Player trading, Europe & stability – how Celtic have built domination

As preparations were being finalised in the UK capital for the London Olympics, 430 miles north, Celtic were celebrating their first league title in four years.

The year was 2012 in Ayrshire on a sunny, but cold day. Neil Lennon’s side had just thumped Kilmarnock 6-0 at Rugby Park.

Rangers, a city rival, were battling to stay afloat as the Parkhead side celebrated after going into administration two months prior.

In turbulent waters, the tide was turning in Scottish football, but few could have predicted it would lead to a period of single-club dominance unprecedented in the Scottish game.

Some contend that Celtics were already in position a long time ago. The evidence is strong, especially off the field, but on the pitch, the run that led them to 13 league titles in 14 seasons as well as eight Scottish Cups and eight League Cups, started that afternoon in Ayrshire.

The evidence of Celtic’s ruth against their rivals would be obvious and simple to find. After all, it has been a full 40 years since Aberdeen became the last club outside the Glasgow giants to take Scottish football’s biggest prize.

There are very basic ingredients to success in football. Find the ideal manager to lead the right team, and achievements should come in handy. Of course, a good business model underpins all of that – more on that later.

On the pitch and in the dugout, consistency is important. In the 13 seasons that have come and gone since that win at Rugby Park, Celtic have been managed by just four men.

Management stability in the Celtic success story cannot go unnoticed or ignored despite the fact that Neil Lennon and Brendan Rodgers have served two different terms.

In Rodgers and Ange Postecoglou, the club has also employed managers whose success in Glasgow has led to Premier League callings.

Only Ronny Deila out of the four had a win rate of less than 70%. Perhaps not surprising at a club like Celtic, but remember, during the current period of domination, Celtic have won the domestic treble on five occasions. Yes, you can win, but you must also succeed consistently and convincingly.

As seasoned football pundit and former Scotland winger Pat Nevin suggested: “They’ve chosen good managers.

Celtic’s recent dominance on the pitch has been mirrored by their financial results from the boardroom. One doesn’t just follow the other, as one does in football, but it helps.

They have avoided racking up huge debts to secure their silverware. It was achieved through prudent financial management and a business strategy that focused on player participation in European competition and player trading. Both have contributed hugely to Celtic’s success.

On paper, player trading success appears straightforward: profit more from selling than buying while maintaining the same level of success. It’s an equation with so many variables, that few clubs crack the code.

Around 2004 Celtic changed their approach to player trading. Their basic principle was to prioritise the signing of young players under the age of 24. Since the 2011-2012 season, Celtic have invested about £213 million in players and made about £260 million in players, according to the football statistics website Transfermarkt.

In only four of those seasons has the club spent more on players than it made selling. The sale of Kieran Tierney to Arsenal for £23 million, Matt O’Riley to Brighton & Hove Albion for around £25 million, Jota to Al-Ittihad for around £25 million, and to Arsenal for around £25 million is one of the success stories.

Selling big players and re-investing sensibly until the next one comes along has been the key. Compare the performance of Glasgow to Manchester City, who made a profit in player trading in just one of those seasons and suffered a loss overall on player sales of more than £1 billion.

And they’ve made the most money in the Champions League. In the 14 seasons in question, Celtic have qualified for the competition’s group stage or league phase seven times.

Celtic made more than £30 million from participation alone this year, excluding ticket sales and lodging. Compare that to the £4.5m the club picked up for winning the league and you can understand why they see Champions League qualification as crucial to long-term growth.

Giorgio Marchetti, Uefa’s deputy general secretary, pulls the balls from pots on Champions League draw day. He knows how crucial participation is for clubs like Celtic these days – but not just for the bottom line.

Every club should participate in the Champions League and other Uefa competitions, he said.

” The European stage offers clubs, their coaches, their players, development opportunities, exposure, status and it boosts the excitement and enthusiasm of the fan base. “

Additionally, it gives you greater influence and sponsorship prospects in powerful areas. Celtic’s former chief executive and now club chairman, Peter Lawwell, has been a key figure on the European Club Association board for many years.

