I read one highly unlikely article yesterday suggesting we were going to sign Alfred Finnbogason AND were still bidding big money for Kevin Doyle ahead of an 11pm tonight signing deadline. It’s hard to be so wrong in so few words, but this one hit the mark.
Alfred is a target but, and this is the key point the newspapers have not picked up on, he is one of four strikers Celtic are seriously considering at the moment. He looks the part, as do the others, I am assured, but the deal has to be right for Celtic to move.
Our strategic plan is to buy players at a comparatively low price, develop them on the Champions League stage, and sell high, in order to be able to build a team capable of competing further in the Champions League.
To do this we need to buy from the right markets, at the correct age and on the right wage. There will be exceptions to this rule. A few weeks shy of his 27th birthday, Dirk Boerrigter is unlikely to appreciate greatly, but teams need experience to tackle the Champions League, as well as some specific skills, so Dirk is here for what he can give today, not to be the next £12m exit.
We will see more business like Wanyama and Hooper. Before Celtic agree a deal for Finnbogason there would need to be a gap between the buy price and the projected valuation IF the player is a success. If this gap doesn’t exist we will do business elsewhere. Sticking to strategy is more important than pursuing a target like some latter-day David “this time we’re really going for it” Murray.
You can also forget about the 11pm deadline tonight. That is only relevant if we need two or more new players to overcome Shakhter Karagandy. If we want to add Finnbogason, or any ONE other player, the deadline for a Wildcard signing is a day before the game, or pretty much when the team leaves Glasgow Airport, so there is no effective deadline tonight. As such, I would be surprised if a deal was concluded today.
Right now, at Lennoxtown and Celtic Park, people are deciding how to invest our money. We have the kind of choices consistent with a well-run club, but while we are a well-run club, we can’t get caught up in the hubris.
We are living through some big changes in our financial model. Revenue from domestic football (season ticket sales-now discounted, Rangers game £42-per-head ticket sales, hospitality sales, commercial income) has fallen, or disappeared completely (I reckon we’re in the region of £9m p.a. down in these areas, we’ll have a better indication when accounts are released later this month). On top of this, the club was running at a loss without Champions League football or significant player sale (£7m for season 2011-12, the last we have accounts for), and as well as some income streams falling, costs have risen.
I heard that one ‘St Mirren’ supporting journo on Radio Scotland on Saturday said with last season’s Champions League income and money from player sales, Celtic have a £40m transfer kitty.
In the name of all that is sacred, nine years after ‘What the Celtic fans want to know is where is all the Seville money?’, the same nonsense is being peddled. As far as some are concerned, we are back where we started on CQN. The first thing you do with your money is pay your bills, including tax… there is no creditor left behind at Celtic. After they are taken care off you can look to invest in footballers.
This year, the underlying loss has been flipped because of player sales and that Champions League income, although not by nearly as much as journos who regard researching accounts before commenting on finance as an unnecessary indulgence, will tell you. Without Champions League income (this season potentially £14m plus any prize money earned), the money from Wanyama alone would not make this a profitable season, even before the spend on our new signings.
The road ahead is clear. Get into the Champions League as often as possible without allowing any individual failure to cause a collapse, sign players who will flourish at that level, sell them for a profit, repeat and reinforce all aspects of strategy with an improved budget.
Over any business period, every penny which comes into the club, has been, and will continue to be, spent. Our money will be invested in footballers who will appreciate in value, and who will give Celtic their best chance of pushing further in the Champions League on a persistent basis. It will not rest in a bank account earning a pittance in interest. The strategy is ambitious and sustainable but not reckless.
A year ago some wondered if Celtic could survive, never mind flourish, without a Rangers-branded club in the league. If successful, this strategy will not only allow the club to flourish, it may even result in higher long-term income than Celtic achieved while locked in an arms race with a former rival, with a corresponding improvement in Champions League achievement.
Is Alfred Finnbogason the man, is he better than the others we’re looking at, good enough to excel in the Champions League? I’ve no idea, but he is just one detail in the wider Celtic strategy.
Stick to plan, Celtic.
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Wee big George
Impressed.
You are first on CQN to spell Shacked up lager shandys name correctly.
bada bing
Alibi at the ready……..”I only told them to blow the bloody doors off ” :O[
Ahmad and Hughes both have/had 2.2m.
Who needs the daily record or the sun or the radio Clyde rangers quartet plus Kevin’s to peddle garbage about Celtic when we have our own super intelligent financial geniuses on here to talk down any risk we have of having a sustainable successful football club.
Just as many abused strachan when he was winning 3 in a row and going for 4 our paranoid malcontents are unable to live with the prospect of supremacy back and having a ball with their anti board perspective.
So glad we don’t have to worry about whyte and green and Murray to contend with or a club so badly run its new franchise is in the 3rd tier.
Although I do sense that some are actually a wee bit envious of not having such adversity to rebel against each night.
Camalar says.
Was there no a wee consortium of asian gentleman ready to call in their debt no too long ago ?
Orlit ?
hen1rik
21:25 on
12 August, 2013
Thanks for that, the comments below it are also a hoot!
murdochauldandhay
20:51 on 12 August, 2013
Think we can forget this one for the qualifier ….. bit of a bidding war ongoing
CRC
No email received on predictor.
Roll on September 1st (transfer window closure) and AGM (accounts) so we can get back to discussing football matches.
