Finance expert Adam Williams has told 67 Hail Hail that Celtic may have to dig into their pile of cash to compensate for the fact that they may miss out on European football altogether.
Scotland have lost a Champions League place for next season, which means that anyone finishing fourth and below will miss out on continental action together.
While unlikely, it isn’t impossible that Martin O’Neill’s side could be in a situation where their only focus is domestic football and Williams has explained why this could be bad news for the Hoops’ cash reserves.
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Celtic could experience huge losses without European football
Celtic have been sitting on a pile of cash for some time and would have enough to get by for at least one season, but it would put a serious dent in what they currently have, with Williams estimating it could be as much as £50m.
He told 67 Hail Hail: “The good news for Celtic is that they have the cash reserves to ride out a season outside the top European competitions. Like most Celtic fans, I think the level of cash hoarding the board have overseen is excessive. But a silver lining is that they have the money to cope with losing revenue from UEFA, as well as having fewer matchdays at Parkhead.
“To work out how much they would lose, there are a few variables to look at. Last season, Celtic got £40m in Champions League prize money. On top of that, they had five matches at Celtic Park, which probably were worth £2m each. So you can say that £50m is the baseline in a decent season in that competition. Not all of that is profit; you have to pay players appearance fees and bonuses and it is expensive to stage matches at the stadium. There are a ton of other peripheral costs, too. But in the Champions League, the revenue clearly massively outweighs the expenses.
“In the Europa League and Conference League, Celtic could expect slightly lower matchday income, but they are probably going to sell out all the same, so it wouldn’t move the dial too significantly in the grand scheme of things. So if they were to miss out on Europe altogether, it’s probably in the region of £8-10m that would be missing in matchday income.
“In terms of prize money, Celtic have likely picked up about £15m in the Europa League this season, although some of that is revenue from the Champions League play-off round. So let’s call it £12m. In the Conference League, Scottish clubs can expect maybe £5m. These are rough figures and there is a pretty significant margin for error depending on performance, but they give you an idea.
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“So at the thick end, Celtic could lose £50m with no European football. If you’re comparing Conference League vs no Conference League, it’s probably closer to £15m. There are other factors – slump in retail sales, sponsorship etc – but that would be my starting point.”
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