Newcastle have been fined millions of pounds by UEFA after breaching financial rules but for the Celtic board, this will raise further questions about their ambition for the club.
Celtic fans have watched how the team has weakened as the board allowed transfer windows to pass by without adding any real quality to the squad.
We told how Newcastle could face UEFA’s wrath after pushing the governing bodies’ financial rules to the limit, including how they ‘sold’ their stadium to a sister company for £133m to allow them to invest in their squad.
However, UEFA didn’t accept this and have now punished the club for breaching two financial fair play rules with a multi-million pound fine.
What would you say to Dermot Desmond about Celtic’s transfer model now?
Newcastle’s £5m UEFA fine brings focus on the Celtic board
UEFA have hit Newcastle with a hefty £5.2m fine for breaching two of their financial rules last season.
The first rule [Football Earnings Rule] that was broken was for spending too much money over a three-year period.
And the other [Squad Cost Ratio] was because the Premier League club spent more than 70% of their revenue to squad costs, including wages, transfer fees and agents’ fees, which is the maximum UEFA allows.
Newcastle fine puts Celtic under the microscope
What is not in doubt is that Newcastle have exceeded UEFA’s limits on spending, but for Celtic, this puts the full focus back on the club’s reasoning for not spending in the transfer market.
Fans will remember the Celtic board citing UEFA’s financial rules for being careful and not overspending in the transfer market.
The reality is that Celtic are nowhere near close to hitting, never mind exceeding, UEFA’s rules. The Parkhead club’s Squad Cost Ratio is well below UEFA’s 70% level at 52%.
And with Celtic’s accounts boasting a year on year healthy profit, the Hoops are nowhere even close to breaking the Football Earnings Rule UEFA has in place.
Newcastle’s punishment only puts the focus back on Celtic and the board’s lack of spending and ambition in the transfer market, something that has frustrated supporters for years.
No Celtic fan is asking the board to go and spend £20m on one player. All they are asking is to make the best of the resources they have to have the club competing in Europe every season.
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