It doesn’t compare with what English teams swallow up financially, even though Celtic are far bigger than most Premier League sides.
But one common denominator that all the top European teams have is that the Champions League is where the money is, and it’s where everyone wants to be.
Thankfully, for Scotland’s most successful club, it has been the norm for Celtic to play in Europe’s elite competition on a regular basis because of the pure dominance on the domestic stage.
Rangers have tried everything they could to overthrow Celtic from their rightful position, including appointing Russell Martin as their next manager.
When discussing that theme of another change in Glasgow, Simon Jordan, and financial expert Kieran Maguire, were discussing what this means for Scottish football on the business side of things.
Simon Jordan expresses surprise at the financial difference between Celtic and Rangers
Yes, with Celtic working their genius in the transfer market, they are outdoing their rivals off the pitch, as well as the constant Champions League money coming in.
But there seems to be this myth that Rangers don’t put their hands in their pockets. That was shut down by finance expert, Maguire, on talkSPORT.
Some of the financial information Maguire was sharing even surprised former Crystal Palace owner Jordan.
Maguire told Jordan: “Celtic have got £77 million in the bank, so £20 million compared to that is relatively minor.
“In terms of the wage bill, they are pretty much neck and neck. In terms of the investment in the squad, they are very similar. Where Celtic have got a huge advantage is that, through qualifying for the Champions League on a regular basis, last year, their revenue was £35-40 million higher than that of Rangers.”
Jordan responded: “Can I just sense check something you said, about the wage bill of the two clubs. You have got Celtic with a turnover of £30-40 million bigger than Rangers.
“Yet Rangers have got a wage bill that is similar to Celtic, is that because Celtic are doing their numbers very well, and working very hard at making sure their player wages are at a certain level.
“Or is it because Rangers are very poor at what they are doing?”
https://www.youtube.com/live/HWngJpFc4is?si=2nuTjmoWsaX3Ngpd
Rangers are losing ‘300k’ weekly, as Celtic are making ‘over £300k’ weekly
Celtic won the double during the recently concluded season, despite losing star man Matt O’Riley last summer, and then main striker, Kyogo Furuhashi in January.
Meanwhile, Rangers booted out Philippe Clement and watched another trophyless season drift by, on top of losing a serious amount of money per week.
Maguire responded: “You are right to highlight that. Rangers lost over £300k a week last season, and Celtic made over £300k a week.
“There were two different strategies. I think Rangers, to a certain extent, have had a habit of going all in, in terms of player recruitment, because they want to be at an even position compared to Celtic.
“And, in order to do that, you have to recruit a significant amount of players on decent wages. It’s exactly the same when you look at the squad costs. Celtic’s was 47, Rangers was 48.
“Therefore, Rangers have backed managers historically. But it’s not worked.”
