The clubs bank statement dropped through the door yesterday, and they felt the need to share, what on the face of it, is probably good news.
Iain Bankier summed them up… though I felt it was only fair to add a comment or two.
SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS
Operational Highlights
– Winner of the Scottish Domestic Treble for an unprecedented third consecutive year (the “Treble Treble”)
– Winner of our eighth consecutive SPFL Premiership title
– Finished second in the Europa League group stage, qualifying for the Round of 32 for the second year in a row
– 30 home matches played at Celtic Park (2018: 32 including the Scott Brown Testimonial)
– Continuation of significant stadium investment programme (
Financial Highlights
– Group revenue decreased by 17.9% to £83.4m (2018: £101.6m)
– Operating expenses including labour decreased by 0.2% to £86.9m (2018: £87.1m)
Trebles all round!
– Gain on sale of player registrations of £17.7m (2018: £16.5m)
– Acquisition of player registrations of £6.2m (2018: £16.6m)
– Profit before taxation of £11.3m (2018: £17.3m)
– Year-end cash net of bank borrowings of £28.6m (2018: £36.1m)
– Year-end net cash, net of debt and debt like items, of £38.9m (2018: £27.0m)
And it’s staying right where it is. One wonders again about the point of having money if its not to spend.
CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
These results, which declare revenue of £83.4m (2018: £101.6m) and a profit before taxation of £11.3m (2018: £17.3m), reflect a satisfactory performance in a financial year in which the Club did not qualify for the Group Stages of the UEFA Champions League, as it had done in the prior year.
Revenue and profits down, largley due to not being in the UCL. You’d think they’d try to invest and maybe increase the likelihood of participation…
On behalf of the Board I congratulate Neil Lennon, his management team, the players and all staff at the Club on achieving the “Treble Treble”. At short notice, Neil took charge of the squad, delivered an eighth consecutive League Championship and triumphed in the Scottish Cup, making it the Club’s ninth successive domestic trophy.
That is something that Lennon still doesn’t get enough credit for,as if he had failed, which was certainly at least touch and go at the time, his career and credibility were finished.
Of course, we were disappointed to lose Brendan Rodgers during the season, when he left to pursue an opportunity in the English Premier League. Brendan and his staff delivered record breaking success and they leave a phenomenal legacy for which the Board and everyone at Celtic is truly grateful. We thank them for their outstanding contribution.
I wasn’t. And I wasn’t surprised either. But on a lighter note, at least I know where Leicester is now.
The Board was delighted to welcome Neil back to the Club in February and to confirm his appointment as manager following our success at Hampden in May. Having been the manager when the Club embarked on the present run of domestic success, Neil understands what it takes to be the manager of Celtic. He has the full support of the Board, executive management team and all the staff at the Club. At the time of writing, having qualified for the Group Stages of the UEFA Europa League, the Club retains a 100% record in domestic competitions and we look forward with optimism to the season ahead.
Except when it comes to spending.
The financial results for the year demonstrate the robustness of the Group’s strategy of investment in football operations, whilst maintaining a self-sustaining financial model. This continues to provide a stable platform for football success and shareholder value. The gains on sales of player registrations, primarily reflected by the gains achieved on the sales of Moussa Dembele to Olympique Lyonnais and Erik Sviatchenko to FC Midtjylland, as well as contingent fees crystallising on previous player transfers, were key to the performance of the Group.
Self sustaining ….if you don’t count the return of the Old Firm.
Post year end, the Club completed the sale of academy graduate Kieran Tierney to Arsenal FC for a Club record fee. This was a great milestone achievement for “one of our own” and recognition for the Club’s high standards of player development. Also, post year end, in the summer transfer window we bolstered the playing squad with the additions of the permanent registrations of Christopher Jullien, Luca Connell, Hatem Abd Elhamed, Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo, Greg Taylor, Jonathan Afolabi, Jeremie Frimpong and Lee O’Connor.
