My friends in Celtic, the third domestic trophy returned to the boardroom earlier this month. We sit 14 points clear at the top of the league table, and with 20 games remaining, you can get 20/1 on Newco for the title and 750/1 on Aberdeen. Yet again, Celtic are not so much a sporting favourite, than an investment asset (this is not gambling advice!).
We have nine points after six games in the Champions League and could confirm qualification for the knockout round next month. The club reported record turnover for last season of £124.6m, with £77m in the bank.
Good performances in Europe contributed significantly to this calendar year seeing only two defeats in all competitions: a random 10-man loss at Hearts and an absolute drubbing at Dortmund. 2024 is the year that delivered more major trophies than defeats. This has never happened before and surely will never happen again.
The summer transfer window saw £31.2m spent on in-coming players, with a new high watermark of £11m splurged on Arne Engels. How easily we moved on from the loss of Jota and Matt O’Riley.
A new transfer window opens tomorrow, so before the madness gets underway again, recall the angry and entitled writers who despaired all summer at Celtic’s transfer activity. Their form is as consistent as Cameron Carter-Vickers, so you will hear from them again soon. Transfer business is skewed to the end of the window and is more complicated than many would have you believe.
2025 opens at Ibrox, where it is seldom easy. However, a Celtic defeat would not convince any of the 50,000 attendees that their ‘heroes’ are capable of catching the champions.
In February we had slipped behind Newco and were playing poorly. I was concerned the title would be lost, Newco would earn a Champions League lifeline and Celtic would plunge into disarray.
As it turned out, the Premiership, Scottish Cup and League Cup were all decided in pivotal games against Newco: 3-3 draw at Ibrox, the 1-0 Scottish Cup Final win and the penalty decider in the League Cup Final. All of these games could have gone the other way, and for a period, looked as though they would.
It is to Brendan Rodgers eternal credit that he knows how to win tight games. Marginal differences in the game at Ibrox were enough to change Scottish football history – and not just for last season. With £77m in the bank, Celtic would have coped with a second place finish, albeit, there would have been a trauma. Newco, however, were devastated by the consequences of only taking a point that day. They celebrated the passing of their last chance.
We are in the fortunate position to have a manager, players and entire club who collectively have the corporate experience to get the job done. As long as Celtic perform as they have been recently, we will dominate in Scotland and give a reasonable account of ourselves in Europe.
Some of us lived through the 90s, when Rangers were out of sight and Celtic were under-resourced. Always. We won the league in 1998, due to a random series of events, including signing a winger from Feyenoord, but that was a one-off. The next two seasons were a return to more of the same.
The rebirth of Celtic under Martin O’Neill had a compelling side story: the corporate disaster zone that was Rangers under the bombast of David Murray and his non-execs. They lost £35m in one season; Martin found himself battling against a dying empire.
Rangers acted as though their domination was guaranteed. Even our 1998 triumph was handled interestingly by Murray, saying “9 out of 10, not good enough”. The seeds of their downfall were writ large over their accounts and those of Murray International Holdings, for anyone who cared to read them.
Their domination was so overwhelming, it was almost impossible to get anyone to listen to reality back then. So let’s be clear:
Domination is good.
Generation(s) of Domination is great.
Ignore the fundamentals of business and you sow the seeds of downfall.
Celtic are successful domestically because we recruit well, we develop players well and we have elite level managers, coaches and sports scientists. There is, however, a gap between where we are and where we could be.
Brugge spent around half of what we spent on Arne on their most expensive summer signing and spent less overall than Celtic (in absolute and net terms). They have not and never will spend £9m on a player from the Norwich City bench.
Champions League qualification is coming your way quickly and we will be up against teams who work the way we did to find and develop Kuhn, Bernardo, Johnstone, Jota and our Japanese contingent. Celtic excelled in that space for over two years.
Looking back on Ange Postecoglou’s time, recruitment now appears to be his strong suit (he has no such controls at Spurs). Brendan is more of a master tactician. If we continue to scout players Brendan has watched or worked with, we will decline.
The players we sell for a profit in 2027 and 2028 should be signing targets in 2025. They need to have development potential and eventually leave a price several times higher. If we get this wrong, it is the chink in the armour our opponents need to become relevant again.
Our operating expenses for the year to 30 June, which excludes transfer fees, were £105m. That’s the cost of doing business at Celtic currently. You don’t need me to tell you what happens to our profitability if we fail to reach the Champions League.
