Simon Jordan has dismissed any suggestion that Celtic might be financially handicapped in the Champions League.
There has been no direct comment from Brendan Rodgers but there is background noise about Celtic operating in a football backwater due to the SPFL broadcasting deal.
Last week it was revealed that the new Eredivisie TV contract sees clubs splitting £115m a season while the SPFL recently celebrated raising their deal to £30m a year.
Celtic picked up around £4m from broadcasting and sponsorship deals for winning last season’s SPFL which isn’t going to buy you Champions League level players.
Jordan provides highly opinionated comment, and some brutal home truths on TalkSPORT, picking up on his views this morning Football Scotland reports the former Crystal Palace owner saying:
You’ll always have this background excuse about the revenue generation in the Scottish league. But this argument can’t be made in conjunction with teams like Feyenoord because Celtic turn over more money than Feyenoord do. Feyenoord turn over £75m a year and Celtic do £80m a year.
So the revenues that Celtic get give them an opportunity to be at the table competing. Feyenoord are no great shakes in their own league this particular season. There are more competitive teams in the Dutch Eredivisie than there appears to be in Scotland.
But it will always be priced in. It’s almost like the very brilliant observation Martin O’Neill made the other day about if you get up a few times out of bed early, you can forever lie in bed from there onwards because people’s perception is you’re an early riser.
And with Celtic, the perception is the Scottish league doesn’t have any money so it’s not going to be a real fair comparison for them to compete in the Champions League.
So I don’t think Brendan Rodgers will get his head handed to him for not being successful in the Champions League. Where he’ll get judged is the success levels he has inside Scotland, in the Scottish press.
Celtic’s turnover for the 22/23 season reached £119.9m boosted by playing in last season’s Champions League while Feyenoord made do with the Europa League.
Unfortunately for Celtic fans it appears that boosting the club’s bank balance, standing at £72.3m at the end of June is the priority while Feyenoord and others reinvest in their playing squad.
“This argument can’t be made.”
Simon Jordan rubbishes Celtic cash ‘excuse’ in Champions League as pundit sets record straight on Hoops finances
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— Football Scotland ????????? (@Football_Scot) September 20, 2023
The difference is that the Feyenoord Board reinvest in the team, buying better quality players. The Celtic Board doesn’t give a toss about the quality of the team so long as they can manage to win the SPL and get them another year of Champions League qualification profits. That’s the truth of it and it will never change under this current Board. It might not have been quite so easy had Ange stayed. He would not have put up with being short changed the way Rodgers has.
The Board would back the Team and Manager I think, if all their stars aligned simultaneously and together and they thought they had a good chance of progression.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen very often!
Well, it seems Celtic is the only team in Europe waiting for the stars to align instead of taking the necessary steps to align them. All other clubs try very hard to alter the stars by purchasing a few decent ones to enhance and progress their teams while Celtic sit on their hands and their cash.
Buying a couple of £10 million players doesn’t guarantee you toffee, never mind a chance at the UCL!
Remember Thomas Graveson, Juhinio and countless others who weren’t what they were about.
The best chance we have for success is to have a good team on the park, the last example being the team last season.
But if the manager and the £25 million winger want to leave, what can you do?
You can’t offer them Heaven and Earth to stay, now can you?
Think also Edouard, Jota, CCV, and others who came in on a high price and produced the goods. No one is asking Celtic to spend £20m per player, but £3m or £4m per player is why Celtic cannot make progress. As the old adage goes: “you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”!
Edouard wasn’t in the same team as Jota or CCV. And neither is Jota now.
They said
“If It Is Difficult, It may Take A While. The Impossible May Take A Bit Longer”!
Edouard was obviously an example of the difference a player can make when Celtic pay that wee bit extra to get the quality. And I do know that Jota is no longer in the team but, again, he was an example of what you get when you go a little beyond the biscuit tin usual.
But if the manager and the £25 million winger want to leave, what can you do?
You can’t offer them Heaven and Earth to stay, now can you?
No, but you can use the money you get in the process to invest in like-quality. That’s where the problem lies, the money gets pocketed by the Board and the replacements for lost quality are scouted from local pubs and sub-standard leagues.
Celtic paid £10m for CCV under Ange and you see the difference that one player makes to the team. A few more like him and we’d be good to go. Instead, they keep shopping at Mothercare.
Unfortunately he ain’t much use when injured Martin but I hear what you’re saying…
We should have a very strong squad in the new year – in depth if not European Quality !
I was just reading a piece by Stephen McGowan, who got it in one. He says that Ange, with his knowledge of the Asian market, was able to pick up some Japanese gems for the team at no great cost. He also identified seasoned players Ange recruited, like CCV, Alistair Johnston, Giakoumakis, Jota, Juranovic, etc., all of whom added strength of the team, though some were replacements for others who left.
In contrast to this, says McGowan, the Rodgers tenure has been marked by a “scattergun approach” to recruitment, which has resulted in a team bloated with project players who lack experience at CL level. Indeed, some don’t even look like they’re particularly talented to begin with. That’s why European progression is a pipe dream, a con narrative from Brendan Rodgers who knows he doesn’t have anywhere near the kind of team required to progress at that level. It all comes down to Lawwell and the suits who refuse to invest properly in the team. But Rodgers is not without blame either. He knows as a manager that they’re not supporting him in his work, yet he goes along with it and even makes excuses for them. Ange Postecoglou would never have gone along, no matter how much they were paying him in salary. But then, he was a far superior tactical manager with principles he simply would not sacrifice.
Under Ange, Martin, everything went like clockwork. Till a certain individual, previously known for total incompetence and greed, appeared back on the scene in January. Since then, we are back to life in the slow lane. As long as Blue Peter remains at the club, we are heading nowhere good. His very presence at the club is toxic.
Hail Hail.
Magua
Agreed 100%