That kind of reads like he’s proud of selling Tierney, like it’s a sort of target achieved. Which worries me mightily as it says a lot about the clubs ambitions.
Our year end cash net of bank borrowings was £28.6m (2018: £36.1m) which equates to a net funding position of £38.9m (2018: £27.0m) when adjusted for debt and debt like items (as defined in the Summary of Results on page 2). This allows the Board to continue to plan for the long term, whilst managing the reduced revenues derived from playing in UEFA Europa League in two successive seasons. The Club continued its significant stadium investment programme to maintain and improve Celtic Park’s reputation as one of the best football arenas in the world.
It did ? Where ?
The Club believes that children and young people have the right to protection from all forms of harm and abuse. We are unequivocally committed to ensuring this. Celtic Football Club was the first club in Scotland to appoint a safeguarding officer, responsible for developing our policies for the protection of young people, and monitoring and reviewing our procedures to ensure they continue to reflect best practice. During the year, a number of individuals were found guilty of historic offences committed against young people. The Club expressed its sincere sympathy, regret and sorrow for those affected and stands by its responsibilities, respecting the due process of law.
As we look ahead, the future of UEFA competitions beyond 2024 remains uncertain. While recognising the risks, the Club considers that the developments being discussed by UEFA, the European Club Association and other stakeholders, present an opportunity to clubs such as Celtic. Through Peter Lawwell’s continued involvement on the Board of the European Club Association and the Professional Football Strategy Council of UEFA, the Club and the game in Scotland continue to be well represented in this very important arena.
There is talk of a new European Super League, and there was an article in the Guardian yesterday hinting at an ePL expansion to two leagues, and the rest regionalised. Greed is the main motive in football these days, and you can thank Sky TV for that.
In closing, I thank all of our supporters, shareholders, sponsors, partners and colleagues for their contribution to another successful year for Celtic Football Club. We all share a common passion for Celtic and everything it does. The Board is committed to building on our current success for the long term future of the Club.
Oh, come on, you’re not fooling anyone. Fair play though, he hasn’t called us racists which must have been hard for him.
Ian P Bankier
27 September 2019
Chairman
That does read like he’s rather chuffed with things, but it also confirms what we already knew. We’re a business now, a PLC, and I can’t help thinking that if Brother Walfrid read that, he’d be heading towards Bankiers office with a rolled up copy looking to perform an endoscopy.
The full results are here, for anyone who wants to read them…
Celtic_PLC_June_2019_Stock_Exchange_Announcement
….though i can’t imagine why anyone would.
The feeling is that we should celebrate them in the way we’d celebrate a good result on the field, but I can’t get into that frame of mind.
Craig Whyte’s book will be published next week, and that means that our spineless media will be able to quote freely from it, safe in the knowledge that they can point the finger at someone else should the bears have a moan about it.
Certainly, from what I’ve seen so far, there is nothing new in the book, with the possible exception that Whyte is now taking aim at those who really did knacker the original club and trying to absolve himself a bit.
He even blames Duff and Phelps for not working with him,which is interesting, as some sources claim the only time during the whole process he was worried was when it looked like he wasn’t going to get his way and his way was to have Duff and Phelps as administrators/liquidators.
Had a proper company been appointed, of course, the switcheroo would have cost much more than the £5,5m that Green paid for his basket of assets….and that would have meant the whole deal was off.
Green thought he’d be quids in until someone told him he didn’t own the players as well.
It still stinks, and all this book will do is deflect the blame, when really it should be the basis of some proper investigative journalism to highlight a significant part of a massive scam by venture capitalists, but bearing in mind that the S in MSM stands for Spineless, that’s unlikely to happen.
And you know as well as i do that an awful lot came out in court that no one has run with yet, but those who do are free to share that with me because frankly, I don’t give a toss about saying it as it is.
Remember the controversy over the Morelos interview, where Sky sports went with the translation offered to them instead of bothering to do it themselves ?
