13 Feb 2026 23:44:53
Here is my wee semi educated view on the numbers released today. I do keep a wee eye on them and I am usually not too far off.
I like most have no idea why the Celtic board are so frugal with spending there is certainly no fiscal reason glaring from the accounts and as most people seem to agree on here no where near any UEFA caps.
Celtic Revenue reduced £24m. This would have been totally expected to do with the failure to qualify for the champions league.
We made a 14m profit on the disposal of intangible assets. This is player sales it DOES NOT count as general revenue it sits in it own wee bit in the accounts. What’s important to realise is that because we sold Kuhn for 17m does not mean we make £17m on that deal. We have to deduct what’s left of his transfer fee amortization this is not the payment. We paid 5m he played for 1 year of a 5 year contract so we still have 4m to amortize so that comes off. Then maybe £3m to his previous club. So we may have booked £9-10m profit from Kuhn.
Profits and Revenue and totally different from Cash Flow Operations. So Celtic have turned over £60m in the first half of the season. Historically they turnover about £40-45m in half 2 of the season. Let’s use season tickets as an example. Let’s say there’s 57000 season tickets at an average of £500.
That’s £28,500,000 of revenue. Now that money the £28,500,000 will have been receive but it’s highly highly probably only 14,250,000 will have been counted as revenue for the first 6 months even though they have the money the other £14,250,000 will be counted in the next 6 months as the games haven’t been played yet so the customer you hasn’t had the product. This is called prepayment. And on the flip side we may have sold Kuhn for 17m but haven’t had the money so when we’re not receiving cash for tickets were receding money for debts owed and where the money ends up balancing itself out.
Buying players again we amortise and the figure we need to look out for on the accounts is amortisation of tangible assets. We bought Balikwisha for 5m but this year we only increase our amortisation by £1m as it’s a 5 year deal. Subsequently if we sell him next season for £3m we lose £1m on him.
If we sell him for £4m we break even and £5m we make £1m profit. So currently we are amortising at 14m a season. That’s basically a roll up of all the transfer fees. Based upon fifa regs of 70% with a minimum turnover of 100m we would be allowed to spend £55m a season in football wages alone. We are no where near fifa regs and the fact it’s an average turnover rather than a minimum we would be at around £120m with an allowed spend of £84 split over wages and Amortisation.
Here’s what I think/ predict
Celtic will turnover 103-105m this season
Profit will be around £3-6m
Cash in bank will finish between £62-£68m
There’s a good few reasons to be a bit doom and gloom this season but our accounts and finances certainly ain’t one of them.
14 Feb 2026 10:47:27
It makes sense to me ?.
14 Feb 2026 10:49:02
So you are saying the board were talking pish when they cited UEFA regulations as a reason for not spending?
Let us assume your figures are correct, which I doubt as you couldn't calculate a percentage earlier. You think we should be positive that our revenue dropped by 37-43 million. ?
Do you think we should be happy that our team is pish and weak in certain areas and that our board had plenty of cash to fix it and choose not to?
Would not surprise me if you are actually an employee of the club coming onto a fan forum to try and control the narrative and "educate us plebs" as we allegedly don't understand.
14 Feb 2026 11:17:03
I don’t know who is right or wrong because you both and Dr Phil seem intelligent people.
Tbhoy doesn’t post much but I’ve always enjoy his point of view over many years.
14 Feb 2026 11:50:46
The bottom line with all the figures, no mater who is right or wrong, is that missing out on CL has really hit us badly financially, along with a reluctance to invest properly in transfer windows has hit us badly with our performances.
14 Feb 2026 12:01:19
Who cares about the figures. It’s not like we see stadium improvements or god forbid some decent footballers at the club.
14 Feb 2026 12:13:50
Thank you Buzz but I'm only reading what's out there. TBhoy is bang on right there, there's loads reasons be angry at the board finance's aren't one of them. It's the thing that the board care about most.
14 Feb 2026 12:24:56
Joe your playing the man there about being a club employee. The UEFA rules have been spelled out to you loads of times on here but your insisting on one year over three.
My 42m figure was based on 70% cap of revenue under the rules. Tbhoy is right about the season book money being split. So about half of that gets added in after tax.
But regardless, this is a non issue. We are flying financially which is my frustration that we don't use it like a hotel museum or stadium upgrades. I don't disagree with you about some of what you say about the board, especially around transfers, I just think your analysis of the financials is trying to suit a different argument when it's not there.
So le.
14 Feb 2026 13:30:47
I will say it again Phil, I linked the UEFA regulation that clearly stated it is a 1 year period.
If you are adamant you are right why don't you prove me wrong and link where it says it is a 3 year period but as I said I bet you can't link it because I am right.
14 Feb 2026 13:32:58
That lot have spent 43 million over the last 2 transfer windows, I would expect a treble for that!
14 Feb 2026 13:35:00
@dr Phil - So you think losing 40-50 million in revenue in 1 year means we are flying financially? ?
Do you also think that massive drop in revenue won't have an impact on next season?
14 Feb 2026 13:36:50
P s. I am not saying we are in financial danger but the fact remains that the board blew the massive advantage we had at the start of the season and that has had a major impact on our finances. For me that is unforgivable.
14 Feb 2026 16:54:48
If CL revenue is so critical to Celtic FC, then why do the board put so little effort into trying get it? Other than treading water, this club has made no real efforts to improve over last two decades.