Transfer strategy, where we are

1239

If anyone tells you we are about to bid €7m on a guy who scored fewer league goals than Billy McKay last season, and who was signed for €500k last summer, don’t listen to them.  Nonsense like this is 180 degrees away from strategy.  Where would such a player’s sell-on value increase to?  It’s just not going to happen, nor should it, it would be a vanity purchase, the likes of which old Zsa Zsa himself would consider.

The last season we have figures for (season 2011-12), when we had Europa League football, Celtic lost £7m.  Since then three significant things have changed:

We’ve sold Wanyama and Hooper for over £17m (before deductions).
We got back into the Champions League and earned an additional £20m.
Season book sales dropped and this season cost £100 less than before.

Cutting £100 off the ticket price will bring in £4m less than last season.  All other things being equal (which they will not be), this would give us an £11m deficit before Champions League income and any trading surplus.  In short, to retain equilibrium, we need to reach the Champions League group stage more often than not.  Money from Uefa is not so much a bonus, it is necessary to push us into the black.

I know we covered this last week, but £17m for Victor and Gary will not, on its own, equate to £17m for new players.  Gary and Victor were both on their first Celtic contracts when they left, neither of which was near the top earning position (although both were offered top earning contracts).

We’re not going to spend £17m on transfers and be able to pay the new players from the money saved by not paying Victor and Gary.  Instead, the boost to the football budget from these sales will almost certainly disproportionately increase wages, leaving a lesser amount for transfers (if we sign four players for £2.5m each, we’ll probably have to pay each more than the average of Victor and Gary’s wage).

Knowing where they came from, I reckon Victor and Gary cost approximately a combined total of £1m p.a. in wages, the bulk of which would have gone to Gary.  If we bring in four players, each costing multiple millions, they could easily cost us an extra £2m per annum in wages, or £8m over their four year contracts.

In short, there is enough money available to buy several good players, for decent money, on high wages (for Celtic).  This is a good, sustainable, place to be, but it is not transfer window nirvana.  We have moved from a position of carrying a perpetual loss to being able to afford an increase in football budget without splurging into debt to fund it.

This isn’t a detailed budget analysis, there are lots of other variables (McCourt, Rogne etc off the wages, not Murphy, whose wages were off the books already), non-football budget cost inflation, considerable drop in one-off ticket sales (20k seats for £42 each at Rangers games twice a season) and commercial income from 2011-12, variations in season book sales (I hear they are marginally up on same time last year but still down on 2011-12).

The big challenge for the club is to ensure the playing squad is good enough to qualify for the Champions League group stage, and to compete when there, more often than not, without indulging in casino football every year.

We stick to plan, scout and recruit players within budget and with high potential sell-on values.  €7m on a striker from Heerenveen?  Better stick it on black.

The Kano Foundation have around 40 bucketeers for their annual drive at Celtic Park on Sunday.  They could do with a few more.  If you can do your bit, get in touch: contactus@thekanofoundation.com.

Check out the 1254125 Great Scottish Run page. I plan to keep this page updated with progress on the event and other resources. When you sign up, let me know and I’ll promote your donations page.
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1,239 Comments

  1. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    WEEFRATHETIM

     

     

    Enviously Beelin’,mate!

     

     

    Family nightooooot at the match,missing it as usual. I should be able to at least watch next Tuesday,so I’ll settle for that.

     

     

    Enjoy each leg of yer day,and I hope your Mum is in good shape.

  2. WeefratheTim on

    BMCUW

     

     

    Cheers for that. Will be back on after the game. Well about an hour and a half after it. :))

     

     

    Weefra HH

  3. Weefra

     

     

    I have been meaning to ask you, how one would go about purchasing eggs from your poultry. I am glasgow southside .

  4. i found reading about the footie cards earlier funny,can picture pettigrew with his mullet in my head lol..drew jarvie with his banjo strings hairdoo was another popular one, was he with clyde before aberdeen?and the shitty chewing gum in the pack yeeuuk cardboard right enough good old days,can remember the chucking the cards game too which was replaced by a two bob bit when panini took the cards an made them stickers,my older brother and i used to play football on a subbutio type cloth pitch..hibs v celtic were the only two teams,,mcarthur,shaedler,stanton etc v williams,hay,connolly ahhh the days h.h

  5. Steinreignedsupreme on

    KevJungle 12:36 on 31 July, 2013

     

     

    “Can’t understand awe the flapping of feathers about Mo Bangura ?

     

     

    “Especially from – ‘poster’ bhoy and seemingly clique leader Joe Ledley. Is super Joe a wee bit scared that, Mo will demonstrate that he’s found a manager who know’s how to play him ? Then again – maybe not ?”

     

     

    Kev – yer getting your forums mixed up. Those were the lines you were supposed to use in your call to the Rectum.

  6. The connection between the BBC and Jack Irvine. They have their own person Lorna Gardner within the BBC they even have a BBC email account which probably means they have a BBC office. Dont expect any joy from an approach to BBC Scotland.

