Football Finances: Rangers v Celtic

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the two big Glasgow teams about mixed

fortunes on and off the pitch in recent

years then both have just announced

their financial results for 2018-19 this

season Celtic won the domestic treble

and Rangers were runners-up in the

Scottish Premiership so how do their

finances compare clubs generate income

from three sources matchday broadcasting

and commercial compared to the rest of

Scottish football where many clubs are

so small they're not legally obliged to

show income and expenses in their

accounts Celtic and Rangers dominate as

expected both fans have committed fan

bases and this is reflected in ticket

sales with Celtic averaging nearly

58,000 every match at home last season

and Rangers well over 49,000 matchday

revenue is effectively the number of

tickets sold per match times average

ticket price times number of home

matches played with both clubs close to

selling out every match and fans

resistant to significant ticket price

increases growth is linked to maximizing

the number of matches played Rangers

increase in 2018-19 for instance was due

to reaching the group stage of the

Europa League where Celtic reached the

last 32 of that competition the two

clubs are of course significantly ahead

of hearts who have the third highest

matchday income in the Scottish

Premiership with just over 5 million

pounds such as the level of support from

fans that the club's would be behind

only the Premier League's big six clubs

within a table of Premier League match

the income broadcast income is a

combination of sums earned from domestic

and UEFA competitions both clubs benefit

and suffer from the complex distribution

methods used to reward clubs by UEFA

because BT sport pay the largest sum for

champions and Europa League rights in

Europe Scottish and English clubs

benefit from this being distributed via

what is known as the market poll

Scotland's relatively low UEFA

coefficient which measures historical

success by national teams in Europe

means that their share of this pot is

far lower than that of England Germany

Italy Spain and France

the Celtics broadcast income was higher

than that of Rangers because they made

more progress in the domestic cups and

in Europe Celtic also had more money

from yet another of UEFA spots of cash

which is linked to overall performance

over the last decade in Europe with

Rangers being in the lower leagues of

Scottish football for some of this time

and not qualifying for Europe they

earned far less money from this source

in the gap between Celtic and Rangers

compared to the Premier League is well

known what is perhaps more alarming for

fans of both clubs is that they are also

behind many teams in the English

Championship - who are earning parachute

payments that actually exceed the sums

earned by European participation

commercial income is a combination of

sponsorship advertising kit

manufacturing merchandise and

hospitality Celtic again have had an

advantage here over the years Rangers

had a significant increase in 2018-19

due to the Steven Gerrard effect as

sponsors proved willing to pay more to

be associated with such a high-profile

individual retail sales increased

substantially aprox last season but are

still not maximizing their potential due

to an ongoing legal dispute with other

parties including Mike Ashley the

Newcastle owner which has restricted

sales and led to some fans boycotting

products now the combination of all of

the above has resulted in Celtic

generating revenue over a quarter of a

billion pounds more than Rangers over

the last six years while the gap last

year was the narrowest for some time

Celtic still had a 30 million pound

advantage over Rangers and that's before

considering player sales Celtic also had

other income of 8.8 million pounds as

compensation from Leicester City for

head hunting Brendan Rodgers and his

backroom team partway through the season

the main costs for clubs are in respect

of players in the form of wages and

transfer fee amortisation the two big

glasgow clubs have wage bills far in

excess of other scottish clubs and

celtics higher income allows them to pay

higher wages than their rivals the wage

bills of both clubs who are travelling

in different directions last season

though Celtics total fell by 5% with

ranges rising by over a third that's the

cost of employing Steven Gerrard plus

the players he recruited for the club

resulted in wages increasing by 10

million pounds transfer fee amortisation

is the cost of acquiring a player's

registration spread over the length of

the contract

so when Rangers signed Connor Goldson

from Premier League team brighton for an

estimated 1.5 million pounds on a

four-year deal this results in the

normalization cost of 375 thousand

pounds a year for four years celtic have

a far bigger amortization charge in

recent years partly due to winning nine

Premiership titles in a row the income

that such success brings domestically

and in European competition has then

been invested in player signings ranges

spending has increased noticeably since

they returned to the top division and

this is shown by the rise in their

amortization charge in addition both

Rangers and Celtic reported impairment

costs of 1.6 million pounds and 2

million pounds respectively

in relation to players signed who's poor

performances meant their values were

reduced in the balance sheet rangers

other costs increased by 70% to over 21

million pounds part of this is due to

extra stewarding and policing required

at Europa League matches i Brock's

but also an alarming 3.6 million pound

increase in legal costs as rangers

disputes with Sports Direct rumbled on

in recent years Celtic have made profits

selling one or two high-profile players

each year and 2018-19 was no exception

as mousa dembélé was sold to Leone for

about 20 million pounds

having cost the club a fraction of that

sum from Fulham the sale of Kieran

Tierney took place after the accounting

year had ended and that will contribute

25 million pounds to next year's figures

Rangers by contrast have not been able

to sell players for such large sums

although the prolific alfredo Morelos is

likely to command

the high price should he leave the club

in the next year or so under Stephen

Jared last season rangers outspent

celtic for the first time in many years

in terms of player signings as the club

tried to narrow the performance gap the

profits are total income less costs

Celtics profits fell significantly in

2018-19

but were still substantially ahead of

Rangers performance if a club is losing

money then the only way to survive is to

sell off assets or have investment from

lenders or shareholders Rangers

generated 2 million pounds from share

issues and 8 million pounds from loans

in 2018 19 to plug the gap from the

day-to-day losses where our Celtic

needed no such funding

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