Celtic crash through £100m barrier

CELTIC raked in a hefty pre-tax profit in excess of £17million after securing the double Treble. They became the first Scottish club to crash through £100m in revenue after Champions League qualification and player sales helped nudge turnover up from £90.6m last year to £101.6m. However, a rainy-day bank balance of £27m — with accounts not yet including a £20m fee from Lyon for Moussa Dembele — is likely to increase frustration amongst fans over the failure to secure the quality signings craved by boss Brendan Rodgers in the recent transfer window. New contracts for Kris Ajer, Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor, Tom Rogic and Leigh Griffiths, plus the Charly Musonda and Marvin Compper deals, saw the wage bill soar by £7.1m in the last 12 months to £59.3m, with a hike in total expenses and costs to £87.3m. Failure to reach the lucrative Champions League for a third successive season will inevitably see the figures take a dent next year. However, in the chief executive’s statement, Peter Lawwell said the creation of a ‘world-class club’ remains the goal without ‘putting the club at risk’. ‘We continue to search the world for talented players to play the Celtic way, such as Odsonne Edouard who joined the club for a club record transfer fee,’ said Lawwell. ‘Player recruitment and development continues to be fundamental to the club. Our objective is always to bring players to the club who will improve the squad. Given the quality of our existing squad, that is a challenging task, made more difficult by hyper-inflation in transfer fees and player salaries in the market. ‘Nevertheless, our objective is to invest everything we can into the football operation without putting the club at risk. ‘For season 2018-19, everyone at the club was disappointed not to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League. ‘But given the club’s strategy over many years, we have financial reserves to rely upon as we continue to look to the future with ambition and optimism.’