Celtic are in exceptional health but cautionary prediction made for July despite desire to spend

Celtic's accounts are the starkest of reminders of how far ahead they are in the Scottish football ecosystem.

The off-field results for the six months ended December 31, 2024 are exceptionally healthy. Celtic brought in revenues of £83.5 million and made an overall profit before taxation of £43.9m. There are cash reserves of £65m, although that is down £12m from June. Quite simply, financially this is a club in rude health.

The period in the update to shareholders covers the sale of Matt O'Riley to Brighton - believed to be for a fee of £25m - and the purchases of Adam Idah, Arne Engels, Paulo Bernardo and Auston Trusty. Celtic broke their transfer record not once but twice in the summer, with Idah coming with a £9m price tag and Engels costing them £11m. That goes some way to explaining the dip in the bank balance.

Celtic have reinvested revenues into the arrivals of players such as Jota and Arne Engels. | SNS Group

Celtic would not be in such a strong position financially had they not received such a significant fee for O’Riley, as well as bringing in around £10m for Kyogo Furuhashi in January. A big chunk of that January income was spent on bringing Jota in from Rennes - where Furuhashi was sold to. Celtic also sold Bosun Lawal, Tomoki Iwata, Michael Johnston, Yuki Kobayashi, Daniel Kelly and Hyeongyu Oh in this period and continue to make profits on the majority of their recruits. In that regard, their player model continues to serve them well.

All in all, Celtic remain an exceedingly well-run club. There was some irony that the finances were released 24 hours after their nearest rivals Rangers were dumped out of the Scottish Cup by Queen's Park. Chairman Peter Lawwell was at pains to point out in his statement that Celtic remain in the competition, are 13 points clear in the Premiership as well as making progress in the Champions League. Their play-off tie against Bayern Munich will bring in some extra revenue, too.

The two Glasgow clubs are travelling in very different directions. While Rangers' last figures showed a £17.2m loss, Celtic continue to rake in the cash. Their pre-tax profits are up almost £12m compared to this time in 2024.

Celtic's board deserve credit for being so financially sound, although there may be frustration from some fans that the purse strings were not loosened to bring in a forward to replace Furuhashi. Celtic did not procure a direct replacement, although on recent evidence, manager Brendan Rodgers has more than enough in his locker to achieve a domestic treble. They have scored 21 goals in four games since Furuhashi departed.

Lawwell noted in his chairman's statement: "Our commitment as always is to invest in continuous improvement in all areas of the club and, most importantly, in the first team squad. The success of our model has ensured that funding is available to acquire players who will contribute to ongoing success.

"We invested significantly in the summer transfer window and while we aimed to do more in the recent window, we go into the remainder of the season from a strong position and with confidence."

Lawwell did caution that the next set of figures might not be so impressive. "The club’s earnings profile and cash generation from trading is biased toward the first half of our financial year," he said, "and we naturally expect a seasonal downturn in earnings in the second half of the year.

Celtic chairman Peter Lawwell has warned that the next set of figures will not be as impressive. | SNS Group

"This reflects the fact that receipts from European competition are largely recognised in the first half of the year, whereas the second half does not benefit from this. In addition, strong player trading gains in August 2024 were not replicated in January 2025. This seasonal profiling is entirely within expectations and our planning assumptions. Our outturn earnings can also be materially impacted by football success and the year-end assessment of player registration carrying values.

"Taking all of this into consideration, we would expect our total outturn financial performance for the year ending 30 June 2025 to be significantly lower than the result posted for the first six months of the financial year."

Nevertheless, some Celtic fans will not tolerate a summer of prudence. With this season's Scottish champions facing a play-off to make the main phase of the Champions League, these figures show that Celtic have the resource to make a decent fist of continuing to dine at Europe's top table should they, as expected, win the Premiership this term.