Well, here’s something to think about before you pick up the phone and cancel your subscription…
A lot of chat on social media that a man who likes a Kit-Kat analogy when it comes to describing a dead Football Club, and who is now employed by SSN, is possibly to blame for ‘translategate’, but I’m assured he had no involvement other than to promote the story on twitter. The two folk responsible in terms of putting the package together, but not the subtitles, are both English and neither follow follow, so to speak. But the guy who has the final say on content is a season ticket holder at Glasgow’s newest senior Football Club, and as far as I know he is not on twitter. He has previous with anti-Celtic content though, but this is by far the most serious slur he has sanctioned.
So why now ? And why did he think he’d get away with it ? Our extraordinarily pish stained source explains…
Obviously for Traynor it’s to deflect from the car tampering tale which gloriously unraveled last week.
For SSN the timing is irrelevant.
Sky was offered an ‘exclusive’ sit-down (it certainly wasn’t an interview) and would have taken it whenever it was offered.
The same reason SSN accepted the offer for Jim White to visit Charles Green at his hospital bed.
And the same reason why there is disproportionate coverage given to the latest Ibrox Club on SSN.
Scottish football is viewed with utter distain by many people in England, and it’s definitely no different at Sky Sports HQ.
So why is there at least one SSN story virtually every day on new Rangers? – partly down to the fan who is the head of output, but mostly to fill airtime.
It’s important to note Sky Sports News is not a sports news channel.
It’s a Sky Sports channel with the remit to promote ‘news’ pertaining to Sky Sports.
In short; a channel promoting Sky Sports with fluffy sports ‘news’ stories.
Around 90 per cent of the daily output will be linked to the Sky Sports schedule.
It’s all about the brand.
Watch SSN and the Sky Sports logo is prominent in at least two places at virtually all times – at the top of the screen, running behind the presenters, on the lapels of all the male presenters and reporters, as well as on the microphones.
If there is an interview with the Gillingham manager, then it’s almost certain that Sky will be showing a match involving Gillingham that week.
SSN is live on air for almost 20 hours with the rest on a loop when most of us are sleeping.
That’s a lot of airtime to fill and showing goals (from competitions Sky Sports has the rights too, of course) only takes up so many minutes.
So providing content is a problem as there are only so many events on Sky that can be plugged in any week.
Therefore Gary Neville’s comments from his match analysis are put into a ‘highlights package’ every week like they have been discovered on tablets of stone.
It’s that desperate.
When he was mis-managing in Spain, SSN only ever referred to his Club as “Gary Neville’s Valencia” because of his links to Sky.
It’s almost like Valencia have never won European trophies or been Spanish Champions.
The head of output knows Traynor and has a good relationship with him.
After all, The Fat Controller arranged for another ‘exclusive’ when White went to South Africa to raise Dave King’s profile at the expense of TRIFC.
So that gives him some leeway.
In my opinion, the footage was not checked because of laziness and disregard for Scottish football.
A good time to point out the Sky Sports Scotland is a tiny office in Glasgow and no final decision are made there.
Interesting to note the sit-down was with Craig Slater, who is based at Sky Sports HQ. But given what was claimed in the subtitles there is absolutely no excuse for not double-checking the content, and this is where Club allegiance has interfered with acceptable working practice in my opinion.
A negative Celtic story was just too good to turn down … so good, it was rushed out with complete disregard to journalistic standards.
Under no circumstances would those subtitles not been doubled checked if the story involved an EPL Club. SSN don’t even run stories about the EPL without clearance from the top man running the league.
SSN is shit-scared of the EPL and all the big clubs in England.
Same applies to boxing stories.
Nothing is aired until the son of a famous boxing promoter has given the OK. Sky Sports actively promotes every sport it covers with one exception – Scottish football.
They are quite open about the fact they are only interested in one fixture. They reason this happens is because the people supposed to be running Scottish football allow this shite to happen unchallenged.
