After winning their four League Cup group games, Partick Thistle were battered on the opening day of the Championship at St Johnstone. A draw followed against Morton, but since then they won their three games against Ayr United, Ross County and Raith Rovers. St Johnstone look to be in a league of their own this season, but if Thistle win their game in hand, they will move three points clear of the pack in second place.
That means they are in form and will relish the chance of a home cup tie against League Cup holders and Scottish champions, Celtic. The wild weather due in Glasgow over the weekend will also give encouragement to the home side.
On paper, Thistle should not offer much resistance to Celtic. They don’t have the kind of money that even the likes of Kairat possess; I looked back a decade in Transfermarkt but there was not a single paid incomer in that period. You will recognise one of the frees they brought this summer – Tony Watt. 13 years after that goal, Tony signed for Thistle, the 14th senior club he has appeared for, which is quite a stat for a player who is still only 31.
Whatever ails Tony, he is a player who has talent which is greater than his messy CV suggests. He is good on the ball, can roll a defender and knows how to make the most of a big stage.
You and me might go on about 1967, but when Thistle fans indulge in history, it’s a League Cup game against Celtic they talk about. Celtic were red hot favourites that day but went down to a record final defeat. Learn from history and book a place in the semis, Celtic.
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TML,
The thick twat is you.I was not talking about the 30th of June in the sense of yearly accounts.I was talking about money still incoming after the accounts date that could have been spent in the window.Or is that not allowed.?Dates dont matter.Its what Celtic had in hand during the window,like Kuhn money.
You are such a sanctimonius prick at times.
Turkeybhoy on 20th September 2025 12:28 am
…….
There has been zero accountancy at Parkhead since the all-seated stadium was built.
Not even an AGM unscripted question is allowed.
So in 1994, were Celtic saved, or captured?
back in
dearie me
poor read back.
Turkeybhoy…I saw you praising a couple of brilliant keepers on Wednesday night…I was a wee bit disappointed neither of them was Barkas…
☝ 😉
My financial knowledge is not as sharp as many contributing on here, but this paragraph stood out to me from the Chairman’s statement…(as well as the wan where he says ‘I’m sticking around’ )
‘Despite these strong earnings, year-end cash remained broadly flat at £77.3m (2024: £77.2m). During the year we invested heavily in the first team, both by way of player transfers and wages along with infrastructure across our estate. First team labour costs were the highest levels in the history of the Club. In total and including committed agent fees, £42.6m was invested in player acquisitions during the year, more than doubling the prior year spend, marking the highest single-season investment in the Club’s history including twice breaking the Club transfer record. As a result, the carrying value of the squad is the highest it has been in the history of the Club. Over the past three years to 30 June 2025, total investment in player registrations including committed agent fees has totalled £77.5m.’
It reads like a firm counter or rebuke to dispel notions they are miserly when it comes to acquiring players. Seemed to me, also, there was the hint of education about it to highlight how agent fees, labour costs also need to be factored in over and above the claimed/publicised transfer fee tickets.
Like I say, my take is not based on forensic fiscal knowledge, but my take out was they feel they’ve more than backed ra manager and (by inference) the tension between fiscal imperatives and transfer targets will remain.
Despite this tension and opinions on how it needs to be done better (for me, key men in earlier) we seem in a pretty healthy space financially.
Tom McLaughlin @ 8:17 pm
Celtic supporters calling the club a disgrace because they didn’t include income received AFTER 30th June in their annual accounts to 30th June, compiled by independent auditors.
I’ll never laugh at FollowFollow again.
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🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
quadrophenian on 20th September 2025 1:09 am
Like I say, my take is not based on forensic fiscal knowledge, but my take out was they feel they’ve more than backed ra manager and (by inference) the tension between fiscal imperatives and transfer targets will remain.
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It does not help tension that those signed by BR at a higher cost than previous were on the bench v Kaity
Auldheid on 19th September 2025 11:11 pm
Stephenbhoyboy on 19th September 2025 10:41 pm
Its not about the money you bring in, so long as the money is generated from the business (not money from rich folk) . its what you spend on the football departmental that is restricted to 70%..The upside of FSR – screws Rangers. No more lies No more ebts No more loans That that cost loanees Green or Blue ,rich and broke FSR hurts that other bloke.
*all thanks to a couple of placements on UEFA by DD, they’ll be sorry they tried tae take the piss out of him at hunden
AULDHEID – indeed.
I was going to footnote my post with a note that Arne’s toiling for game time and Adam was sold for less than bought but decided not to. Glad you picked up on the exact point.
