Do green seats mean green shoots for OF financial equilibrium?

[calscot 0]

Celtic attracted a paltry 41,000 through the turnstiles for a game against the current 3rd best team in the league - a team who are now only two points behind the east end mob. This figure can only get worse after a disastrous defeat which vastly lowers their hopes of wrestling back the title, and can only cause more despondency in the ranks – swelling the growing epidemic of empty green seats furter.

 

That compares with a little over 47,000 at Ibrox for the recent Hearts game - a match of similar stature. This is about 150 lower than average for the season; however, both club’s figures could be seasonally adjusted due to the perceived, traditional end of January financial gloom of the nation. The comparison between the clubs; however, still stands.

 

Their average has dropped to just over 51,000 in a 60,000 stadium giving an uptake of 85% with 68% of capacity at the game last night. That could be even lower when you consider their attendance stats are often a round thousand - which could suggest massaging of figures, not unheard of from a club which obsesses in perpetuating myths.

 

Rangers have about 92% uptake on capacity which is fairly reasonable and as mentioned by our chairman, is currently one of the best in the UK. It also could demonstrate that the number of seats at Ibrox is about right for the current climate and plans to increase the stadium size are quite rightly shelved for at least the medium term.

 

So Celtic are averaging about 4,000 more through the gate than Rangers, a gap which could lessen if Walter’s Winners tighten their grip on the SPL trophy, currently gleaming in the Ibrox trophy room.

 

That is about half what is has been in recent years and cuts the annual financial reward for building a cheaper, low quality but ultimately larger stadium, from about �£4M to about �£2M (at a guess).

 

Combine that with the difference in European money due to Rangers being the only Scottish representative in the Champions’ League while Celtic had to make do with the relative paucity of the Europa Cup, out of the League cup early on, and the Ã?£10M spending spree of Mowbray compared to SFA by his Govan based counterpart, and it seems that while Rangers are bravely weathering a financial storm, Celtic’s bank balance could be starting to take a bit of a battering.

 

This could be exacerbated next year if Rangers again become the sole Scottish representative in Europe’s premier competition, when you consider how difficult it is to qualify as a runner up in the league, with far more affluent English, Italian and Spanish teams barring the way.

 

It was expected by the Parkhead hoards that Celtic would start to flex some financial muscle while Rangers were reeling in a weakened state, and with a golden circle of success bringing income bringing success. They have brought in a new manager and thrown some money at him, but the return has been spectacularly poor, almost but not quite on the same scale of disaster as the ill fated, short lived, Le Guen era at Ibrox.

 

Who next takes the lead in the ups, downs and almost outs of the off the park money game, all depends on how a proposed take-over of Rangers pans out. The club will surely benefit and vastly strengthen from releasing the manacles of a hefty debt and perhaps a small cash injection and a fan-based share issue, but ultimately the board will have to find a way to live within its means. This may mean defocusing on European success, and the removing the reliance on Champions’ League money, a prize which will soon become as difficult to win as the jackpot from your average puggy machine.

 

For the largest two clubs to survive the financial barren financial future of post recession credit squeeze, post Setanta demise and during a time of incredible financial input into the bigger European leagues, they will both have to cut their cloth and concentrate on the more parochial goals of dominating the main three Scottish football competitions.

 

It’s an Old Firm tradition which has sated most of its fanatical and vociferous followers for over a hundred years, and will have to suffice for the near future, until greed and mismanagement of banking proportions, bursts the fragile bubble of the likes of the English Premier League.

 

The good news is that even with the profligacy of our long term owner putting us into a very difficult and constraining time, we could be competing on a reasonable level financial playing field – and with a much better team on the pitch.

Edited January 28, 2010 by calscot

[Frankie 8,182]

An excellent bit of writing which will shortly be on the main site and Newsnow etc...

 

Can't add nothing to it other than stressing again how important every SPL title has now become to our club.

[craig 5,199]

One thing to remember cal, and I am not trying to lambast your piece as it is a fine, well-balanced article, is that to compare their 41k last night to our 47k against Hearts is that there is more than likely the "mid-week effect" - crowds do tend to be lower in mid-week than at the weekend.

 

But a great, balanced piece

[Gazza_8 233]

What's Celtics average attendance for Saturday afternoon games compared to ours? No doubting it'll be higher as they have 60,000 capacity compared to our 50,000.

 

There's no question that results have a significant impact on attendances, it'll be the same wherever you go.

[26th of foot 5,849]

Another hugely important factor in ra Sellik's financial well being, is the concept of 'the Preferential Share'.

 

I believe these were sold in ra Sellik's third share issue. The amount raised paid Elmer Fudd(some of you may know him as Fergus McCann) �£39million to live the rest of his two dimentional life on a Caribbean Island. The heavy hitters gobbled up these shares, MON was paid part of his salary in them, Gary Mulgrew posted bail in Texas with them, and they are the currency of choice amid Glasgow's gangsters. The Preferential Share pays a Dividend.

 

Dr John's and Lawwell's constant refrain about, 'Fiscal Prudence" stems from the annual demand of these shares to weigh in their holders.

[calscot 0]

What's Celtics average attendance for Saturday afternoon games compared to ours? No doubting it'll be higher as they have 60,000 capacity compared to our 50,000.

 

There's no question that results have a significant impact on attendances, it'll be the same wherever you go.

 

That's true but in the last 10 years it's affected Celtic far more than us... Their standard deviation is far larger than ours - on a good year we get just under 49k and over 46k on a bad year. They vary from 51k to 58k.

[rbr 1,247]

I have to say the quality of some of the articles wriiten by members on here is really quite outstanding , a well deserved pat on the back me thinks , well done and keep it up .

[rbr 1,247]

Another hugely important factor in ra Sellik's financial well being, is the concept of 'the Preferential Share'.

 

I believe these were sold in ra Sellik's third share issue. The amount raised paid Elmer Fudd(some of you may know him as Fergus McCann) �£39million to live the rest of his two dimentional life on a Caribbean Island. The heavy hitters gobbled up these shares, MON was paid part of his salary in them, Gary Mulgrew posted bail in Texas with them, and they are the currency of choice amid Glasgow's gangsters. The Preferential Share pays a Dividend.

 

Dr John's and Lawwell's constant refrain about, 'Fiscal Prudence" stems from the annual demand of these shares to weigh in their holders.

 

 

Do these shares not also hold a guarenteed redemption figure as well , ie they can never be sold for less than the buying price . I am sure that was one of the great selling points when the likes of Martin O'Squeal and Eddie Jordan were buying them

[Frankie 8,182]

I have to say the quality of some of the articles wriiten by members on here is really quite outstanding , a well deserved pat on the back me thinks , well done and keep it up .

 

Yeah, I'd like to thank our writers for their continued good work as well actually.

 

It isn't easy to find the time to write originally about issues at the club and I know myself it is difficult to think of something that grabs my own attention never mind the people I want to read it. For those reasons, we'll never be churning out a huge amount of article content.

 

However, as always, quality beats quantity and I'd much rather read interesting articles like those we regularly on here by a range of authors, than some of the tat in the 'official' media. Same goes for the forum in a general sense - much better to have concise threads with various good contributions than hundreds of posts masking the real debate.

 

PS: If anyone fancies writing anything, give me a shout by pm and we can arrange access to our private writers room where you can share ideas, obtain feedback and watch Schoolmistress Bluedell give Latin lessons... :box:

 

I know there are plenty of members on here who can write well so get involved further if and when you can. No pressure for it to be a regular thing!

[Frankie 8,182]

And sorry for hijacking Cal's thread...