It makes it all the more galling the SPL has agreed a new contract with Sky Sports to disrespect our game and finance the EL. Make no mistake here. If Celtic don’t back down Sky Sports will.
Yet Lawwell bends to their every whim….certainly worth watching what happens next, but not on Sky sports.
Get rid of it. You won’t miss it.
Elsewhere,and fair play to Philip Schofield, although i did mishear the original news story and wondered why he was coming out as grey when it was plain enough for everyone to see.
Though his real statement shows a commitment to getting to share a dressing room with the delightful Holly Willoughby that one can only admire.
Yesterday,we had this…
As a young lady hastily makes her departure, a Private Investigator sweeps up evidence of considerable cocaine abuse
Today…
Later today, around 5pm, keep an eye out for Yokerbhoys preview of tomorrows game against Clyde, a game which is still giving me the fear.
caption why is ally mc moist dressed as a wummin wae wings
Good on ye Charlie, ah’ll no’ waste ma time tryin’ tae beat that! 🙂
FC not PLC
HH
Charlie… He’s been on the Red Bull again
Thats no ally , its Jim traynors missus.
It will give you more fear when you read Yokerbhoy’s review. Excellent though they are I often feel worse after reading them. Got to agree with Ralph in Lawwell protecting the brand with the statement and the profits statement are just that. Also, didn’t we win our Europa Group, not come second ?
That’s because Ralph’s quoting from the full Annual Report issued in September and not the Half-Year Interims that were released yesterday. 🙂
I assume its an application to work with Sky. 😉
Every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings. In this case it may have been a bellend
Holly Willoughby pre make over
Caption…
See that saying …
“Don’t drive faster than your guardian angel can fly ?”
forget that ,if this one’s yours get the peddle to the metal….
“The angel of Harlems” gone downhill …
I was speaking to a coach yesterday and asked him about Wednesday nights game. He said they had a game plan, competed and were in the game. Second half they got a bit tired, some gaps appeared and they were hammered and glad it wasn’t more. “ … they are light years ahead of everyone else, light years”. Did my old heart good that.
Caption………
Larkhall beauty queen smiles for the camera.
Saw a little interview with Scott Sinclair. Mentions how he went from scoring 60 goals in 3 seasons to training with the reserves.
World class in everything we do .
Griffiths was replaced by better players in Dembele and Edouard. No one with a serious knowledge of football disagreed with that.
Sinclair wasn’t and there’s the rub.
Oh ffs
Treble Treble won without Griffiths shows otherwise.
Sinclair’s record over the past 3 seasons was exemplary and anyone who thinks playing Morgan ahead of him a good idea, clearly knows nothing.
Caption:
Si senor, I deed hire an investeegaaytor.
Caption
New disguise for PI as he tracks the Buffalo
Bankier his name says it all, he and his kind have allowed sevco and Jabba away with murder.
Eyes welling up.
Prepares to comment.
Stutters, just slightly. Regains confidence.
I’d……
I’d like to dedicate my caption win to the one and only James Sexton (sic) Traynor. If it wasn’t for his comedy gold and selfless self parody I would not have found the inspiration to enter the caption contest. He provides such inspiration to me, a humble Celtic supporter.
So thank you James Sexton (sic) Traynor. Don’t ever stop releasing and leaking your stories.
Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow the wind south into Jabbas fat mouth,
Blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly,
Blow bonnie breeze and bring the Huns tae their knees.
As for schofield , I feel for his missus. Its been known for years he was gay and playing the young field around him. Like mr derek McKay. Do all these older gay men have to chase much younger men.
No doubt theres more to come from the Mckay story. A proper cnut of a man. Hope the police become involved. He deserves it.
The SNP do seem to be the party of no morals. For 12 hours sturgeon , Swinney and McKay tried their usual deflection to get rid of the story . Swinney swears he had no idea of any allegations about McKay. So when further revelations are no doubt unearthed I fully expect Swinney to resign ,since he cant see whats right in front of him.
