Michael Nicholson is paid four times the amount of money that Benfica CEO Rui Costa picks up.
Basically it takes Costa a month to pick up what Nicholson takes out of Celtic every week.
In the 24/25 Celtic Annual Report Nicholson was on a basic salary of £518,605. With bonus, pension and Benefits In Kind his total income came to £821,681.
Last night in Lisbon Celtic lost 4-1 to Benfica in the Europa League.
The home side barely got out of third gear, at half time the contest was over with Benfica leading 3-1.
Simply Wall Street reports Costa being paid 230,000 euros during the 24/25 season.
At the current exchange rate of 1.18 euros to the pound Costa was paid £194,915, lets call it £200,000 a year.
According to Swiss Ramble turnover during 24/25 at Benfica grew by 54m euros to 231m euros. On current exchange rates that comes in at £195,762m. Lets call it £200m.
Benfica CEO Costa was paid 0.1% of the club’s turnover.
NICHOLSON HAS AN INCREDIBLE SALARY PACKAGE WITH CELTIC
Celtic operate very differently.
According to the Annual Report to 30 June 2025 turnover was £143.6m.
With his total income of £821,681 Nicholson was paid 0.57% of Celtic’s turnover.
On a lesser turnover Nicholson received far more than his Benfica counterpart. Nicholson’s sidekick Chris McKay made do with just £532,690 last year, not far off three times Costa’s salary.
One of them is has 94 full international caps from a career where he played 500 matches for Benfica, AC Milan and Fiorentina. The other is apparently a leading Scottish sports lawyer.
Having been involved personally in several huge transfer deals it is safe to assume that Costa isn’t afraid to talk to football agents. Or to Benfica’s own media channels.
Nicholson became Celtic CEO in September 2021, announced in a club statement. He was a good team player, replacing Dom McKay on an interim basis but at Celtic we know what interim really means.
@CelticFC Wasn’t perfect but he at least engaged more with supporters in a few months than lawwell had in 17 years. And a worrying sign that a long standing member of the plc is given the ceo position. We’re meant to be rebuilding and forward thinking. The pals act needs to stop
— Jordan (@jordankenny7) September 10, 2021
THE CEO IS MEDIA SHY
In June 2023 Nicholson and Chairman Peter Lawwell held a joint media conference with newly appointed manager Brendan Rodgers. Clearly the third party at that event Nicholson revealed that Celtic’s ambition was to be ‘world class in everything that we do’.
Last December 2025 he was interviewed twice by Gerry McCulloch for Celtic TV.
It was as painful as the staged hug to welcome Wilfried Nancy out of the taxi at Lennoxtown.
Typically Nicholson ducked out of the media conference introducing Nancy as Celtic manager.
On December 17 the Celtic CEO was back with McCulloch outlining the exciting recruitment plans in January for the new manager.
On January 5 Nancy was sacked. He had been in the job 33 days losing six and winning just two matches.
Nicholson hasn’t been heard of during 2026.
@CelticFC Similar size of clubs but one has a fantastic modern stadium with a dedicated fan zone and museum. We’ve missed the CL 11 times in the last 20 years. Benfica, only 4. We are doing something badly wrong. https://t.co/sKwfGh2oHE
— Martin (@Martin88861205) October 15, 2026
Since he barely speaks not much is known about what Nicholson actually does.
Celtic have Heads of Department for most areas of the club.
DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT MICHAEL NICHOLSON ACTUALLY DOES?
When Brendan Rodgers and Martin O’Neill returned to manage the club both spoke of initial contact coming from Dermot Desmond.
Transfer negotiations are something of a mystery, in the summer of 2025 a variety of club officials spoke of their difficulties in negotiating with Celtic.
Celtic haven’t had a Director of Football since the days of Jock Brown and Kenny Dalglish. With Peter Lawwell as CEO that issue never arose.
Recruitment is currently something of a mystery. Alongside Nancy Head of Football Operations Paul Tisdale left on January 5 with no replacement announced.
Twice last season Shaun Maloney stepped up from his role as Professional Pathways Manager to become First Team Coach/Assistant Manager.
Maloney is now in that job on a permanent basis. His successor hasn’t been announced.
While Benfica followed up their Champions League place in season 24/25 with a return to that competition Celtic lost a Play Off tie to the Champions of Kazakhistan.
Nicholson repeated that achievement this season by losing out to the champions of Austria.
CARRY ON NICHOLSON
On the pitch Celtic are sliding fast. From Round of 16 Champions League Play Off with Bayern Munich in February 2025 to third bottom of the Europa League in October 2026.
Nothing seems to be developing inside the infrastructure. The link from Academy to first team is being bridged with a Co Operation deal with East Kilbride where two of the three players loaned sit watching League One football on a Saturday.
Celtic fans will be hoping to hear from Nicholson at next month’s AGM but after the abandoned 2025 AGM hearing from the CEO is far from certain.
Celtic won’t be able to sign any of the Benfica players on show last night. But there is nothing in terms of wages to prevent them from appointing the Benfica manager and CEO.
Except that they’d both probably be horrified by the set up that they walk into. Designed by £17,000 a week Nicholson.
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1 Comment
by M
ANOTHER SHOCKER Joe, last night was too
Revolutionary thoughts re CP board
COZ WE’RE GOING NOWHERE ATM