According to reports in Australia, Celtic are interested in purchasing an ownership stake in an A-League football team in the near future.

While any sort of bid appears to be in its infancy, two clubs - Central Coast Mariners and Brisbane Roar - have already been slated as potential targets for Celtic.

Comparisons with Manchester City have been made but the situations are very different.

Central Coast Mariners celebrate Felix Asdruval's goal against Newcastle Jets at the Central Coast Stadium in October. Picture: Getty Images

How are they different?

Manchester City is run as a subsidiary of the City Football Group (CFG), a holding company jointly established by the Abu Dhabi United Group and China Media Capital/CITIC Capital to look after a network of linked clubs including City, New York City FC, Melbourne City FC and more.

CFG’s primary aim is to own a club on every continent with the identifier ‘City’ in its name. Celtic’s interest in buying a stake in an A-League team is markedly less grandiose - we’re unlikely to see the Celtic Coast Mariners, playing in green and white hoops at the Parkhead Arena competing in the A-League any time soon, for example.

So why Australia?

For Celtic, there are three main avenues to explore in Australia: business and investment opportunities, player development and brand exposure.

The acquisition of Tom Rogic from Central Coast Mariners in 2013 led to an informal link with the Gosford-based side, and Rogic became the third Australian player to line out for Celtic after Mark Viduka and Scott McDonald.

Both Viduka and McDonald moved to England after spending time at Celtic, and while there’s no suggestion Rogic will do likewise, one of Celtic’s biggest bargaining chips in any potential deal is exposure to the big five European leagues and regular football in the Champions League and Europa League.

On top of that the A-League is becoming more visible in Europe as a result of a deal with BT Sport.

Rogic’s standing as an Australia international and his appearances on the European stage have led to an increased interest in Celtic within his homeland, and targeting a country with a population around five times greater than that of Scotland is a shrewd move by Celtic given the number of ex-pats there and the fact that ‘soccer’ is growing in popularity down under - even if it still lags behind Australian rules football and Rugby League.

What’s in it for Celtic?

Celtic have little scope to grow their business ventures in Scotland.

Scotland’s TV deal is unlikely to grow significantly and as we’ve seen, sponsorship for the Scottish Premiership has proven to be a tough sell.

Celtic’s focus is on dominating on the domestic front and being able to at least compete on the European stage. Recent matches against Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich have highlighted the financial gulf between Celtic and leading European clubs. As a result, Celtic are keen to boost their income in any way they can.

In terms of players, Celtic will likely get first refusal on any promising youngsters, or there could be an arrangement similar to the deal between Watford, Udinese and Granada, with players flitting between the three clubs for more experience and gametime.

Isn’t there a row in Australia over TV money?

Yes. Australian’s national football federation - the FFA - is under fire from member clubs over the allocation of TV money.

Clubs in Australia feel that TV money from Fox is not being shared adequately with the clubs making up the bulk of the deal.

In December 2016, the network struck a AUS$346m broadcast deal with the A-League which would see Fox Sports screen every A-League game live until 2023.

While that seems a lot, it is dwarfed by the broadcast deals enjoyed by the Australian Football League (AUS$417m a year) and the National Rugby League (AUS$360m a year). The A-League deal works out at around AUS$57.6 million a year.

But now, less than a year on, there are still rumblings of discontent among the A-League clubs. To cut a long and drawn out story short, the A-League dishes out around a sum to each clubs corresponding to the league’s salary cap. During the 2016/17 season, this was set at AUS$2.6 million. But after the new TV deal was agreed, this sum was expected to rise to at least AUS$2.92 million for the 2017/18 season. But the clubs wanted a larger slice of the money on offer.

On top of this, the FFA is currently embroiled in a constitutional crisis of sorts over voting membership and representation on its governing board.

How does all this affect Celtic?

It doesn’t, directly. But Celtic will likely wait until the FFA have got their house in order and the dispute between the federation and the teams is resolved before approaching Central Coast Mariners with any sort of offer. And it seems likely that it will be the Mariners despite rumours that Brisbane Roar are in Celtic’s sights as well.

Why do Celtic want to buy a stake in an Australian football club?