One all after fifty odd minutes. We have been unable to retain possession for long periods which could see us destroyed if we continue this on Tuesday. Fullbacks in particular have been real poor technically. McGeady just on for Maloney. Think he will change the game.
Bandage did you think Naka was a little sluggish in blocking their first goal. Also didn’t like the way he turned his back on the shot. Fair enough if it is a really powerful shot that you are ten yards away but not when your right in front of it. Would have like McGeady to have come on for Naka.
Didn’t see the first goal as my link to the game stopped working. Saw their second goal though. My link went again there and it’s just back and I missed our goal for 2-2. Ten minutes left.
Yyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssss.
you beauty. good stuff from mcgeady there again. well done jvoh not sure i would have fancied samaras to be in there to score.
They just flashed through the goals there at the end.
Was it McGeady who played the ball in for Skippy’s equaliser?
Superb play McGeady for the winner.
Incredible to think we got opened up so easily at 3-2 up in the 95th minute only for their lad to run straight through and slip the ball inches wide as Artur came out to meet him.
Our defence is really rubbish and our full backs are an unfunny joke.
[quote=“Bandage”]They just flashed through the goals there at the end.
Was it McGeady who played the ball in for Skippy’s equaliser?
Superb play McGeady for the winner.
Incredible to think we got opened up so easily at 3-2 up in the 95th minute only for their lad to run straight through and slip the ball inches wide as Artur came out to meet him.
Our defence is really rubbish and our full backs are an unfunny joke.[/quote]
Yeah it was McGeady who set up McDonald. He delivered for us today. Thing is while he won’t always put in great crosses he is much more of an attacking threat then anyone else we have and rarely has a quiet game like Maloney had today.
Agree with you on our fullbacks. Our play kept on breaking down with them where they failed to pick out a player. Thought Naka was poor and Loovens also who looked a little like a clone of McManus with his diving in. Boruc too looked sluggish.
Lads whats the story with Celtic and their inability to purchase decent players? Celtic have very high attendances and regular champions league money. Surely there must be some cash floating around to get buy relatively good players (as in champions league standard). Or is it just a case of crap tv money in Scotland compared to other European Leagues?
Yeah basically crap TV money. Even the TV money they get in the Champions League is very poor compared to other leagues. If Celtic were to win the Champions League this season they would get about the same amount of money from TV revenue as Liverpool would if they got knocked out in the group stages. Financially we are doing well with little or no debt and we look in much better overall financial shape then majority of EPL clubs in particular but this is probably as a consequence of not investing in the squad as much as we should have if we want to be realistic Champions League contenders.
Saw a lad walking around Finglas today with an Aberdeen jersey on. Do you think he was one of them on a wind up?
maybe he was from aberdeen?
Come on now we’ve all had a drink.
He could have been Wee Jock Poo Pong McPlop. I believe the public toilet cleaning industry is gone tits up over in Scotland. He probably came over here before the recession.
very good article about this very matter in the current edition of FourFourTwo padjo…
Is that FourFourTwo article online anywhere Puke?
padjo, I agree with larry’s points on your question about Celtic’s transfer policy. I thought we could have showed more ambition this summer just gone and signed an established centre back to strengthen our creaking defence but the club’s latest financial results were recently published and there’s simply not the funds available to splash out.
Here’s an article from CelticQuickNews about Celtic’s finances and it shows the importance of Champions League revenue in terms of ensuring the club delivers a profit every year. That said the Scottish chunk of CL revenue is smaller than other nations. Also, the SPL deal with Setanta pales in comparison to bigger leagues around Europe.
Under Peter Lawwell, Celtic no longer report losses every year and the debt level has been reduced from over Stg20m to roughly 3m. It’s simply not sustainable to run a club in the SPL any other way than how we are at present. The latest policy seems to involve signing young players for nominal fees who’ll hopefully provide good resale value in the Stan Petrov mould. I’m thinking of the likes of Crosas, Mizuno and Cervi and it’s something clubs in leagues like Holland and Portugal have tended to do.
Anyway, here’s the article:
http://www.celticquicknews.com/
Both income and expenditure for the year ending 30 June 2008 turned slightly against Celtic, squeezing operating profits, but it was still the club’s second profitable year in the last nine.
Turnover shaded from 75.237m the previous year to 72.953m while operating expenses rose from 59.283m to 64.095m. Operating profit, before items like the buying and selling of players, tax and interest was 8.858m, or 12% of turnover, which is still very healthy.
The club have changed the how income is reported and for the first time provide information on the gross profit (GP) earned from the three core income streams, football and stadium operations, merchandising and Multimedia.
Income from football and stadium operations (ticket, match day income and youth development) was 38.6m which fell short of the 50.2m spent on football and the stadium.
Interestingly, we got to see the answer to the big question two years ago when Rangers signed their merchandising deal with JJB Sports. Celtic earned 4.8m GP from merchandising sales in a year without the release of a new home strip. Figures are provided for last season, for comparison purposes, when the club earned 6.6m GP from merchandising.
We’ll compare this and other aspects of both club’s accounts next week.
With Champions League revenue for the second consecutive season, Multimedia and other commercial income earned 18.281m, up 81k from the previous year. This returned 15.637m GP, which is the most profitable business segment by a considerable margin and reinforces the importance of Champions League television income.
