Michael Nicholson has no financial excuses if Celtic fail to beat Celta Vigo tonight.
At last years Celtic AGM Ross Desmond explained the risks involved if Celtic swing and miss financially.
Club Brugge seem to have no problem swinging at better resourced clubs in the Champions League.
After Matchday 3 the Belgian side have picked up six Champions League points with wins over clubs from Italy and France.
Not bad for a club with stadium capacity of 30,000 and bordering France and Germany, two of the five rich leagues.
At Brugge they don’t talk up the difference in finances.
Bodo Glimt and Viking of Norway have a similar attitude to European football, They embrace the challenge and grow month by month.
Last season Qarabag reached the Round of 16 Play Off in the Champions League. Their successors as champions of Azerbaijan, Sabah already have three points from their first ever Champions League campaign.
In contrast to all that growth we have the fear and conservatism of Celtic.
THE LEADERSHIP SKILLS OF LEADING SPORTS LAWYER MICHAEL NICHOLSON
Highlighted by a CEO afraid to communicate.
Now well into six years draining a salary as CEO Nicholson has held two one to one interviews. Both with the nodding dog that is Gerry McCulloch, discussing the excitement of Wilfried Nancy’s appointment as Celtic manager.
Nicholson also has Mark Lawwell and Paul Tisdale on his Charge Sheet.
Having twice failed to prepare and qualify for the Champions League Celtic again find themselves in the second tier of European football.
Even at that level Celtic are toiling. Last season they won 11 points out of 24 from the group phase. So far this season it is 0 points from 6.
Tonight Celtic have all of the financial advantages over their opponents
Celta Vigo Key Financial Metrics (2024–25)
- Turnover €72.9m
- Staff Cost €62m
- Gross Fixed Wages : €36.14 million (€695,000 per week)
- Gross Total Wages (fixed + bonuses): €44.28 million
- Pre-Tax / Net Result: Pre-tax loss of approximately €6.5 million
With the current exchange rate of €1.19 to the £ those figures convert to
Turnover £61.2m, Staff costs £52m, Fixed Wages £30.4, Total Wages £37.2m
In contrast in their Annual Report for 24/25 Celtic posted the following figures:
- Turnover £143.6m
- Operating Expenses £117.1m
- Profit After Tax £33.9m
- Year End Cash £77.3m
- Corporation Tax £11.8m
The full figures for season 25/26 aren’t yet available but won’t show a dramatic variation.
Basically Celtic have double the turnover of Celta Vigo, is Michael Nicholson using his budget wisely?
ORCHESTRATING THE MANAGED DECLINE OF CELTIC
Given a Champions League Play Off against Kalmat Almaty Nicholson failed on multiple grounds.
Kyogo Furuhashi wasn’t replaced, Nicolas Kuhn was sold in January. Going into the matches with Kairat Nicholson was trying to sell Daizen Maeda, Adam Idah and Yang Hyun-jun. One success out of three is about averae for the Celtic CEO.
Absolutely Celta Vigo wouldn’t have spent £10m on Michel Ange Balikwisha and Sebastian Tounekti. Or put them on five year contracts that no other club will match.
With that background and just two competent transfer windows in the last five years Celtic go into tonight’s match.
In those two windows Rodgers forced through the signings of Kuhn, Idah, Engels and Trusty. None will play tonight, Trusty is the only one still at Celtic.
Sharing a media conference with Rodgers and Peter Lawwell Nicholson delivered the classic line of Celtic’s ambition to be ‘world class in everything we do’.
He has yet to follow up on how that has been achieved.
Celtic Connect is his big idea, allowing one Season Ticket holder from each stand to get tea and biscuits and their tummy rubbed at a quarterly meeting.
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