Israelism on Al Jazeera again…
Tour guide with the Hoops on interviewing a native of Jerusalem.
lets all do the huddle on 19th September 2025 6:13 pm
i wonder what the rationale is for moving the argyle street celtic shop along to queen street.
that bit of queen street surely has much less footfall than the current location on argyle street.
im assuming it will be to do with paying less rent.
———
Officially :Seemingly its a much bigger store.
Unofficially: Their fed up replacing windows. The new store has the latest unbreakable glass technology 😀
HH.
My friends in Celtic,
I have been watching without comment over the last few days.
Some very informative posts regarding our financials and what we can and cannot do.
I have gleamed that the Financial Fair Play UEFA policy ( FFP ) is now deceased, kaput. pushing up daisies.
It has been replaced by a Financial Sustainability Regulation ( FSR ).
Further complicated by another significant element:- The squad cost rule.
The parameters and criteria of how this will affect Celtic on and off the park has been brilliantly explained even-handedly by Auldheid and a few others.
Put simply, it affects us massively.
These guys have ensured that regular visitors to CQN will be informed.
Indeed, more informed than the vast majority of supporters who are shouting ” Sack the board ” . Probably more informed the most of the patrons of Grace’s the other night.
We are very fortunate in the respect that we have a manager who is a very good communicator. He is comfortable speaking to the press and he gets his points across explicitly.
On the adjacent side. we have a board who seem very uncomfortable speaking in public, even frightened.
Again put simply, they are not communicating the real trials and tribulations they consistently face regarding fiscal matters. Even the terminology of a written statement leaves a lot to be desired.
I would like to see the board appoint a communicator who can publicly candidly explain in laymans terms where we stand as a club.
Imo. This is the way forward to unite the vast majority of the support, the team and our custodians.
HH.
31003 asked a relevant question re non football related income.
This was well answered by St Stivs. As I understand it, this would include a lot of ‘estates’ activity and disposal. The sale, lease or rental of. Anything that happens when there is no football around. If we rent out Celtic Park during the day for example.
On the wider accounts, posters and fans may focus on any aspect which supports an already entrenched view.
Chairbhoy makes a good point around a metric being introduced which has never been referenced before. A bit of a sales pitch in my opinion.
The accounts reference the value invested in the player squad and the book value of said squad now being the highest ever.
The happy clapper says this shows a willingness to invest and support the manager, who is then at fault thereafter for any adverse results
The malcontent suggests this indicates a broken recruitment modelling, ensuring we pay over the odds for some last minute additions as we’d be struggling to have more than Yang and Forrest up front otherwise.
FSR sets a cap on what we may spend. It doesn’t stipulate how we spend it. At the moment, we are spending badly as our recruitment model appears to be flawed. I note the inefficient timing of purchases is referenced in the accounts. This is a start.
Can the minds which have created this flawed model be the ones to solve it?
You don’t have to be Einstein to think not.
Good Morning Celts – Grand Day To Be A Tim,
Glendalystonsils @ 8:03 pm,
”If Peter Lawwell is staying then it’s bye bye Brendan.”
Well, the former has the Chairman’s vote of confidence;))
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31003 @ 10:43 pm,
Not at all, it is far from clear, I’m only beginning to get my head around it from what Auldheid has been telling us.
If the PLC had rented the stadium for a pop concert, that might be a significant amount of money that is not football related – but for the past few years my guess the vast majority of revenue would be classified by UEFA as football related.
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The Blogger Formerly Known As GM @ 10:41 pm,
OK, so you have an issue is with “kinda random”, how about rather arbitrary?
So we are not talking about some specialist “data”, we are talking about money Celtic spend on transfers and agents fees.
Each year this information will be collated.
The Chairman’s figure is simply the transfer fees and the agents fees for the last three years added up and presented in his statement.
The supporters groups have been asking searching questions of the Board, one being the investment in the playing squad or lack of it as they see it.
The Chairman has every right to counter that by putting out the spend for the last three years.
There was report in the main stream media a few weeks back that claimed it’s source was a “Celtic Insider” who was talking about “senior figures” discontent.
It stated that ”Celts have forked out huge sums on transfer fees and presided over a significant increase in the wage bill since Rodgers’ return.
Now, the Chairman’s statement could well give them some solace…
”During the year we invested heavily in the first team, both by way of player transfers and wages…
…Over the past three years to 30 June 2025, total investment in player registrations including committed agent fees has totalled £77.5m.
Yet surely that is only one side of the argument, well over thirty players have moved on in that three year period bringing in more money than went out and also saving a huge chunk of wages.
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Auldheid @ 11:44 pm,
Yes, my point, though it wasn’t well made, was we have plenty of head room in the FSR.