Salary costs at Celtic peaked at an eye-watering 40.5m in 2004 before falling 8% to 37.4m in 2005. Despite the addition of Boruc, Zurawski, Nakamura, Telfer and Camara (M), in season 2005-06, salary costs fell a further 13% to 32.5m as players like Lambert, Hedman, Juninho, Belamy McNamara, Laursen, Sylla, Fernandez and Camara (H) all departed in 2005.
That 32.5m from 2005-06 was lower than any salary figure Celtic have recorded since 2001. Since then payments have partly recovered to 36.4m in 2007 and 38.9m in 2008; for the first time higher under Gordon Strachan than they were in Martin O’Neill’s last season.
Investment in players during the financial year was 5.11m, which is near the trend figure charged to the profit and loss account as amortisation of 5.598m, however, this expenditure figure excludes the acquisition of Scott Brown and Scott McDonald, both of whom were signed pre-30 June 2007 in the previous year’s accounts.
Actual cash paid during the 12 month period for player acquisition was 12.254m, which may include much of the Scott Brown transfer fee.
Cost of finance was 1.063m, split almost evenly between bank interest of 519k and cumulative preference shares of 544k. Despite the healthy profit bank debt reduced only marginally from 4.99m to 3.52m, largely as a result of payments for players.
The majority of this year’s season tickets would have been sold before economic uncertainty reached excitable levels, so we can expect income for the current year to be no less than 70m. With another freeze on season ticket prices it is unlikely that income will reach the levels of season 2006-07 unless the club reaches the quarter finals of the Champions League or drops to the Uefa Cup after Christmas.
The rise in operating expenditure of nearly 5m is alarming and more than I expected. New contracts issued this year to Boruc, McDonald and McGeady, a full year with Samaras and Hinkle on the payroll, and with the addition of Loovens, Crosas and Maloney, salary costs are set to rise significantly again, despite the departure of Gravesen.
Celtic will not be immune to inflationary forces that are affecting the rest of the economy, a further rise in line with current inflation this season would add around 3m to operational expenditure, which would seriously squeeze the pre-tax profit figure of 4.453m.
Pressure remains to keep a check on expenditure and find new sources of income, while fulfilling football aspirations and not losing the unique spirit of the Celtic movement, objectives which will always conflict. The club must strive to find new ways to engage supporters in dialogue about the nature of this challenge at a time when commercial landmarks concern many.
Next week we will discuss our financial outlook compared to our principle domestic rivals and in particular the consequences of failing to earn Champions League income.
had a look and it isn’t on the FourFourTwo website and google doesn’t seem to be showing any matches for it…
'Tic Today
My ratings:
Boruc 4 - I used to model myself on him when playing in goal and replicate his mannerisms and stuff. Now it seems he’s copying me by getting pretty fat. Beaten through his legs with a drilled first and then from 30 yards with a freekick for the next. Sluggish in coming for crosses too.
Wilson 1.5 - Shocking, not average, or even poor, but absolutely awful. Chronically bad in possession, which is an issue given our wide midfield players play narrow and our overlapping full backs spend a lot of time on the ball. Can’t pick out a pass and shit crossing too.
Loovens 4 - Worrying enough display. Combative and won his headers but looked hesitant on the ground and was suspect positionally at times.
McManus 4 - One of his better displays this season where he was only mediocre rather being shit. Part of the defensive problem rather than being the solution in any way whatsoever.
Naylor 3.5 - Not as bad as Wilson but pretty rank.
Nakamura 5.5 - Decent enough in the first half but was fairly poor in the second. Was sloppy in possession on a few occasions, no more so than the silly giveaway in injury time from which they nearly scored.
Brown 5.5 - Energetic, covered the ground and hassled well but still showing no signs of controlling a midfield or dictating the tempo of the game. Assist for the first goal though.
Crosas 5 - Not a good home debut overall. Nice play at times but caught on the ball a few times and gave it away on occasion too. Has been impressive in his other starts and substitute appearances so far though so not paricularly concerned yet.
Maloney 4 - Very quiet and ineffective.
Hesselink 7.5 - Huge goal at the end, took the first well too and put in a good shift all game.
Samaras 7 - Played well. Some good touches, ran at them and had a good effort shortly after half time. His confidence is up and sometimes he tried to over complicate things with flicks and such like and he could have released the ball out wide earlier at times.
Subs:
McGeady - 2 assists. Wonderful for the winner. First sliding in and winning the tackle and then driving forward to deliver the cross for Jan. I’d like to see Aiden back in the first XI from now on.
McDonald - crucial header for the small, fat striker.
After all that I’ve no idea how idea we’ll line up in Villarreal on Tuesday night. But it’s clear that if we play, or more specifically defend, the way we did today we’ll go away in Europe and get defeated again.
Relied on text updates for the game yesterday which was very frustrating. While you can understand Celtic drawing 0-0 at home or losing the first goal, it’s hard to justify taking the lead and then going behind at home to Aberdeen. And criminally leaving a 1v1 chance for Mackie at 3-2 with 90 minutes on the clock.
Still a win was crucial and we’d have approached the Villareal game with a bit of trepidation had we lost at home yesterday.
The financial side of things is very frustrating. Simply feck all money available to Celtic and even things like rueducing the debt are crucial to our spending levels. While Man United or big (or even modest) EPL clubs can sustain themselves while operating with 100m of debt, we had 3m of debt last year and it cost us 1m in expenses. When that debt was 20m it was costing us 6m or so a year - far more than we earn in tv revenue. That 6m is unaffordable for Celtic but it’s a drop in the ocean for clubs with ridiculous tv money.