Unfit for purpose.
Oh and Ralph. Willobooby is nuthin but a hooker. She’s another one that has selectively shagged her way to stardom.
Most jobs she has had has seen her shaggin the producer , until a better offer comes in. Wouldnay touch it way a barge pole , maybe.
Because im a moody fcuk , and I kinda hate the bbc I have just made an official complaint covering the Michael stewart ‘ sacking’ and the lack of cover over the sky tv attempt to portray the celtic fans as racist. having re read it , it could have been better ,but I urge everyone on the site to take 5 minutes and make their own complaint.
here is what I sent..
My complaint actually covers all football related programmes in Scotland from the BBC including content on bbc radio Scotland and primarily on bbc sportscene. For a while now , basically since rangers were liquidated, bbc Scotland has had a conveyer belt of former rangers players as ‘pundits’ on the radio and tv. Quite a few of these individuals are benficiaries of EBT payments . As such these people took part in tax evasion , which hurts every person in the UK. I do not think it is appropriate for a national broadcaster , which is publicly funded to be making payments to known tax evaders. It is grotesque. To make matters worse , the one ‘pundit’ who it seems has no allegiance to rangers or celtic and therefor should be a prized asset is mr Michael Stewart.It seems that after the very valid points he made last week on bbc radio Scotland , he has now been dropped from both tv and radio by the BBC. I am afraid that to only hire tax evaders and sychophant’s for your programmes means I will no longer watch or listen to any programme with these despicable people involved. I also note that in a week where sky tv has been caught up in a scandal that sees them air a programme that contains misleading subtitles on an interview with a rangers player , subtitles that suggest celtic fans are racist , bbc sport seems to have completely ignored this side of the story and the development of the celtic board putting the matter to ofcom. Surely a state broadcaster has a responsibility to report this type of scandal instead of totally ignoring it. so in summary , bbc Scotland (both tv and radio) have removed the one reliable ‘pundit’ they had , leaving their programmes all the weaker. And bbc sport and its websites have totally ignored a huge story involving alleged racism , false representation of comments made on sky tv , with scotlands biggest football club taking sky to ofcom the best the bbc sport website offered was a small snippet in its ‘ gossip’ column. Please reply .
For the third time I will post my complaint to the bbc………
My complaint actually covers all football related programmes in Scotland from the BBC including content on bbc radio Scotland and primarily on bbc sportscene. For a while now , basically since rangers were liquidated, bbc Scotland has had a conveyer belt of former rangers players as ‘pundits’ on the radio and tv. Quite a few of these individuals are beneficiaries of EBT payments . As such these people took part in tax evasion , which hurts every person in the UK. I do not think it is appropriate for a national broadcaster , which is publicly funded to be making payments to known tax evaders. It is grotesque. To make matters worse , the one ‘pundit’ who it seems has no allegiance to rangers or celtic and therefor should be a prized asset is mr Michael Stewart.It seems that after the very valid points he made last week on bbc radio Scotland , he has now been dropped from both tv and radio by the BBC. I am afraid that to only hire tax evaders and sychophant’s for your programmes means I will no longer watch or listen to any programme with these despicable people involved. I also note that in a week where sky tv has been caught up in a scandal that sees them air a programme that contains misleading subtitles on an interview with a rangers player , subtitles that suggest celtic fans are racist , bbc sport seems to have completely ignored this side of the story and the development of the celtic board putting the matter to ofcom. Surely a state broadcaster has a responsibility to report this type of scandal instead of totally ignoring it. so in summary , bbc Scotland (both tv and radio) have removed the one reliable ‘pundit’ they had , leaving their programmes all the weaker. And bbc sport and its websites have totally ignored a huge story involving alleged racism , false representation of comments made on sky tv , with scotlands biggest football club taking sky to ofcom the best the bbc sport website offered was a small snippet in its ‘ gossip’ column. Please reply .
nope .. keeps getting deleted.
