An entire business model based on failure- Nicholson and his Celtic chums called out by Business of Sport

The Business of Sport has produced a scathing report on the running of Celtic.

With over 150,000 subscribers on You Tube the BoS podcast has vast reach taking the multiple failings of Celtic to a huge audience.

Not just those pesky anti-establishment fans that refuse to show respect for the brilliant leadership provided by the Desmond family.

Former Sunderland Executive Charlie Methven is the driving force behind Business of Sport.

From the points that he raises it is clear that Celtic is a massive opportunity waiting for the button to be pushed.

Even run as a moderate PLC Celtic would be transformed.

No PLC would accept massive running profits generating Corporation Tax bills of around 10% of turnover going straight to HMRC.

That money should be reinvested in the club.

Mainly in footballers but after a quarter of a century of neglect there are massive infrastructure needs at Celtic Park.

The three new stands built under Fergus McCann in the nineties have been badly neglected. There appears to be no sign of basic maintenance being carried out.

CELTIC- THE COCKTAIL OF CRONYISM AND COMPLACENCY

Michael Nicholson and his cronies sit watching European failure and stagnation from the Main Stand that was built in 1971.

European nights highlight how outdated the stadium is as players emerge from two tight tunnels.

In contrast even clubs like LASK have bright spacious areas to showcase their stadiums.

Methven describes the South/Main Stand at Celtic as a potential cash machine.

A rebuild could meet the demand for corporate facilities and house a proper Superstore, Club Museum and a vast array of dining options.

Since the South Stand was built in 1971 the area around the stadium has been transformed.

With the Velodrome to the South and Forge Shopping Centre and Retail Park to the North that area of Glasgow has been transformed. The M74 and M8 motorways pass within a mile of Celtic Park.

Everything in the area has changed except in the Celtic Boardroom where minions carry out instructions from one family. At least in the 70s and 80s there was some nominal friction between the White and Kelly families.

METHVEN SETS OUT THE CASE FOR CHANGE

This is Celtic, this is one of the biggest franchises in the world of football losing every single year to European minnows.

You mention that this was a financial  disaster  for them. Unfortunately, it just isn’t.

Because they’ve built an entire business  model  out of failure.

In other words, they set out saying ‘We’re going to  fail  [to qualify for the Champions League], and how can we be profitable despite failing?’

They basically bake in their own failure as part of their business model to make sure they make a profit to put money aside for a rainy day.

They’re profitable even without going to  Europe.

This money is just being piled up and they’re now sat on about £90million (sic) of cash in the bank.

There’s a main stand at Parkhead that is desperately in need of knocking down and turned into a massive cash machine that would then give them the revenues to go and be seriously competitive in Europe but the board refuses to spend that money. It just leaves it in the  bank account.

THE EUROPEAN CYCLE OF FAILURE INSTALLED AT CELTIC BY PETER LAWWELL

What happens every single year is they go and sell three or four players in the relatively early stages of the transfer window, they then sit on that money to wait for  bargains  at the back end of the transfer window.

What’s the problem with that within the European calendar? The European qualifying games happen before the end of the transfer window.

So every single year they start European qualifying with a squad that is short on the basis of ‘We don’t want to overpay to bring players in before we play our European games’.

They’re already accepting that they’re going to be weak in Europe.

They have this business that’s predicated off them failing in Europe and meanwhile the fans are providing the money because it’s a quoted company, it’s a stock market quoted company.

THE DERMOT DESMOND INFLUENCE

It’s so dysfunctional it’s almost unfathomable.

The board is led, effectively, by a non-executive director.

So last year when they had big ructions over changes of manager and all that stuff, there was a statement put out on behalf of the club by the club’s non-executive director, who earns around 30 per cent of the shares.

What’s a non-executive director doing making statements in the public domain?

He bought his shares and built up a shareholding in the club as a listed company investor and now he’s putting out statements on behalf of the club and overseeing a strategy – if you can dignify it with that word – which basically says ‘We’re going to take in all of our fans’ money because we know we have an enormous fan base that will carry on spending money, we’re going to chuck it in the bank account and watch our club, one of the biggest clubs in the world, beat  St Mirren  and claim that that’s successful’.

Because they’re winning the title, the board claims that that’s success.

CELTIC- THE SUPPORTER DILEMMA SICKENINGLY EXPLOITED

But the fan base say they misunderstand why 60,000 of them turn up to support the club. They turn up to support a club that represents their entire culture, their identity, which has a proud history of operating at the top table and indeed being Champions League winners themselves.

There’s a total mismatch between the fan base and the directors and for once I’m on the side of the fan base

Where do those players come from, how much are those players paid, what recruitment team is in place that selects those players?

Does Celtic have a technical director? No.

Who is the Celtic head coach?  Martin O’Neill  who bless him was a good manager 20 years ago but is in his mid-70s now and having had health problems.

It’s almost like the Celtic board don’t know any managers other than Martin O’Neill when they’re in trouble.

CELTIC- ABSOLUTELY A CLUB LIKE NO OTHER

The whole situation is so sclerotic and mad, and now I know the Celtic fans have been doing this Not Another Penny campaign in terms of saying they’ll still go to games but don’t want to spend money on other things to prop up this bonkers, failed, non-strategy.”

You can’t help but think that at some point something has to give. This club needs to be bought over.

Or it needs to use the fact that it’s a big financial beast to become a proper quoted company with an independent board to apply the fans’ money in a progressive way.

Surely you should be able to see as an intelligent man that what you are doing is not being seen as successful by your entire customer base?

They cannot enjoy that whenever they come to Celtic  Park  they’re made to feel not welcome.

Is this a 15, 20 year thing, really?

Clubs like Celtic are being seen as valuable in terms of asset class so [Dermot Desmond] could walk out of here with a healthy profit from what he paid for those shares early on.

What’s the point in hanging on? That’s what no-one knows

Select Celtic365 as a “Preferred Source” on Google News for prompts to the independent news and opinions that you respect.

RELATED READING

CLICK HERE for five reasons supporters don’t trust Celtic Connect

CLICK HERE for the Cronyism that is strangling Celtic