CASH BUFFERS AND CRASHED HOPES: CELTIC'S FAILURE TO BUILD FROM STRENGTH
- By LIAM McBRIDE
- Aug 31
- 6 min read
In the Opinion of ACSOM's Liam McBride, Celtic have only themselves to blame both on and off the park for their embarrassing exit to Kazakhstan's Kairat Almaty.
Cast your mind back a matter of mere months to the Allianz Arena. The famous blue-tinted flood lights shone for Celtic’s first Champions League knockout tie in twelve years.
A tenacious piece of Daizen Maeda pressing unnerved a Bayern Munich side who would soon dispatch Bayern Leverkusen 5-0 over two legs and fall 4-3 to eventual runners-up Inter Milan. The 27-year-old regained possession and poked a pass through for Nicolas Kuhn to slot home.
For large periods of the game, Celtic challenged the German giants. They were astute in their 4-4-2 out of possession set-up, frustrating a stubborn Kompany side, insisting on walking the ball into the net at all costs. On the break, they had the speed of Maeda and Kuhn, plus the finesse of Jota.
Celtic Momentum Builds...
Let’s go further back, to a 3-1 victory over Leipzig, arguably the game that earned Kuhn his £16 million move, which we will later discuss. There was a buzz in the stadium as the new Green and white superstar wrestled the tie back against a team that was sitting second in the Bundesliga. In a wonderful second half, Reo Hatate and Paulo Bernardo pulled the strings in midfield while Alex Valle provided so much in-possession class in the left-back area.
As a Celtic fan, there was a real sense that we were building something. The sole purpose of Brendan Rodgers' return was to make us competitive on the European stage. After a nearly campaign of promising performances the previous season, our team was finally competing at the elite level.
A chance to strengthen. A chance to excel. A chance to build something.
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It’s the Summer of 2022. Celtic are beginning their second season under Ange Postecoglou and are on course for another treble. There is strength and depth everywhere you look.
After losing Tom Rogic, they swiftly brought in Aaron Mooy as a replacement to accompany Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate, Matt O’Riley and David Turnbull. Tomoki Iwata will also join later in the season.
In defence, Cameron Carter-Vickers has Carl Starfelt as a pacey partner, while the soon-to-leave Josip Juranovic is aptly replaced by Canadian international Alistair Johnson.
Kyogo is leading the line, scoring for fun, with Georgious Giakoumakis providing backup. Jota, Maeda, Abada, Haksabanovic, Forrest and Johnston are all options out wide.
A chance to strengthen. A chance to excel. A chance to build something.
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The Invincible season has just concluded. With Scott Sinclair, Moussa Dembele and a prime James Forrest up front, the future seems bright. Patrick Roberts will also re-join on loan in a month alongside French Under-21 international Odsounne Edouard. Johnny Hayes is brought in from Aberdeen to add more depth and pace.
Olivier Ntcham has recently signed for £4 million to add quality to a midfield already including Tom Rogic, Stuart Armstrong and Callum McGregor. Ryan Christie will head out on loan to Aberdeen, where he will excel before breaking into the starting XI the following season.
There’s a real feeling that the team that got two draws in two games against Pep Guardiola’s Man City is a quality right back and centre back away from being good enough to hold their own in the Champions League. Not for the trophy, of course, but to be able to compete against most and pick up some victories along the way.
A chance to strengthen. A chance to excel. A chance to build something. Celtic Failed on All Fronts
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In recent years, Celtic have had three genuine opportunities to build from a position of strength. Three sets of players that were just a few steps away from redefining what is possible in the green and white hoops, and on all three occasions, it’s followed by regression.
Not to say that wouldn’t have happened anyway. Football is a sport of cycles and ups and downs, very few teams stay at the top, and it’s usually those at the top of the financial food chain who do.
Yet can you say hand on heart that we have given ourselves the best chance? Has the board tried their best to maximise the product on the pitch?
Let me tell you something else. In a period stretching back to the Summer of 2018, when Celtic were famously knocked out of Champions League qualifying by AEK Athens, four more qualifying campaigns have come and gone. For that matter, no successful ones.