We are not Oldco Rangers; the financial reserves are there to prevent a cataclysmic retrenchment in the event we run at a loss, but keeping the club profitable, improving the player trading model (good though it is, it still has a long way to go) and maintaining salary levels consistent with our income spectrum will determine if you ever get to celebrate 10-in-a-row.
No harm to Real Madrid, who have normalised winning the Champions League, but Celtic fans have the best role in football. Despite being pushed all the way, we get to win so many trophies, achieve our own level of joys in Europe, with remarkably few god days.
This was not always the case and it took God-level strategic planning to achieve. It cannot last forever, but a quarter of the way through this century there is no sign of a sunset. The 2024 title win was genuinely pivotal. Congratulations to everyone at the club who played a role in delivering yet again, often in the face of absurd hostility.
Have a great New Year, Paul.
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You anaw Joe.
BRRB
Thank you my friend.
.
Did anyone see the Clement interview on STV? I’m sure he said that they actually won the cup final but he will say no more on it 😂
AN TEARMANN on 31ST DECEMBER 2024 1:51 PM
Brian Nugent -Woodhunchdog
Gerry Chambers- Ger57
Brian Mc Ginley -Ron Bacardi
Alex Mc Killop- Eurochamps67
Tony Gillespie- Setting free the bears.
All a big loss to CQN in ’24
God Bless them and their families.
Hail Hail
========
Well said.
Off to spend some precious time with my wee family.
To all of you who , like me , have been lucky enough to have been born into the Celtic family , Happy New Year to you.
Hold close to you those you still have and raise a glass to those you don’t.
We do, indeed, find ourselves in a fantastic position. Years of smart thinking, difficult unpopular decisions, top quality staff and a winning mentality have got us to where we are.
Long may it continue.
We should go to Ibrox and use the napper by – ‘learning’ – how to play a flat back four and counter attack with the pace of Kyogo, Maeda, Khun, Engels, etc, for when we play CL level teams and use that system home and away.
Maybe even bring in wee nasty Naisy to teach Brendan how to [ park the bus ] and mug a big team with vastly superior resources like he did to Brendan in our last domestic defeat.
If not – why not? lol
Would that be a bad idea because…
A. We are not really open to all and we’re just pretentious liars?
Or, B. Because Brendan is too precious to admit that he needs to be taught anything?
The Huns might actually get a few penalties this time, well just because.
I’d prefer Celtic to [ park the bus ] and mug the b@stards in the 98th minute with a long ball and Maeda doing a Stevie Chalmers cute toe poke into the corner of the Hun net at the Copland road end, and all these non local Celtic players will create a handsome Timmy celebratory pile on, follow followed by a bouncey bouncey huddle straight after the whistle – and Huns will either walk away broken hearted, or make an ass of themselves by invading the pitch – but as long as our players get off the pitch safely.
PS, a 3 year contract for Brendan means that he’s been tapped up? Or, no serious team would look at the One horse league for a manager?
Interesting times and interesting folk are looking unwell. Hmmm.
PS, do the Huns know more about the Pope than the average Tim?
https://x.com/tpvsean/status/1874056073553781163
Deary me dizny scratch the surface!
Does Glasgow have a Big Hogmanay Street Party ,I remember many years ago Glasgow Cross hundreds of revellers bringing in the New Year
Brugge spend half our budget on players not unlike most of the top clubs competing in the lower leagues and certainly not 9 mii on a player from the Norwich City bench. Perhaps if they had a guy on loan who scored a hatful of crucial goals when they were on their knees to win the title and gain entry to the Champions league with all the resultant riches who knows what Brugge would have done in those circumstances.
interesting reading the sports pages over the holidays to quote one of our prominent and best journos over here he says ‘are Liverpool as good as they look? or is their excellence being exaggerated by the mediocrity of one of the weakest Premier League in living memory.
The leaders might be playing great football but the presence of Nottingham Forest in second place raises questions about the magnitude of their achievement. Forest have the 14th highes wage bill in the league
and are managed by a man who has been sacked three times in the last four years. Bournemouth with the 17th highest wage bill are in sixth place and challenging for a Champions League spot. IIt gets even better, Brentfords two places above Man Utd , their entire squads wages is the same paid to Casemiro, Maguire and Jason Mount. Interesting stuff.
said the man from the daily mail
SAINT STIVS on 31ST DECEMBER 2024 6:49 PM
said the man from the daily mail
————-
Love that song SS. Got it playing over in my head now after reading that.
