Faced with an early exit from this year’s Champions League, Celtic’s strategy to overcome what their chairman calls the ‘Setanta effect’ has been badly dented. Former Home Secretary John Reid has warned that much of Scottish football was now ‘edging the narrow line of insolvency’ because of the recent collapse of Setanta. Celtic had always favoured linking up with BSkyB last summer in preference to the deal the SPL struck with Setanta.
Faced with an early exit from this year’s Champions League, Celtic’s strategy to overcome what their chairman calls the ‘Setanta effect’ has been badly dented. Former Home Secretary John Reid has warned that much of Scottish football was now ‘edging the narrow line of insolvency’ because of the recent collapse of Setanta. Celtic had always favoured linking up with BSkyB last summer in preference to the deal the SPL struck with Setanta. Supremo Reid said, ‘The recently agreed arrangements with Sky/ESPN are significantly less than could have been the case had Sky’s offer been accepted last year, and are a hard lesson in what could and should have been a far more positive outcome for all of the SPL clubs.’
For all that, the Aim-listed Glasgow club said that it had managed to achieve ‘highly creditable’ results in the year to June. Revenue was down only marginally at £72.8m and trading profits before asset transactions and exceptional expenses were up from £8.86m to £11.2m. Bank debt fell from £3.52m to £1.51m and operating expenses were cut 4.3 per cent to £61.38m. Pre-tax profits halved from £4.4m to £2m, mainly because the club’s gains on player trading dropped from £5.7m to £1.55m. Season ticket sales increased following a price freeze and the introduction of new concessions. The club’s investment in players increased from £5.11m to £8.35m which it was claimed reflected the club’s commitment to strengthening the team in a way that was financially sustainable. However, Celtic said European progression was the key to achieving its financial objectives. It’s there that the wheels seem to have come off early in the season. The most carefully calculated financial model can be thrown out of balance by events on the pitch.