thought the 9% quoted by P67 was actually too high.
Palace reported only less than £14m for matchday revenues on turnover of £180m ish.
The site footprint reuired complexities that Celtic do not have, ie housing and supermarket, access and road strucutres. Costs offcourse rise with delays. Materilas will go up over time depending on avbailability, but for sure building in London will easily be 30% more cost than in London, even being Croydon.
We in turn have a pretty blank canvas.
30% more in croydon london, than parkhead glasgow.
GEDENITE
RE THIS
One thing from The Celtic Paradox document that stands out, is how low our per seat matchday revenue is compared to Sevco.
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I thought the document was well produced, and mostly well presented, white paperish in its format and conclusions. However I thoutght the revenue per seat comparison was poorly arrived at.
They didnt compare apples with apples. so saying Rangers had twice as much per seat was iffy if you cannot segment the revenue streams as presented measuring the same things. They presented Rangers as double Celtic per seat, but only because Celtic do not report it all the same way (they might with the next accounts as it is becoming a requirement via uefa).
The UEFA financial sustainabily report says Celtic earn 2.1m euros per match, and Rangers earn 2.06m euros per match. That for me is a more valid measurement.
I will say though, in pure season ticket sales, and I have thought this for some-time, Our supposed seats cost advantage is negated by we selling many many more concession and kids tickets.
Anyways, enough for today.
the Bada Bing on 10th June 2026 3:15 pm
Nicholson elected to SPFL board for next season, the Cardboard Cutout is going nowhere….
*Just like PL he’ll be given another role within the club, we have great relations with the SPL unlike the scabby SFA who have NEVER liked us since we loaned the SPL John Glass to help the organisation in their initial days.
Dublin 7th July to see the Celtic play Shelbourne. That’ll do me.
lionroars67 on 10th June 2026 3:43 pm
Heartbreaking for these fans Scotland fan Michael had his ESTA travel document allowing entry to the US for the World Cup approved in March. Just 1 hour before he was due to fly out it was revoked, & dozens of other people have similar stories.
*aye the Secretary of “War” heard that they were part of the “Tartan Army” so banned them WTF
saint stivs
June 10, 2026 5:35 pm
not football related but a genuine question for anyone in belfast.
i only caught up on the scenes from last night .
the people burned out of homes, are they refuge families being housed in loyalist areas ?
Celtic40me 5pm
There are a few reasons for why they found themselves where they did, but they have massively overreached with the new ground.
C40me,Would you know if they ever repaid their covid loan.£175m or so,seem to recall only they took out full amount.A few things rolled badly The stadia was finished then covid hit,I think they had to make big adjustments
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jun/04/tottenham-take-175m-bank-of-england-loan-to-ease-coronavirus-impact
HH
HH
i have almost zero sympathy for anyone who tries to go to america these days voluntarily for things like holidays or for the world cup.
you only need to have watched a little bit of news over the last year or 2 to see what a fked up country it is, governed, policed and populated by a large number of fkin screwballs.
and just going there seriously threatens your personal liberty, safety and finances.
you knew the deal.
i say ‘almost zero sympathy’ because i know the pull to do something unwise to follow your football team, most of us have done that at some point over the years to see celtic.
and it is scotlands first WC for a geneneration so the heart can rule the head in that circumstance.
The Battered Bunnet on 10th June 2026 3:18 pm
It crossed my mind recently that Celtic’s season has a lot of parallels with the musical The Producers.
A hapless director and his accountant come up with a cunning plan to make a load of money from an almighty flop. A botched transfer window delivers a sorry cast; one star performer after another is sold; performances are hopeless; the paying customer is alienated with unpalatable statements. Haben sie gehört das Green Brigade banned?
The Celtic directors seem to have done their damnest to ensure that the season would be a flop and yet, and yet… here we are, double winners in the most dramatic and exhilarating final scene that were it scripted would be scarcely credible. A total showstopper.
MelBrooksCSC
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Bialystock & co. Great film. I saw a brilliant stage version, in Glasgow, years ago. Unfortunately, we are living it. Bad news about Nicholson today. I really thought he’d go (he’s been hiding in Tom, Dick and Harry for the past six months). Just watching them wee eejits who were in Glasgow last night. Rather fetching atire, similar to the onion bears 🤔
Attire😃
Looks like we should be getting compensation from Huns for the years we missed out on CL football ……AYE RIGHT !!!!
Everton told to pay Burnley £35m over PSR breaches
Everton avoided relegation by four points in the 2021-22 season
Everton have been told they must pay Burnley £35m over the impact of breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules.
The case – heard by a Premier League commission – relates to the 2021-22 season, when Everton were found to have broken profit and sustainability regulations (PSR) over a three-year period.
Burnley argued the breach impacted their chances of staying in the Premier League, and sought compensation for the losses associated with being relegated.
The Clarets have been awarded £26m in damages and a further £9m in interest.
Everton have appealed, with sources saying they will “robustly and thoroughly” contest the ruling.
The club said in a statement they were “clear in the belief the ruling is fundamentally flawed in both law and fact”.
“This ruling sets a dangerous and unworkable precedent for English football, given it is constructed on a principle that a club can be in breach of financial rules at any point in a financial year,” the statement said.
“Everton believes the panel’s ruling misrepresents the clear evidence presented by its legal representatives and that an appeal will be successful.”
Both clubs presented evidence from experts to simulate the effect of the overspend on Everton’s points total.
The commission said that it found Burnley’s evidence, which projected a gain of between 3.85 and 7.13 points for the Toffees, “more compelling”.
It added that “on the balance of probabilities, Everton’s breach of the PSR caused Burnley to be relegated”.
Any compensation payment would not impact Everton’s PSR accounts for the current period.
What is the background?
Everton were charged by the Premier League and deducted 10 points in November 2023, which was reduced to six points on appeal and applied to the league table in 2023-24.
The case centred on the argument that had the points been deducted in 2021-22, Burnley would have had a greater chance of avoiding relegation.
Everton finished 16th in 2021-22 on 39 points, with Leeds in 17th on 38 points and Burnley 18th on 35 points.
Leeds are reported to have agreed a settlement with Everton in September 2025.
Because of the complexities of the accounting period, which runs to the end of June, the Premier League is unable to apply points deductions in the season the offence happens.
But Premier League rules allow clubs to seek compensation against another members if rules are broken and cause them loss.
Leicester City, Nottingham Forest and Southampton were also reported to have considered legal action.
The ruling could have implications for Chelsea, who were not given a points deduction but were fined £10m after admitting making £47m in secret payments to unregistered agents and third parties over transfers between 2011 and 2018.
Elsewhere, clubs could seek compensation if Manchester City are found guilty of the 115 charges related to alleged financial rule breaches between 2009 and 2018. City deny all of the charges.
Other Premier League clubs could argue their chances of success in the Premier League were impacted by the rule breaches.
I notice Everton have been told they must pay Burnley £35m over breaches of the EPL financial rules.
This is madness. If Everton are unsuccessful in their appeal then it could be open season for compensation claims.
Poor refereeing and VAR mistakes will be the legal profession’s utopia.
The Genie will smash the bottle and the sport of football will surely suffer.
HH.
Oops… Forgot… that was a different club !,😤🥴🥱