The Celtic board has come under fire for their transfer activity over the last 12 months and the latest report on sales and expenditure from the CIES Football Observatory sheds light as to why.
The quality in Celtic’s squad has been sold off over the last four transfer windows as players like Kyogo Furuhashi, Adam Idah and Nicolas Kuhn were all sold off without the proper replacements being found.
That business is being felt this season as Celtic struggle to overcome Hearts and Rangers as Martin O’Neill looks to defend the Parkhead club’s Scottish Premiership crown.
What would your message to Dermot Desmond be now that the transfer window has closed
However, a report from CIES has detailed Celtic’s net spend over the last ten transfer windows and it’s little wonder the Hoops fans are unhappy with the board.
Celtic’s £53m transfer net spend as Premier League clubs dominate big losses
Celtic’s latest accounts show that the club is still sitting on a healthy bank balance despite a drop-off in revenue from over £84m to just under £60m over the last six months.
That drop off has been offset by the club’s transfer business as the CIES report shows how Celtic have a healthy £53.3m profit over the last ten transfer windows.
That transfer profit puts Celtic in 68th place and eclipses the likes of Borussia Dortmund (£15.74m), Bologna (£6m) and Inter Milan (£44.59m).
While the Celtic board may well see this as financial prudence, the fans will always point to losing two cup finals, failure to qualify for the Champions League, and allowing Hearts and Rangers to catch up domestically as a result of the board’s failure to properly invest all that transfer profit into the Hoops first team squad.
Rangers are not even ranked in the report whereas the likes of Man United record staggering gross spends of £750m and Chelsea with £771m spend.
Interestingly, Celtic brought in roughly £180m of fees and spent £127m over this five-year period, which proves that the club’s transfer strategy is failing on the park.
Celtic’s failing transfer strategy
While the Celtic board still point to big profits as a sign of success, what fans are seeing on the pitch proves otherwise.
A failing Rangers team who were 10th in the league at one point this season are now sitting one place above Celtic in second place to Hearts.
And that’s a Hearts team who have spent a fraction of Celtic’s budget while giving both Glasgow clubs a serious run for their money.
Spending £127m over five years in Scotland should have Celtic light-years ahead of our rivals but looking at what has been showcased on the park, it’s clear the transfer strategy in its current form is failing the club, and the fans.
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