There was nothing too surprising about today’s interim financial results at Celtic, but they were a sobering reminder of the challenges faced by the club and football as a whole right now.
Celtic are unquestionably the most financially powerful club in the country right now, even if on the pitch matters haven’t gone to plan this season.
So for the ongoing pandemic to take a radical swipe through our trading results shows that the rest of Scottish football must be suffering just as much, if not more.
Football finance expert Ken Pattullo was asked for his thoughts on it all by Sky Sports earlier today.
He was questioned whether or not the results indicate that there will be enough regression in Celtic’s finances that pull the club back to Rangers’ financial level.
Pattullo told the broadcaster: “Probably not. Peter Lawwell has overseen a terrific financial performance over the last few years. They’re bringing in someone from the SRU who is similarly from a financial background so you’d imagine he’d like to continue the good work his predecessor did.
“They are starting from an advantage in that they’ve got cash in the bank. Rangers are probably going to win the league and are still in Europe, so it’s difficult to say how things will go.
“Exactly how things go over the next six, nine, twelve, eighteen months remains to be seen. Celtic are at least starting from a position of financial superiority; they have cash in the bank, they don’t have too many financial worries at the moment.”
The Champions League danger for Celtic after interim results
While revenue is falling at Celtic – which is likely to be a steeper downward curve in the full year-end accounts – it’s not all doom and gloom.
Outgoing player trades were effectively halted while a bid for ten-in-a-row was made, but that will resume this summer and help the club plug any financial gaps.
More worrying, concerning our rivalry with Rangers, is the more challenging route to Champions League qualification this summer. We are in the non-champions part of qualification against much more difficult and illustrious sides than the Ibrox side will face.
If they make it to group stages and we don’t, any financial advantage we have right now is significantly reduced.
Failure on the pitch this season could have a direct and damaging correlation to financial performance.
Just another reason why the club need to make urgent changes in the football department.
In other news, here’s our take on Ian Bankier’s statement to Celtic supporters today.
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