We have possibly waved goodbye to the ‘Banter Years’ now that our team’s form is in freefall, and the Celtic fans have practically nothing to feel positive about. For the majority of the run to nine successive titles, there have many, many occasions where we have been able to snigger at comments made by those in the corridors of power across the city.
Amidst this disastrous run by Celtic, and the PR campaign which could easily have been taken from the Trump supporters denial of defeat in the recent US election, there was a comment made by the now ex-chairman of the other lot. The claim that jumped out was that their squad was now worth £200 million.
“If you were to give me a figure, I’d say it could even be as high as £200m, if you take the total squad,” King told STV Sport last week.
If this was last season Celtic fans would all be in a Twitter frenzy, but instead, it has slipped through the net and that just doesn’t feel right.
Their current captain The ONLY cup so far won by theRangers
Let’s examine the current Celtic squad however, would the total value eclipse this figure? Perhaps it would have at the start of the season with the likes of Ajer, Ntcham, Julien, Christie, Edouard in the team with a high market figure. Those five alone would have possibly generated £80-£100m between them.
What about now? They are all still valuable, and with the likes of Forrest, Ajeti, Frimpong still sellable assets, a good chunk of money would be made from them.
It would be fair to state that the value of theRangers squad has indeed increased this season while the value of the Celtic squad had decreased. That has to be a worry for the Celtic Board and should have been a factor when they spent yesterday writing last night’s statement.
Values of the Celtic squad will be declining due to the current form and results
Whilst selling the major assets wouldn’t be the norm, there doesn’t seem to be anything that could be off the table if the current events continue. Neil Lennon told us after the Champions League qualifier defeat in August that there are several players in the Celtic dressing room who wanted to leave the club. The events of the past few months, on and now off the park, are hardly likely to reduce that number, in fact the opposite situation is much more likely to be the case when the transfer window opens in a few short weeks.
By the time the final whistle blows on 2 January we’ll all know if we are still in a title race. if things don’t go as Neil Lennon and the Celtic Board hope they will then the rest of January could be spent shipping out the faltering, want away Celtic players.
And even in miracles do happen and Celtic manage to recover from the current mess and go on to win the league, the clear-out will only be delayed until next summer.
Brian McVeigh