CELTIC HAS warned that much of Scottish football is now “edging the narrow line of solvency” because of the recent collapse of Setanta, which had the broadcasting rights for the Scottish Premier League (SPL).
John Reid, Celtic’s chairman, said the Glasgow club had always favoured signing up with British Sky Broadcasting last summer rather than the deal the SPL struck with Setanta.
“The recently agreed agreements with Sky/ESPN are significantly less than could have been the case had Sky’s offer been accepted last year, and are a hard lesson in what could and should have been a far more positive outcome for all of the SPL clubs.”
However, the Aim-listed club said it had managed to achieve “highly-creditable” results in the year to June. Revenue was down only marginally at £72.6 million and trading profits before asset transactions and exceptional expenses were up from £8.86 million to £11.2 million.
Pretax profits halved from £4.44 million to £2 million, mainly because the club’s gains on player trading dropped from £5.7 million to £1.55 million. Celtic’s investment in players increased from £5.11 million to £8.35 million, which it said reflected the club’s commitment to strengthening the team. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