     

     

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/contacts/nations-publicity.html

     

     

    BBC Press and Publicity Contacts

     

    Contact details for the BBC’s press and publicity teams

     

    BBC Nations Publicity

     

     

    BBC Scotland

     

     

    General number: 0141 422 6381

     

     

    JG2 – Jim Gough – jim.gough@bbc.co.uk – 0141 422 6376

     

    HM – Hilda McLean – hilda.mclean@bbc.co.uk – 0141 422 6377

     

    KH – Karen Higgins – karen.higgins@bbc.co.uk – 0141 422 6379

     

    SV – Suzanne Vickers – suzanne.vickers@bbc.co.uk – 0141 422 6380

     

    JW4 – Julie Whiteside – julie.whiteside@bbc.co.uk – 0141 422 6378

     

    LG3 – Lorna Gardner – lorna.gardner@bbc.co.uk – 0141 220 6040 ***********

     

    RT – Roy Templeton – roy.templeton@bbc.co.uk – 0141 422 6315

     

     

     

     

    http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Lorna-Gardner/1518578191

     

     

    Lorna Gardner

     

    Media House International Ltd

     

    280 St. Vincent Street

     

    Glasgow, Glasgow G2 5RL

     

    United Kingdom

  7. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    TOMMYSBHOY

     

     

    Erich Schaedler was easily the best left-back in the country after Big Tam had retired.

     

     

    He got ONE cap,I believe.

     

     

    In order to accommodate an inferior in his position by the name of Danny McGrain.

     

     

    Disgraceful.

     

     

    Of course,Danny was only played there to give Jardine a game,and I know which full-back combo would have been more effective.

  8. New bhoy doubtful with ankle injury it seems.

     

     

    Really nervous about 2nyt..even worse when you cant see game and will be sleeping.

     

     

    Hopefully the fans are in full voice to roar the bhoys on.

     

     

    C’mon the tic

  9. Steinreignedsupreme on

    tommysbhoy 13:38 on 31 July, 2013

     

     

    Drew lived a couple of streets away from me – I knew his parents quite well.

     

     

    He played with Airdrie before moving to Aberdeen.

  10. bognorbhouyle on

    C.O.Y.B .I.G

     

     

    what i done : tic 3-0 sammi 1st goal effe anytime

     

     

    what will happen: tic 4-0 commons 1st goal ,effe hit post ,bar and header cleared of

     

     

    line

  11. 'crushed nuts?' 'Naw, Layringitis!' on

    nottaclue1

     

     

    12:11 on 31 July, 2013

     

    >>>>>>>

     

    Yagotme!!!:-)

  12. Let’s hope if Mo does play tonight it will be the more recognisable Shitty Shitty Bang Bang version! ;-)

  13. As far as i can recollect our match against the Swedes in last season’s qualifier was a tight 2-1 win and we won the away tie handily 2-0. It was nervy going to Sweden with such a small lead. Winning the tie will guarantee European football ’til Christmas.

     

    The team now has plenty of experience gained over the last couple of seasons against the best quality in Europe. It would have been ideal if Neil Lennon could have watched his full squad mature and progress in Europe but that’s football – profit.

  14. tommysbhoy

     

     

     

    13:38 on 31 July, 2013

     

     

     

    i found reading about the footie cards earlier funny,can picture pettigrew with his mullet in my head lol..drew jarvie with his banjo strings hairdoo was another popular one, was he with clyde before aberdeen?

     

     

    *Airdrie, rumour had it that we were in for him but Airdrie widnae sell him tae us so Big Jock went out and signed Dixie…..on a Saturday night tae while he was serving a 6 match suspension.

  15. Steinreignedsupreme on

    hankray 13:52 on 31 July, 2013

     

     

    That was the Finns. We beat the Swedes 2-0 in both games.

     

     

    A bit of a mix-up but it was at this stage we won 2-1 against the Finns.

     

    #Scandinavianallsorts

  16. Afternoon bhoys from a getting hotter by the day hun free mountain valley.

     

     

    So, Wolves have rejected a bid for Doyle…..only a matter of time.

     

     

    HH

  17. Steinreignedsupreme…………Thanks for the stats……. will take that scoreline again thanks very much.

  18. @joebhoy2412: WOLVES have rejected a fresh approach from Celtic for Republic of Ireland striker Kevin Doyle.

     

     

    He’s gonna be a celtic player anyday now. We wont pay much and we will have a player eager to play and impress , excellant player despite poor last 2seasons.

     

     

    Still hope we are on look out for another striker if we do get him.

  19. WeefratheTim on

    trophybhoy

     

     

    Unfortunately you need to make your way to Strathaven. But, all CQNrs are welcome. :))

     

     

    Weefra HH

  20. steinreignedsupreme

     

    thanks for that hh

     

     

    tontine tim

     

    didnt know that m8,think i better get they old Celtic books of my da’s. out the loft and read them lol

  21. WeefratheTim on

    Tet

     

     

    How are you today. Just getting ready to go oot. Hope the dugs are well. :))

     

     

    Weefra HH

  22. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    TOMMYSBHOY

     

     

    IMO,very much so. Tragically,he killed himself in his mid-30s.

     

     

    Btw,Drew Jarvie was a very good player for Aberdeen,but he cost them about five times what we paid for Dixie.

     

     

    I know who I preferred….

  23. I would take Doyle in a minute! A cracking player and a guy who would run through a brick wall for the team. I reckon £1.5m would be enough and Wolves would take it!

     

     

    LB

  24. TET, can’t disagree, a more than decent player, with a point to prove after a couple of seasons that will have disappointed him more than anyone.

     

    ProudBhoy, that’s just being greedy:-)