We are a club that prides itself in being a “Champions League Club”, Michael Nicholson famously said:
“The strategy has always been clear, and that's to be a world class football club in whatever we do.”
I ask you this: would a world-class club fall at the hands of Cluj, Ferencváros, Midtjylland and Kairat Almaty?
The pattern is clear; they all have something in common, on the transfer front anyway.
In an exit to Cluj, Neil Lennon didn’t trust newly signed Boli Bolingoli or Christopher Jullien enough to start them; instead, Callum McGregor famously filled in at left-back.
In a 2-1 home defeat to Ferencvaros, Odsonne Edouard was absent, with Leigh Griffiths still unfit. Only recently signed Albian Ajeti started on the bench, with Patryk Klimala as an unused substitute. Ryan Christie played as a sole striker that night. James Forrest and Mohammed Elyounoussi were the only wingers in the squad that night.
Sound familiar at all?
Celtic know when they will be playing qualifiers. They are hardly being rushed into deals. They have plenty of time. This isn’t just basic incompetence; it’s a lack of care. If something happens once: fair enough. If it happens twice, it's possibly a coincidence. On the fifth time calling, there is no defending.
Let’s take a look at Peter Lawwell’s comments at the 2023 Annual Report:
“It is important to highlight that, given the increasing gap between the sums able to be earned between the Champions League and the Europa League, it is vital that we retain a cash buffer in reserve.
History tells us that we will not always qualify for the Champions League and the benefit of holding cash reserves affords us the optionality of managing through seasons where we participate in the Europa League with the ability to retain our squad as opposed to selling key players to bridge the income shortfall between both competitions.”
The cash buffer attitude has been clear this Summer, with just £8million spent compared to the £20 million amassed, and £5 million of that spent was too late.
The financial reports published for the Year Ending 2024 showed a pre-tax profit of £43.9 million and a cash reserve of £65.4 million. Since then, Celtic have racked up another £17 million in transfer profits, meanwhile a Champions League tie against Bayern Munich brought in over £2 million in ticket revenue alone.
Is a “cash buffer” really necessary?
Nobody is asking Celtic to mismanage themselves and spend the full £65 million, but a little bit of investment wouldn’t go a miss.
Or at the very least, replacing lost quality.
Kyogo joined Rennes eight months ago. He informed Celtic of his desire to leave even earlier, in the 2024 Summer window, to be exact. Brendan Rodgers insists that despite the signing of Shin Yamada and Callum Osmand, Celtic have still to replace him.
When Kyogo left, Celtic lost pace and intensity. His straight swap transfer, Jota, would pick up an injury a few months later, keeping him out till 2026.
The Celtic frontline had lost more quality. The hierarchy should already have been working on a Kyogo replacement.
So, when Como came calling for Nicolas Kuhn, Celtic should only have let him go on the condition that a quality replacement was lined up.
It’s really not too much to ask of Celtic, It’s how responsible clubs act
It’s what we did in the brief period when Peter Lawell wasn’t at the club. Johnson quickly replaced Juranovic, Oh was quickly replaced Giakoumakis and O’Riley was brought in six months previous to Tom Rogic's retirement.
To be heading into a Champions League qualifier, with three fit first team wingers is unforgivable. Even more so, when Rodgers has such little faith in the striking options, that he feels the need to move the best winger at the club into a central area to facilitate the lack of quality.
Michel Ange-Balikswisha arrives in time for the Glasgow Derby, although it is simply too late, a season in the Europa League awaits.
There is many spins on this. In the aftermath of an Almaty embarrassment, there is little space for positive thinking. However, while the prospect of a Thursday night schedule doesn’t immediately get juices flowing, it could be an exciting prospect.
Celtic’s opponents:
Roma(H), Braga (H), Sturm Graz(H), Utrech(H),
Feyenoord(A), Crvena Zvezda (A), Midtjyland (A), Bologna (A)
Should Celtic strengthen their attacking options in the coming days , there is no reason to be pessimistic. To get through through to at least the Top 24 stage, around 9 points should suffice. That should be more than manageable.
Come February, Jota and Alistair Johnson will be returning to action and all of a sudden the picture could look really different.
Nevertheless, with the context of last season’s progress. It’s rather sad it’s came to this.
