Nineteen days into February Celtic shareholders are still waiting on the interim results showing the financial performances of the club up until December 31.
Starting the 23/24 season with £72m doing nothing for the club stashed away in the bank the position at the end of 2023 is likely to reveal that there was around £100m on the Balance Sheet while performances were sliding away on the park.
The January 2024 Transfer Window confirmed once again that building up funds in the bank takes priority over investing in football players for the PLC.
In all but one of the last dozen years the Interim Results have been accompanied by self congratulations with mention that the team is sitting in first place in the SPFL Premiership- but that changed yesterday.
? BREAKING! Celtic announce huge £33.9m profit before tax in interim report as Champions League cash comes into play
? https://t.co/iCGZSZyeOi pic.twitter.com/t4yRr81oiN
— Football Scotland ????????? (@Football_Scot) February 10, 2023
Whatever the multiple failings of the CEO and his mentor the club Chairman, being in top place in Scotland has always been enough to satisfy most supporters.
Being two points behind with 10 points chucked away since the start of December puts the record breaking finances in a different light.
After investing £3m a year in a manager straight from the EPL he appears to have been handicapped by a ludicrous signing policy with a £3m cap and only players 24 or under being brought to the club.
How Rodgers got duped into this scenario is a mystery, just like his reasoning for standing up at the AGM and claiming that he had the final say on signing players.
With a squad heaving with mediocre players on long term lucrative contracts the bank balance looks like taking a serious hit over the next 12 months although the sale of Matt O’Riley will certainly spark more celebrations in the boardroom.
Finding a manager willing to pick up the pieces and take the blame for the flawed signing policy is going to be a huge task.
Unless they land lucky by ‘discovering’ another Ange Postecoglou after a 106 days search it looks like the focus of supporters will be on Peter Lawwell, as Saturday demonstrated there is virtually no sympathy or support for long term CEO or his protege that is now picking up £700,000 a year plus bonuses.
Who is mainly to blame for Celtic's disastrous season?
Chairman- The decline started with his appointment
Manager- Not the same guy, weak and more powerless
Recruitment- you can't get over four disastrous transfer windows
If I was a betting man…
I’d guess that – perhaps with a bit of accounting finessing – there
is no way that a £100M caash balance will be ‘allowed’ to be reported.
Might be £90M, £95M – but certainly under that focal point of £100M?
It is laughable / dreadful, that our club ‘could’ be embarrassed about
issuing interims which are just too good…
when the ‘product’ on the field is pure gash! 🙁
Why would Rodgers be worried?
He’ll get his contract paid up whether he’s successful or not. He has probably realised by now that he’s walked into a repeat of the same show he was in the last time he was here.
Having said that, I’m of the opinion that over 90% of managers have their time as the game moves on and Rodgers time has come and gone. His slow ponderous attacking style is perfectly setup to defend against for teams in Scotland. They are content to give away cheap fouls to allow themselves to get back into position.
That however does not excuse this board. They have hoarded a needless surplus, for what reason, no one knows.
We are constantly told it is incase we don’t qualify for the Champions League however if we don’t qualify that surplus is never used instead our top players are sold impoverishing the squad even more.
I was recently told that the board is there to make money for the shareholders however the shareholders are not getting this money either.
Where this utter stupidity ends I have no idea but we have a board hell bent on only remaining top dog in Scotland and no more. They have absolutely no ambition other than to staying half a step ahead of “The Rangers”. That is always a gamble and this season that gamble has spectacularly backfired.
Then again why should the board care: they still get their bonuses and, unless more than ten thousand of us refuse to renew our season tickets, they will still have sixty thousand every week.
We no longer produce players from our youth academy either. Tierney was the last player we produced and that was six years ago. That department is also failing spectacularly and needs gutted along with the recruitment department. Ultimately though all of those decisions lie with a board who clearly do not wish to progress the club and are content to wallow in mediocrity while the bank balance bulges.
“We are constantly told it is incase we don’t qualify for the Champions League” Yes that line was used at the AGM I believe … funny how that the only way of NOT QUALIFYING for the Champions League this season is if we DONT WIN the title. And this year’s bounty is bigger than in recent years 50-60M. Would certainly balance the books over the city and renew the beloved “Old Firm” its worth 5M a season you know … 5M appears to be more important than 30 or even 50-60M ?
Just a sick joke and a punch in the teeth for every fan who spends hard earned cash in these hard times on the club they love
Aye it’s interesting why they haven’t made the figures public yet…
Maybe massaging them to make them not look as good as they were to avoid the inevitable backlash coming their way –
But Bloody Hell – That would be one helluva sickener for them so it would…
The ‘we are top of the league’ and have £100 million in the bank and look good for many more millions from Champions League Football in 2024/25 mantra that seemed so credible at the beginning of December has been shattered into a million pieces by bloody stupidity of their own making !
The biggest crime of all is this was all predicted and warned at every juncture. My bedwetting (courtesy of CQN) was happening in the summer. The warning signs were clear and present. We NEEDED 4 quality players, goalkeeper, left back, midfielder and another striker to replace GG. All positions still need filled with 25M in dross plus much more in wages wasted because we were trying to do it on the cheap with a head of recruitment who had never done the job before. That’s why this can’t be blamed on the manager. To put it into perspective the manager is on a breach of the peace charge with the board on a serial killer trial. Both guilty but the severity world’s apart.
Dermot Desman the issue for me.
In a cost of living crisis they increased the cost of season tickets and champs league tickets while to their utter shame gave themselves a rise ? . They are so out of touch with the ordinary fan it is shocking. They have no place in paradise.
In a cost of living crisis they increased the cost of season tickets and champs league tickets while to their utter shame gave themselves a rise ? . They are so out of touch with the ordinary fan it is shocking. They have no place in paradise.