For the third part in my look back over the 2012-13 season I am going to scrutinize the finances. Having a healthy financial position is crucial to a club like Celtic with low income from TV, prize money and even gate receipts in the Scottish league.
For those of you who are not regular readers, I perform a retrospective at the end of each season looking back at;
- The players
- Myself/results
- Finances
- End of season summary (a brief look at all competitions)
Click on the links to view the first and second parts. For this article you may wish to refer to the previous seasons financial discussion.
Overall financial position
The new season has technically just started so looking at the “last season” column allows us to see our financial position from 2012-13.
Finances
The red box show an increase in the clubs balance over the last twelve months. The box at the bottom right puts this into cold, hard facts showing an overall profit of £6,994,313!
This is a great achievement and an improvement upon last season where we lost £1.1m. Moreover, all figures except Net Transfer Spend are in the black. I’m very happy about this.
Expenditure
Expediture
Overall the club spent just over £84m. It is approximately £10m more (or 13.2%) than last year. The biggest expenses were (approx figures);
- Player wages (£17.5m)
- Players bought (£15.1m)
- Tax (£12.6m)
- Ground maintenance (£11.1m)
- Match day expenses (£8.5m)
Of these I am in control over Player wages; Players bought and Tax. That these three are so high could be a cause for concern. I had to ask the board to purchase one player for me and I was overspent on wages all season. So I do think I could cut these back a little, if only to ensure the increase in expenditure ceases.
Income
Income
The income picture is fantastic this year. We made approximately £91m, an increase of nearly £18m (or 24.5%). This is why we made a profit this year. The main streams were;
- Gate receipts (£25.6m)
- Season tickets (£20.7m)
- Players sold (£11.9m)
- Prize money (£10.6m)
All of these are up on last year; however it is the increase in Prize money by £5.9m which counts for most of the £7m profit. I think it is obvious that Champions League participation, and getting a few points, made all the difference. It will also have had a knock on effect on gate receipts, season tickets and TV revenue, all of which are up this year.
It is also good to know that I’ve already secured a decent bit of money from Champions League TV Revenue for next season.
Champions League Money
Conclusion
It can be safely said that Champions League participation is a must for a club like Celtic to progress. The increased TV revenue and prize money alone allowed us to make a profit. Having said this, prudence is required in the transfer market as one big player purchase could turn a profit into a loss.
And why do I bother with this?
You might be wondering why I bother looking at the finances and consider limiting my purchasing. Well do you remember last season my initial transfer budget was just £4.19m with £325k wage budget? Well lets look at it now.
Initial Budget
The transfer budget has more than doubled! £10m might not seem like a lot but for a country which generates less TV revenue than one Championship club gets this is massive. I have no doubt that careful financial management has allowed this massive increase in budget. Furthermore I have been able to upgrade two aspects of my facilities.
Youth Facilities Work
The Youth Facilities are currently Excellent. Hopefully this will make them Top/State of the Art, whatever is next.
Junior Coaching Improvement
I don’t know when this takes effect because currently the Junior Coaching is “Good”.
All in all, I think this shows that good financial management can lead to a stronger performance on the park.
Thank you if you are reading a number of my posts today. There’s a lot to analyse and I can’t wait to learn more about my team so that I may improve it. You may also wish to read my post on Celticman/results from earlier today.
The future’s bright – the futures Green and White!
It is good to see that you are focusing on finances, it is something I always try to keep an eye on but I do fail. It is good to see you are handling them well though
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Thanks again. I learned in FM 2011 that I can only progress by managing my finances. There were times in FM 2011 when I spent a lot in pursuit of success but had to ensure tiny transfer budgets the following season. This was I end up bringing in a lot more money so the end justifies the means.
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I am impressed with your financial management. I didn’t pay much attention to it, spending all money to transfers and making upgrades of facilities impossible.
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There are different approaches which are appropriate for different situations. As you are managing an English Premier League club, you have the security of large TV Revenue and prize money. In the Scottish Premier League there is very little money, to the extent that most SPL clubs need to sell their best players just to stay in business. In the next few months both Rangers and Hearts could go out of business, and if they do, more will follow.
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