Swiss Ramble has turned his attention to Scottish football, highlighting the significance of Champions League football.
Having messed things up from a seeded position in the Champions Route Celtic face a far tougher route to the group stage with most fans admitting that their team has no more than a 50-50 chance of getting past Midtjylland.
Things would need to pick up rapidly if PSV Eindhoven or Galatasaray were to be overcome to reach the play-off stage.
In cold terms reaching the Champions League in 2018 was worth £30m to Celtic, effectively the failures of Peter Lawwell since then have cost the club the best part of £100m.
Playing in the Champions League added to the value of Kieran Tierney and Moussa Dembele, finding similar value in the squad that Ange Postecoglou has inherited isn’t an easy task.
After three seasons outside the Champions League it looks increasingly like 2016 and 2017 were blips from the norm with Celtic geared towards the Europa League but even that insurance policy is far from assured this season as a new regime attempts to halt the decline.
Scottish clubs do not often pay big money to sign players. In fact, #CelticFC gross transfer spend of £20.7m in 2019/20 was easily more than the rest of the Scottish Premiership combined with the next highest being #RangersFC £11.0m, followed by Aberdeen £1.3m and Hearts £0.4m. pic.twitter.com/diNM7SPaqu
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) July 20, 2021
#CelticFC £12.2m player amortisation, the annual charge to write-off transfer fees over a player’s contract, was the highest in Scotland, well ahead of #RangersFC £7.6m. Both clubs are a lot higher than the rest: Hibernian £0.5m, Aberdeen £0.4m and Hearts £0.4m. pic.twitter.com/J7psnV8TFr
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) July 20, 2021
#RangersFC £19.3m gross debt is more than all the other Scottish Premiership clubs combined (£15.7m) with the next highest being Hearts £5.7m, Celtic £5.4m and Aberdeen £1.3m. These numbers are significantly lower than most English clubs. pic.twitter.com/ZlVPIc5KiH
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) July 20, 2021
Reaching the Champions League group stage can make a big difference to Scottish clubs, e.g. the last time #CelticFC managed this in 2018 they received £30m TV money. On top of that, a club would have higher gate receipts and an uplift from performance bonuses in commercial deals. pic.twitter.com/52p4gZEPKX
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) July 20, 2021
#CelticFC £20.8m commercial income (sponsorship £8.1m, retail and e-commerce £11.2m and other income £1.4m) was more than double #RangersFC £9.8m (sponsorship & advertising £3.1m, commercial £3.9m and other income £2.8m), followed by Aberdeen £7.7m and Hearts £5.1m. pic.twitter.com/9nRPCJeeJd
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) July 20, 2021