Now I get that this season FSR will reduce to 70%.
Also with UCL income changing to EUL income there with be a significant fall in revenue therefor our headroom.
Yet it looks to me, we are about 60% of our allowable spend.
Now if you take the Board’s statement of 06-Sept-’25…
“…Further, the Club’s model is not optional – it is now essential as a consequence of the UEFA Sustainability Regulations, with which the Club must comply. Wages and transfer spending are strictly governed by UEFA’s regulations, which effectively cap wages and transfer spending as a proportion of our revenues. Importantly, the Club’s cash reserves are not relevant to the assessment of this de facto spending cap for the purposes of the UEFA regulations.
Therefore, all investment decisions must be, and are, guided by responsible forecasts of future revenues and cash flow, which by their nature are volatile. We can never compromise the financial integrity of the Club. In short, throwing money at transfers and contracts is not a sustainable route to success, as many other clubs have found to the detriment of their supporters.”
We are no where near any wage cap or any transfer cap.
We actually took more money in on transfers than we spent.
One thing that seems to have riled supporters was the “throwing money at teansfers”, no reasonable supporter has come close to suggesting we do that.
We could spend significantly more money without making the club financially unstainable.
In fact there is an argument that suggests more investment in the transfers in a more timely manner would have made our position more sustainable.
However your point that the situation we find ourselves in, means the headroom will get tighter.
As you mentioned, proper investment in the January transfer window may well be the way forward, giving us the best chance of advancing in Europe and preparing for the next seasons UCL qualifiers.
Hail Hail
Greenpinata…
Very good points.
Especially on a communicator who can provide us with the facts on process and strategy.
Hail Hail
https://bornceltic.com/2025/09/19/the-question-brendan-rodgers-was-asked-thats-missing-from-the-press-conference-on-celtic-youtube/
CHAIRBHOY on 19TH SEPTEMBER 2025 8:44 PM
“Our objective each year is to compete in the Champions League. Unfortunately this season, we suffered a loss on penaltiesin the tie against Kairat Almaty, which resulted in Europa League entry instead. As a Board, we take responsibility for thefailure to achieve that key objective and commit to improving going forward
Micheal Nicholson CEO
The closest thing I have ever seen to a mea culpa from this Celtic Board.
Hopefully that means that commitment to improve is serious and will begin immediately.
Hail Hail
—
I fear you’re apportioning a level of influence and competence to our CEO that hitherto there is no evidence to support.
Maestro
What does” it’s done mean,” it’s dealt with, it’s in the process of being dealt with, or it doesn’t matter now?
AD
I agree an appeal for more time from a board that excluding ange’s first window and a bit of the second have always worked that way.
An Dún @ 8:10 am,
Yes, the aul’ $64k question, who is pulling the strings.
The CEO’s statement had a very different tone to that of our oft defiant Chairman.
This was interesting…
“…we were all delighted with the team’s success over the season, and I thank Brendan, Callum and allof the management and staff. This success was further reflected in a successful Champions League campaign, marked bycompetitive performances where we achieved three wins and three draws and progressed to the play-off round where wesuffered a narrow exitto Bayern Munich over two legs.
Micheal Nicholson CEO
Do you think the players bonuse payments for the UCL three wins and three draws had anything to do with the record wages?
Hail Hail
Burnley 78
Interesting post yesterday from B78 about St Pauli. I have always quite liked the link with them. Their fans turned out in numbers in Teplice in 2004 and were great fun and very enthusiastic for Celtic. (Not sure how many on here were at that game. Bloody freezing night in a small town in Czech Republic where we took over the local pub, bought up every box of beer in the place and put rebs on the CD player…. to the locals’ bemusement).
As I understand things, the St Pauli fan base is divided. Many sympathise with Palestine over Gaza and are very critical of Israel, but as with all Germans there is a caution about criticising Israel, for obvious historical reasons.
There is also a strong radical faction in the St Pauli support that are ‘Anti-German’. This considers Germany to be a flag carrier for fascism (not sure why) and – ironically – Israel to represent anti-fascism (which for many on the left it did in the ‘60s and ‘70s). There is also a reaction against the Red Army Faction which was seen by many as anti-Semitic. So, ironically, the further left you are at St Pauli the less Israel critical you are likely to be.
The St Pauli Ultras are part of this Anti-German faction and are vocally supporters of Israel. My sense is that they don’t speak for the team – which has a number of Palestine supporting members – or of most fans. But they are vocal and active on social media, and it is easy to think the loudest voices speak for the fanbase (sound familiar?!)