Participation is one thing, of course, but it’s not a secret that Celtic have historically struggled at the top. What the club has been clever to market is the atmosphere at Celtic Park on European nights.

Marchetti remarked that Celtic is a historic European club with a sizable and devoted fan base.

In truth, successful player trading and increased participation in the Champions League have fundamentally contributed to Celtic becoming financially untouchable in Scottish football in recent years.

The club has turned into a well-oiled machine, producing both profits for shareholders and trophies for their fans. In only two of the past 14 seasons have Celtic posted a loss – and one of those was during a global pandemic.

Compare that to Rangers, who last made post-tax profits in the 2012/13 season. The Parkhead club’s latest figures showed a turnover of £124.5m, more than £40m above their closest rivals and a whopping £108m more than third-placed Hibernian.

During Celtic’s decades of dominance in football, they have generated a combined profit of £112 million. In stark contrast, Rangers posted a combined loss of £132m.

Kieran McGuire, a price-of-football.com expert on football finance, believes that many people will be envious of their stats and business model.

” If you contrast it to clubs in England, in season 2023-24, 19 of the 20 clubs lost money, “Maguire said.

West Ham, who has a stadium that the local taxpayers subvention, is the only club to have made money.

“They have had relatively modest wage bills, certainly in comparison to south of the border, but the wages compared to the rest of Scottish football are normally in the region of 10 times the likes of St Mirren, Ross County and St Johnstone – and probably four times that of Hibs, Hearts and Aberdeen”.

Despite this, Celtic fans have long demanded more money from the profits, which Maguire can understand to some extent.

That caution has led to stability. What impact can uncertainty have on global business in recent weeks and months? Business craves stability, not only in the marketplace but in the boardroom. Football is the same as football.

Since 1999, Celtic have been essentially controlled by just one man, Irish businessman Dermot Desmond. Ross County is the only current Scottish Premiership club that hasn’t changed ownership since Desmond took control of the east end of Glasgow.

The majority of the league’s other clubs have changed hands twice in the same period. Stability in the boardroom cannot be underestimated in the world of Scottish football, not just for the bottom line but for influence and muscle it can afford clubs on the boards of the various governing bodies.

Geoff Brown was chairman of St Johnstone from 1986-2011. He claimed that “football boardrooms have drastically changed.”

With Celtic disappearing over the horizon, what is left in the rear view mirror?

There is little evidence that their continued dominance has had a positive impact on the Scottish game in general, aside from providing a successful model for others to follow and European solidarity payments made to other clubs.

In fact, Maguire believes it may even be harmful to the Scottish football brand.

He claimed that this makes it even more challenging to sell the product globally.

“What fans like is uncertainty and jeopardy and Celtic have been so successful, that if you know the Scottish Premiership is going to be effectively sewn up by January or February, then why bother to turn on the television?

Who knows what Scottish football would have looked like if Rangers hadn’t collapsed in 2012, but the Celtic way of operating a business model that was built on stability and prudence suggests they had a strong case for supremacy in any case.

The one thing footballing history has taught us, though, is that dominance usually comes to an end at some point. Rangers must undoubtedly find their feet on and off the pitch in order for this to occur in Scotland.

With takeover talks ongoing at Ibrox, fans are optimistic that Celtic’s dominance could soon be properly challenged by fresh investment from the United States.

The new owners should be aware of the challenges they face in order to bring Rangers back to the top of Scottish football, but the club must be taken over. For the pendulum to swing properly, Rangers must start being successful in areas where their rivals have been untouchable.

The construction of solid foundations must replace quick fixes. With the proper funding, they must find managers who can deliver domestic success that leads to Champions League participation, use the cash from Europe wisely and develop an enviable player trading model, all underpinned by long-term boardroom stability.