Peter Lawwell has laughed off claims that Celtic have a secret debt of £35m to the Co-Operative Bank.
The more fanatical elements of the Sevco support have been spreading the myth that the Scottish champions were on the brink of collapse due to a debt hidden away in the back pages of the audited accounts.
Having failed to realise that Craig Whyte wasn’t a billionaire and the disastrous impact Charles Green had on Sheffield United it’s hardly a surprise that the ‘Co-Op debt’ story has no factual basis.
Presenting the latest audited club accounts showing a £9.4m profit Lawwell answered the myth saying: “We have a long-term loan. That is our debt. We are not using the overdraft and we have enough money in the bank.
“Say that term loan is £20m – we have £23m in the bank so that gives you £3m [net cash at bank]. So we have more in the bank than our debt.”
Lawwell added: “We have no bank debt and money in the bank.”
With the ‘Co-Op debt’ myth destroyed the financial focus returns to Ibrox where the overdue audited accounts are still to be published.
At a meeting with supporters in August Financial guru Brian Stockbridge said that he hoped the audited accounts would be published by the end of the month.
Jim McColl and his Ibrox rebels have been promised an AGM by the end of October which requires that the audited accounts are published at least three weeks beforehand to give shareholders time to study the books.
Among the many unfulfilled promises of Green he claimed that the new club be in better financial shape than Celtic.
In July 2012 Green said: “If you look at the balance sheets at the end of next season you should see the strength of the two companies.
“We are in the Third Division and Celtic are in the SPL and what I’d like you to do is promise me at the end of this season, when all the games are played, examine the balance sheets of the clubs and tell me which one is the strongest?
“Then let’s see who has got the strongest balance sheet.
“We’ve not got the debt that any of these clubs have and on the last day of the season I would really enjoy some clever financial analyst looking at the balance sheets and debt-to-equity ratio of every club in Scotland.”
Confirming a £10m profit alongside ownership of Ibrox Stadium and Murray Park should ensure that Green keeps one of his many promises.
Oh well, it will be a cold day in hell before Sevco have a healthier balance sheet than Celtic.
Another dose of administration for that shower of spivs and the deluded crowd that follow them, when will these people wake up and realise that they are being taken on another ride, you could not make this up
Good set of figures and pleased to hear of no bank debt, but is there another debt owed to a person (s) or a business? Would be nice for it to be cleared up.
No surprise that sevco fans seem more interested in our accounts than their own.
The fact that the accounts are audited puts to bed any fanciful ideas and online myths. You can’t hide secret deals or handshakes from accountants whose reputation is on the line if they turn a blind eye to anything financial.
Not sure about that Joe. There has been several regulator failures to uncover malpractice in the last 10 years.
I agree to a certain point Joe. We must always remain vigilant and ask the tough questions. Its what will ensure we are always here as the same club/company for ever more. I hated what happened to us before the bunnet arrived to fix us and I think all Celtic fans are not scared to ask these questions to ensure good stewardship of our club moving forward.
I am delighted at how things appear (a real understanding of accounts are not my game) as it looks like we’re running a tight ship with a good business model.
I sometimes get the impression that the sevvies are a wee bit biased in how they view the world. Surely not!
They fear that their club is dead is sinking in
And these are desperate properganda
Statements to whip up a”cause” for every
Sevconian to follow follow,bring on the next Pied Piper,the true supporters of “the team that never died”are being duped as we speak
Joe ,i dont think the money for Vic,Gary etc is amongst this ? Could you confirm?
The audited accounts were for the year to June 30, 2013. Wanyama, Hooper and Wilson were sold after that date, the 2014 accounts will reflect those deals.
Is that the best that these inbred pond creatures can come up with.
Our figures are out there in the PUBLIC domain, able to be scrutinised by anyone.
We pay our loans, taxes and face painters.
If I was these bigotdome financial experts then I’d be more concerned about paying the Sleekit one £850k a year when they are heamoraging £1m per month.
125yrs of paying our bills.
Hail hail
I read through an article on ‘Celtic News Now’ about the sevconian saddos wetting themselves at the prospect of maybe getting a chance at ‘sashing it up’ at Celtic Park at the ramsden cup final, if sleekit can get them there.
(how does it go? ‘hating our team more than…..something…something..)
To paraphrase from memory he said one of the funniest things I’d read in quite a while:
‘I doubt that old main stand will take the bouncey bouncey’
Irony is a word beyond the reach of the zombie nation.
We could talk all night about the state of the hunnery, from asbestos to basic safety certs, dodgy roofing and falling masonry (cough), you truly couldn’t make it up!
Cluless cretins.
HH
It still irks me to read again what that Yorkshire gobsh1te had to say.
Gloating and bragging about how ‘debt free'(LOL) the huns are/were/will be, rubbing the faces of the good people owed over 200 million quid in the dirt, not to mention all ‘the good rangers men’ who owned shares in the rancid club.
Despicable shower of (self admited) ‘devious’ desperados!
HH
The hole they’re digging seems to be getting deeper and deeper!! Looks like a lot of HANDS will be needed to pull them out of their never ending predicament.