I’m not an expert, just my views on speaking to German friends and some St Pauli people. The St Pauli – Celtic link has been a good, shared sense of values, fun away days etc. So, I wouldn’t give up on it yet. Even the German far left have to wake up to wholescale ‘ethnic cleansing’ at some point.
Kyogo v Idah in today’s ECL…
Wonder if either will start, probably not.
Hail Hail
CHAIRBHOY on 20TH SEPTEMBER 2025 8:39 AM
There’s a very marked difference in tone from the statements of the chairman and CEO.
I think it’s quite clear which one of them is driving policy at Celtic.
Dessy
He doesn’t want to discuss it anymore.
A bit of deflection as the the side doon the rivers former temporary manager & temporary coaches now in msm being hilighted for not being to kind with there chat about Brussel.
https://x.com/TamseIIicsonIII/status/1969328022177128722?t=7-pYiUaTVMvP-1d42Xd79w&s=19
Dessy
He doesn’t want to discuss it anymore.
A bit of deflection as the the side doon the rivers former temporary manager & temporary coaches now in msm being hilighted for not being to kind with there chat about Brussel.
https://x.com/TamseIIicsonIII/status/1969328022177128722?t=7-pYiUaTVMvP-1d42Xd79w&s=19
Maybe it is gone for BR but convince the support that is the case. A festering sore that will erupt in the near future.
Been run like a bank they don’t care about the workers or customers still clueless & last night put out the accounts and training ground announcement.
Get out of our club.
Been run like a bank they don’t care about the workers or customers still clueless & last night put out the accounts and training ground announcement.
Get out of our club.
https://youtu.be/V9ukVGzq-lE?si=CzQgRMB_jG1A7J3R
Andrew Smith interview decent 👌
An Dún @ 10:10 am,
Yes – hopefully his last AGM but needs shifting before November.
Hail Hail
Maestro
Your acsom post is an interview with Paul Smith.
Andrew smith is another reporter
Thanks for posting
HH
It strikes me – given the pattern over recent years – that the executive team might be mandated to ensure that year end cash exceeds that of the previous year.
I say that not because growing cash to this extent makes any obvious sense in the context of Celtic’s business, but because a) it doesn’t make sense to do so in/of itself, and b) that’s the pattern of the past 5 years: £16M in 2021 post Covid, £32M 2022, £72M 2023, £77.2M 2024 and, wait for it… £77.3M in 2025. Marginal granted, but still fits the pattern.
We wait each year for details being announced of a transformative project for which the cash will be needed but it never comes. It’s the Godot project.
Of course, thanks to their sterling efforts to avoid paying out Champions League qualifying bonuses this year, there is little chance of the pattern repeating to June 2026. Given that current trade payables and receivables are pretty much equal, that summer player sales and purchases were unexceptional, and that EL prize money is comparatively modest, there doesn’t look to be enough in the business to make up the UCL cash shortfall.
In that light, it rather compellingly underscores the old adage about cash: Use it or lose it.
It is a fundamental failing of the leadership of the business that they have conspired to significantly weaken the business from a position of considerable strength.
Which begs the question: What on earth are they doing?
A commitment to improving!
Oh dear…….
The sorcerer and his apprentice.
A Celtic board of directors that make you feel as if you’ve been supporting another Celtic, all your life.
No mean feat, unrecognisable as a club with obscene levels of apparently unspendable wealth and nothing to show for it except, a tent and more porta – cabins, cold pies and the same old Northstand leaks in the roof. It’s no wonder Celtic supporters are at a low ebb. The language and the tone used this time on a Friday, sounds like nearly quarter of a century old, filled with customary condescension and years later, with no unfolding plans.
It was better when we were told all the ‘gate money’ went to a wee woman in Ireland or so they told us, at least she got the benefits denied by discriminatory capitalism that scrimps and scrapes, as an art form, and now epitomises the billionaire that snapped up Fergus ( in and out ) McCann’s shares, like a trinket.
Someone is stealing the concept of Celtic from the supporters they won’t give it back, it’ll be hard to recover ownership. There’s no money in Scottish Football say the millionaires , there is no investment needed, we won’t invest a lean penny, we’re done, we’ll just keep Celtic and you’ll pay for our gravy.
There’s no way back from total alienation the damage is done, above inflation rate hikes and having too much of supporters money already , turned wheels of change , the transfer market was only a tipping point now there are two directors and everyone knows their names shamed into stepping down, as the fairy tale moves on.
Hail Hail
Next year it will be different. Really, it will…..
The Battered Bunnet @ 10:56 am,
Excellent insight – thx
The 77.2 to 77.3 looks bizarre but true.
BSR….
Excellent stuff.
Déjà~vuCSC
Hail Hail
Hail Hail