Celtic announce losses of £7 million

CELTIC have announced a £2 million increase in the club’s debt, despite recording pre-tax profits of nearly £200,000 for the second half of 2011.

The Parkhead club recorded a total loss of £7 million, spending £5.24 million on players in 2012, nearly half of the previous year’s £10.29 million outlay on signings.

The figures do not include any money brought in as a result from the sale of Ki Sung-Yueng to English Premier League side Swansea City, or the financial windfall from reaching the Champions League group stages.

Peter Lawwell, the club’s chief executive, said: “The club’s in a decent place and we have built up over the past few years.

“There will be challenging times ahead, but we are prepared for that.

“We could have eliminated [the] loss if we had taken the opportunity to sell one or two players in January and cut the wage bill.

“But our main priority was to win the SPL and hopefully give us a pathway into the Champions League, so we made a conscious decision to keep the squad together - and to keep a level of investment in the wage bill.

“Our debt level is still under £3 million, which is very comfortable for a club of Celtic’s size and revenue streams.”