😂😂😂
And every cock in the farmyard stock, blows a triumph for the Gale…
And it wouldn’t be surprising if there’d be another rising said the man from the Daily Mail.
😃👍
Happy new year when it comes fholks!
Great post AT. RIP all.
Chris Sutton Lauging At Rangers Fans 🤣😂 #rangers #celticfc #comedy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBs05GtvNvI
Even since CQN began football has changed radically with 5 subs now available to managers and squad members on their toes. Celtic are going to need all 24 of them to fit the requirements of the modern game. As Paul says we still have some way to go but we are adapting to it.
Happy Hoopy Hogmanay to all Celtic fans of every hue.
Happy New Year Mr67
melvin, aye cheers.
—————–
a famous port man Karate Joe Docherty owned parkhill farm.
he loved the horses, had trotting carts and many different animals.
it was saint patricks day and we were driving past the farm, his donkey had a tricolour ribbon around its kneck.
we stopped a minute the mother in law knew him well.
they had a wee yap,
and then i said every donkey has tricoloured ribbon tied firmly to it tail
he responded
aye said the man from the daily mail.
proper legend
calling Drambowie celt, if your about Terry, let us know you are ok . cheers.
Brilliant SS!
Check Lenny out here “People’s Front of Judea!”…
😂😂😂
https://youtu.be/3NLS3CxiADo?feature=shared
SAINT STIVS on 31ST DECEMBER 2024 7:03 PM
—————
Brilliant! 😂😂😂👍🇮🇪
melvin – see ya and raise another.
The Best Chris Sutton on sevco, includes Sutton v Pedro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrVgY50WZpc
the statements, lol
Hankray – did the journo mention Liverpool’s CL results? Played 6, won 6, 13 goals for, 1 against.
SCAM ALERT
If a man comes to your door asking to see your cock, don’t show him your cock, he only wants to see your cock.
I felt so stupid and cheap.
KINGLuBO
Just about to head out and meet my old pals Ran and Dan🥃
A full moon on hogmanay?
May I wish to all on planet Celtic, a very healthy happy new year.
KINGLuBO
Wish all of you wonderful Tim’s all the very best for the New Year and raising my a glass to our absent friends.
SAINT STIVS on 31ST DECEMBER 2024 7:10 PM
melvin – see ya and raise another.
The Best Chris Sutton on sevco, includes Sutton v Pedro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrVgY50WZpc
the statements, lol
—————
That’s cheered me right up.
😂😂😂
Happy New year to all on CQN, hopefully 2025 and beyong brings more success and progression for Celtic FC.
KINGLUBO re: scam
Laughed out loud and shared!
An Tearmann on 31st December 2024 1:51 pm
Brian Nugent -Whitedoghunch
Gerry Chambers- Ger57
Brian Mc Ginley -Ron Bacardi
Alex Mc Killop- Eurochamps67
Tony Gillespie- Setting free the bears.
All a big loss to CQN in ’24
God Bless them and their families.
Hail Hail
——-
Fixed that for you big fella hh
Deniabhoy….,… he didn’t mention that but it surprised me to hear that ‘Pool had only one league title in over 30 years. Just as well the top 4 teams make the Champions League
Happy new year to all Tims wherever you may be, and lets hope wherever you may be theres another Tim close
25 the of January,all the planets in our Solar System align,a total phenomenon.
Its a sign,ah tells ye,a sign !!!!!!.
“This message is only for Fenians”. BBC Scotland.
I’m away home. Mrs BRRB will lock the door and leave me on the landing if I’m any later. To all you hun creeps that come on here- do one ya scumbags. Apologies to all for my language.
Rumours that James Tavernier,was seen,sneaking into ,a struck of Doctors back St clinic,for a sick note to rule him out of Thursdays game,are malicious rumours.( The Record )
When asked for a comment,Daizen Maeda,just smiled.
Fook the hun!!!!
Turkeybhoy
Aye indeed. 🤣🤣
QUADROPHENIAN
This stuff Paul about Postecoglou being some kind of ‘eye for a player’ guru is a crocka.
He never splurged in Oz or Japan and his record at Spurs is patchy to say the least –
—-
The fact Ange wanted Riley McGree over Matt O’Riley would back this up. Thank eff for Middlesbrough !!
Reading FF,on Leon King,
” FFS,he is much worse than Propper.Up for sale last season,only team that wanted him was Salford,?????????.An absolute waste of space.”.
Kyogo has to play.
BRRB,
Thank you.No one else seems to find my posts,in the least funny.
I will soldier on.