:-)
I see queries earlier as to how much the club will pay in dividends this year. When did the club start paying dividends. I have been a shareholder since the original floatation by Fergus. In all that time no dividend has been paid on “Ordinary Shares” i.e. shares with full voting rights. Preference shares (restricted voting rights) bought as part of the orginal flotation receive a percentage return which was fixed at the time of issue (I think it’s around 6.5%). In the accounts it is treated as “interset”.
Someone has put a claim in for £3.4M against Sevco. LOL!!!
Twisty
Any idea who is up for it ?
Hello Wee BGFC
Has your Da allowed you to join the CQN predictor?
Both Caity and Deccyrollercoaster already enrolled and the son is good :-)
HH
CRC
hen1rik
21:25 on 12 August, 2013
prestonpans bhoys
21:22 on 12 August, 2013
hen1rik
21:13 on
12 August, 2013
Has there been another dumping of sevco shares??
Someone Has Just Traded 2.02 Million Rangers Shares For £838k! http://t.co/DiqazRpQxA via @Paulmcc12
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Shares being bought prior tonthe vote…..attempted coo…LOL
Our young Australian prospect – recommended to Celtic by Willie Wallace – will be in the starting eleven tomorrow as the young Celts take on the Republic of Ireland behind closed doors at Barrowfields. His name is Nik Mirkovic – there’s a video on Youtube for those interested. He’s 18, build like VW and has been impressing so far. Willie reckons he’ll be a star – hopefully this will be at Celtic. And he is certainly getting a good Celtic education here!
prestonpans bhoys
21:32 on 12 August, 2013
Didn’t notice lol
Wee big George
Gonny get your dad to put a pound on that bet for me… if it wins I will give him two pounds back and give you a tenner. … if it bombs… I will buy a windfall ticket the next home game (£2) with your name on it ;)
Burnley
Poor comment from you last
Thinly veiled abuse ….not very becoming …
asonofdan
21:34 on 12 August, 2013
Someone has put a claim in for £3.4M against Sevco. LOL!!!
>>>>>>>>>>
confirmed ? …..and from whom ??
PF
Never asked bud, but we can put the feelers out. Tttt possible, big John I guess, Oldtim perhaps, gordybhoy may be interested, we can ask around.
67heaven … i am neil lennon..!!.. ibrox belongs to the creditors
21:36 on 12 August, 2013
LoL
Dave King invested 20 million of his own money before liquidation and all he got was a blazer and tie. Is he behind the £3.4M claim? Mis-represented…again?
So if the last 5 years has taught us anything it don’t trust the money men, yet we still have our knuckled draggers telling us our money men are different and if we dare question them then were going to end up like the hun, which is in fact completely contrary to what actually happened with the hun who did exactly what our knuckle draggers are doing and trying to shout down dissent, strange eh.
Twitter.
By Charlotte’s latest, seems TU has been repaid & well placed “leaks” & stories to drive share price down has begun?
#JimAndWaltsBargainBuy
celticrollercoaster
21:35 on
12 August, 2013
Hello Wee BGFC
Has your Da allowed you to join the CQN predictor?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Oh-ho – whit’s the wee man been up to now?? Off to read back!
See what happens when you give your weans your password :-)
BGFC
Burnley78
21:29 on
12 August, 2013
********
Are you against spending some of the money we got for Hooper? I’d like a decent replacement whats wrong with that?
V
Them Naismith twitters are brill!!!!
Vmhan
Cause we’ll end up bust like the Huns …are ye daft ?? Get with the program :-))
canamalar1
21:41 on 12 August, 2013
Think you’re on the wrong site
gsu
PFayr,
you are only wanting to go on the Friday as its ladies day,
I would be interested in coming along,just need to check at work,
not back in til thursday
hen1rik,
Can’t remember who, I just remember a commotion about the Asian consortium threatening a winding up order
Does the Aussie tax man know King thru 20mill into died club
Winning captains
Watched some yt of nik mirkovic….
Its difficult to judge him as dont know the quality of opposition…. but hes a big strong boy … and with tom rogic and jax irvine at the club. … I hope we offer him a deal
No one has advocated spending for the sake of it
If we spend some of the money received from the sale of our spine to strengthen the team the C L money from last season would not be touched.
winning captains
21:36 on
12 August, 2013
Our young Australian prospect – recommended to Celtic by Willie Wallace – will be in the starting eleven tomorrow as the young Celts take on the Republic of Ireland behind closed doors at Barrowfields. His name is Nik Mirkovic – there’s a video on Youtube for those interested. He’s 18, build like VW and has been impressing so far. Willie reckons he’ll be a star – hopefully this will be at Celtic. And he is certainly getting a good Celtic education here!
**********
Good news indeed
HH
winning captains
21:36 on
12 August, 2013
Our young Australian prospect – recommended to Celtic by Willie Wallace – will be in the starting eleven tomorrow as the young Celts take on the Republic of Ireland behind closed doors at Barrowfields.
**********
Good news indeed
HH
I don’t agree with what some people on hear say, sometimes I do.
However, if Rangers had, and if Sevco now had supporters who held their clubs to account the way some of our posters hold our club to account they might have survived, shame they don’t, glad we do.
Even if sometimes they drive me mad.
old tim
just type your wine into google and you nearly always get something. Sometimes it’s in a different language and needs the translate button.
Tell me if you like it and if you think it’s worth £12.
HH
Canamalar
Indeed. For any business to grow you need investment. In my business, if I were to sell off my best equipment and not replace it with similar or better quality, it would lose me efficiency and ultimately customers.
Am I advocating spending excessive amounts that we can’t afford? Of course not.
There is no other way, unless I can find customers who will be happy to take any old crap and keep coming back without complaint.
Oh wait a minute……….