It might take Charlie Saiz longer than 5 mins 😉
Not the brightest….
heres what i sent , its limited to 2000 words
My complaint actually covers all football related programmes in Scotland from the BBC including content on bbc radio Scotland and primarily on bbc sportscene. For a while now , basically since rangers were liquidated, bbc Scotland has had a conveyer belt of former rangers players as ‘pundits’ on the radio and tv. Quite a few of these individuals are benficiaries of EBT payments . As such these people took part in tax evasion , which hurts every person in the UK. I do not think it is appropriate for a national broadcaster , which is publicly funded to be making payments to known tax evaders. It is grotesque. To make matters worse , the one ‘pundit’ who it seems has no allegiance to rangers or celtic and therefor should be a prized asset is mr Michael Stewart.It seems that after the very valid points he made last week on bbc radio Scotland , he has now been dropped from both tv and radio by the BBC. I am afraid that to only hire tax evaders and sychophant’s for your programmes means I will no longer watch or listen to any programme with these despicable people involved. I also note that in a week where sky tv has been caught up in a scandal that sees them air a programme that contains misleading subtitles on an interview with a rangers player , subtitles that suggest celtic fans are racist , bbc sport seems to have completely ignored this side of the story and the development of the celtic board putting the matter to ofcom. Surely a state broadcaster has a responsibility to report this type of scandal instead of totally ignoring it. so in summary , bbc Scotland (both tv and radio) have removed the one reliable ‘pundit’ they had , leaving their programmes all the weaker. And bbc sport and its websites have totally ignored a huge story involving alleged racism , false representation of comments made on sky tv , with scotlands biggest football club taking sky to ofcom the best the bbc sport website offered was a small snippet in its ‘ gossip’ column. Please reply .
apologies…..
Well done SFA. Our supporters cannot reasonably call out our Board for doing nothing (except for recent complaint to Ofcom) to protect our club whilst doing nothing themselves. I’ll be sending something similar when cancelling my TV Licence as I’m not paying to fund the shower at BBC Scotland to which you rightly refer.
Well done Pal.
FC not PLC
HH
I refuse to use a letter that doesn’t know how to spell Livingston. Looks like it’s not only SSN who know jack shit about Scotland.
Caption : ‘Goan, mention Robbie f@@king Williams one mare f@@king time and I’ll stick they headphones up yir f@@king arse’.
Caption,so many lies from Sevco that the flying pigs have to get
a bus from time to time
Caption: It’s James Traynor knowing he’s fucked! He might be a fat ‘fairy’, who knows? But he sure is no Angel.
Evening Bamber
Caption: Lucifer Traynor, this is what happens to Narcissistic fucks when Justice calls.
ITake it Heaven is guilty of Ageism
Wonder if Slippy G still wants var be very careful what you wish for you will never see a more blatant hand ball than hamilton was denied in the first half. Should have been a pen and red card deliberate hand ball.
I see it was the hun fuck Alan Muir who was in charge only sees pens for the huns.
They are all Protestant filth…..
Caption: Ever since he chased that PI in his flip-flops he makes me take the bus to the hotel.
A accies backhead, a blonde bag and a sevco bag.
7-1 🙂
I can only imagine what state i’d have been in that night 🙂
Stupid, stupid huns.
Nurse ^
Just a moment dear I’m getting your meds.
Lawwell out!
He is a fucking disgrace!
#Rebels on our board!
FTQ
Caption
Thought I’d died and gone to Ibrox
Racist is it, scabby ugly bastards! GIRUT.
Same old Alloa, always cheating, was the chants shouted out at Recreational Park. Let us examine that, the Huns, shouting out to Alloa F.C. FFS. “Always Cheating” a bottom tier club being accused of cheating by the mighty world class (of fuc!wits) Sevco. Your sides are slitting at the shear stupidity of them. “World Class” at cheating, lying and stupidity. “Same old Sevco always good for a laugh”.