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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I think we may well have signed the wrong Bangura, although Teteh Bangura didn’t hit the ground running either after his move to Bursaspor his goalscoring record is and was better than Mohammed’s.
goldstar10
Easy, it was the parent company not the football club, absurb and untrue but when has this ever bothered the Scottish media
Who was the weather girl that got pelters from Sevco for calling it the Death Star in her forecast?
Was that not Heather?
I can always tell how hot it’s goin’ to be by the number of buttons Judith forgets to do up on her blouse.
pabloh_AKA_NEIL LENNON
13:25 on 30 July, 2013
Finnbogason score more league goals that Billy McKay did last season (24 v 23). Assumed it was someone else being referred to.
dbbia
Gail mcgrane killie fan I think
bsr sid tin and neg anon = waldorf and stadler
Days like these you can see why the USArmy loves the ole internet.
TinyTim
I never said he was signing, i said i’d love it it to be the case if he or another few i metioned.
FACTS PLEASE BEFORE YOU COME ON AND START YOUR P**H
dessybhoy -you’re right, wee Gail.
Not a great career move, shortbreadwise.
DBBIA and dessy
I think you’re both wrong: try
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirsty_McCabe
FF
goldstar10 13:28 on 30 July, 2013
Pars creditors agree a CVA and maintain their history, lets watch the MSM spin this one.
I guess the spin will be that they saved the holding company!
just checked the cqnforecast, an almighty debate is on the way, area of high board pressure moving over an occluded balance sheet
John O’Neil @12.24
Agreed, I reckon Kevin Doyle would be ideal for the SPL, he’s one tough yellow bellied Wexfordman. Loads of experience of playing and scoring at the highest International level and no doubt Lenny would restore his confidence as he has done with Brown, Georgios and Charlie and others. There’s only one problem, Leeds Utd are supposed to be interested in Doyler and we know the money these people can offer in wages. Get him at the right money – definitely yes.
dessybhoy- Too true, mate. A question the invertebrate media would rather not answer.
DBBIA – that’ll be why she’s now doing the weather on STV !!
T4
folly
I stand corrected
Any Spanish Bhoys in?
Currently in a rural part of Spain where they don’t speak any English and my very limited Spanish stretches to a few words. Is the game on anywhere in Spain that I could say to the bartender a specific channel?
Whether you like our stragegy or not, we are without Wanyama and Hooper for games against the Swedish champions.
Beram Kayal is certainly not an adequate replacement for Victor. Why could we not have kept Victor for the CL qualifiers? After all, we keep saying how important CL revenue is.
Hooper should have been given a deadline to sign a new contract long ago. Then we could have brought in a replacement goal scorer.
I think the mood will change after the games against the Swedes, which I don’t expect us to win. I hope the bhoys prove me wrong.
I only read and post on cqn and have done for a couple of years..
Dbbia
It was Kirsty McCabe. She called Ibrox Castle Greyskull.
If we beat the Swedes over the two legs we have European football at least until Christmas.
Malone Bhoy, one of my mates has been saying for some time that we made a mistake and signed the wrong Bangura, would be astonished if it’s true but based on how bad the one we signed is I could be persuaded to believe it!!
Afternoon bhoys from a seriously hot hun free mountain valley.
Paul67
Don’t want to agree with your post, but no way are we going to spend big bucks on anyone.
Kevin Doyle probably will be as good as it gets.
folly folly- cyberpint to you.
Well remembered.
Go on the wee Kirsty!
The Weather girl was Kirsty McCabe and she referred to Ibrox as Castle Greyskull.
B/T @13.41-are you a Hun?
Hankray
Isn’t being tough and ‘yellow bellied’ mutually exclusive?
Aidy the Tim
No, sadly, unless they can stream through a computer.
I would also wager they can speak better english than you can Spanish >}
HH
Paul 67,
its been a while from my last post. I’m probably not the only supporter who has this fear, however we are much weaker than we were before.
NFL said from the moment we won the league was CL preparation? Have we done it?
I want squad improvement however its too late for our qualifier, this is a gamble of the highest degree..
SPC
Always happens to me, I’m so slow typing someone else has the awnser in before me.
Aidy the Tim 13:39 on 30 July, 2013
Esta mostrando Celtic TV?
charliebhoy 13:32 on 30 July, 2013
bsr sid tin and neg anon = waldorf and stadler
_________________
Posted this some time back re: Ernie & Canamalar
http://youtu.be/zSDj7bjAv2s
The Exiled Tim
Too true…Was an adventure ordering food on Saturday night. Food was excellent but not necessarily sure it was what I thought I was ordering :)
Could I stream it through my laptop with a decent Wi-Fi connection?
79caps 13:39 on 30 July, 2013
Wanyama missed the game against the Swedish champions last year as well.
Staying in – is the new going out.
Lenny: Virgil Van Diijk still out injured, but Matthews, Ledley and Mulgrew all in the squad.
Commons is usually picked to play behind the striker, but I don’t think he works as well in a more cautious, 4-4-1-1 set-up. I’d like to see a repeat of the Brown/Samaras pairing we saw in the last 20 mins against Dynamo Kiev. At home in Europe, Stokes has disappointed, so I’d leave him out.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Forster ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Ambrose :::::::::::::: Lustig ::::::::::::::: Wilson ::::::::::::::: Izaguirre
Forrest ::::::::::::::: Mulgrew ::::::::::::: Ledley :::::::::::::: Commons
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Brown ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Samaras ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
steinreignedsupreme
He missed one of them, I believe. He played in the 3 other qualifiers. I don’t suppose this proves anything, but I feel we will miss him a lot.
Sevconia is the Bermuda Triangle of the truth