Celtic Finances 2023/24

Living In Paradise

Celtic’s 2023/24 accounts cover a season that chief executive Michael Nicholson described as “successful on and off the field of play”.

The team won the Scottish Premiership and Scottish Cup double in manager Brendan Rodgers’ first season back at Celtic Park, while the women’s team won the club’s first ever SWPL title. This was the third consecutive year that Celtic had been crowned champions.

Celtic also qualified for the Champions League group stage for the second year in a row, though they were eliminated after finishing bottom of their group behind Atletico Madrid, Lazio and Feyenoord.

Profit/(Loss) 2023/24

Celtic’s financial results were indeed very good, as they posted a £17.8m pre-tax profit (£13.4m after tax). That said, this was down £22.9m from the previous year’s huge £40.7m profit, though in fairness that was a record for Scottish clubs.

This was mainly because 2022/23 included a couple of material once-off items, amounting to £13.5m, made up of a £10m business interruption insurance claim and £3.5m compensation received from Tottenham for Ange Postecoglou.

In addition, profit from player sales more than halved from £14.4m to £6.6m, though revenue rose £5m (4%) from £120m to £125m, which was a new record for the club (and indeed Scotland). However, operating expenses increased by £9m (8%) to £117m.

The main reason for Celtic’s revenue increase was more money from the Champions League, which resulted in broadcasting growing £5.2m (17%) from £31.2m to £36.4m. Commercial also grew £0.9m (2%) from £37.7m to £38.6m, thanks to stronger retail performance, but match day fell £1.4m (3%) from £51.0m to £49.6m.

The cost growth was driven by higher investment in the first team, which led to wages rising £4.7m (8%) from £60.9m to £65.6m, though player amortisation dropped £0.6m (5%) from £12.1m to £11.5m.

Other expenses increased £5.6m (18%) to £37.2m, due to the high inflationary environment, while net interest receivable increased from £0.6m to £3.3m, due to higher interest rates on bank deposits.