Celtic’s Chief Financial Officer Chris McKay took his place alongside Michael Nicholson, Ange Postecoglou and other key stakeholders at Friday’s AGM and delivered a number of important updates to supporters.
Taking centre stage amongst the details was confirmation that the club had returned to profitable trading following the difficulties that Covid presented.
This resulted in a pre-tax profit of £6.1M for the financial year ending 30th June 2022 – a notable swing from the loss of £11.5M the previous year.
The full financial breakdown can be viewed on the official Celtic website HERE.
Overall revenues were up by £27M to £88.2M with the return to a fully operational Celtic Park playing a notable part in that.
Key Areas of Income
However, McKay was quick to stress the two key revenue streams that are vital to the club’s growth, and which play a huge part in returning such strong financial results.
The first is the record income the club received in player trading, thanks largely to the sales of Kris Ajer (Brentford), Odsonne Edouard (Crystal Palace) and to a lesser extent Ryan Christie (Bournemouth).
Speaking on a pre-recorded video ahead of the AGM, McKay commented:
“This (player trading) has been a cornerstone of our business over many years now. We recorded a gain of £29M which was a record for us, and which really served to underpin that earning profile,” Celtic Chief Financial Officer Chris McKay
Trading key players for big money is nothing new to Celtic supporters in recent times and we’ve bid our farewells to star players such as Kieran Tierney, Moussa Dembele and Virgil Van Dijk as they took the well worn path to the English Premier League having shown their worth at Celtic – particularly on the Champions League stage.
Which brings us nicely to the second key revenue stream that the club rely heavily on.
Consistent Champions League Qualification
Celtic returned to the top table of European football this season after a hiatus of five years. The income generated by our participation this time around will be reported in next year’s figures with McKay stressing the importance of our involvement on this stage.
“The tournament is arguably the best club competition in the world and its vitally important for clubs like Celtic. We’re delighted to be there. It allows us to attract better players, develop these players into European Champions League players – which fits our trading model. Needless to say, this is where we need to be every season and that’s what we strive for,” Celtic Chief Financial Officer Chris McKay
That last line is a notable shift from the club’s previous stance where it became common knowledge that we budgeted for Europa League football, with Champions League qualification a bonus if that came to pass.
This maybe tells us why we saw the likes of Nir Bitton feature heavily as makeshift centre half in recent qualification campaigns, with the club reluctant to spend on new players before knowing which tournament we would be playing in.
The New Champions League
In a further update, McKay confirmed that the Champions League would be switching to a new 36 team format from the 2024/25 season onwards. This is an increase from the current 32 club model.
In a move driven by the European Club Association (of which Celtic’s Peter Lawwell is a board member) the new format will see a radical revamp of the tournament which will ultimately see more teams, more games and crucially more opportunity to generate income via sponsorship, tv rights and gate receipts.
An explainer video of the new format can be viewed below…
Put simply, if Celtic want to somehow try and bridge that gap between ourselves and European football’s biggest clubs then we simply have to be at this table. With these increased revenue streams we can’t afford not to.
Not once every five years. Not even every second year. But every single year.
Ange Postecoglou is more determined than ever to see us compete at the very top level and who better to turn to for the final say on the direction the club are heading in.
“I’ve had success at every club I’ve been at because I haven’t limited what that looks like. I see no reason why this club can’t compete in the Champions League regularly. There’s nothing written anywhere that says ‘this is your limit’. Obsession might not be the right word but I’m totally fixated on bringing success to the club,” Ange Postecoglou
With the continued support from McKay, Nicholson and his backroom team then who would doubt that the manager will achieve his targets sooner rather than later?
This is Big Ange all over the back!
Not saying he’s our favourite Celtic Manager ever, but he’s definitely in the top 1 💪 pic.twitter.com/viCUn9NILn
— The Celtic Exchange 🎙 (@CeltExchange) November 7, 2022
Listen to the latest episode of The Celtic Exchange Weekly now on Apple, Spotify and Google Podcasts as we take an in depth look at the biggest talking points from the AGM.
All links and additional podcasts can be found at The Celtic Exchange website.
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