Numbers Never Lie – The Story Behind Celtic plc Interim Report

The sheer stupidity of the way Celtic has been managed since running Bayern Munich ever so close in the Champions League play-off round almost a year ago was exposed yesterday evening when Celtic PLC dropped their Interim Report for the six months to 31 December, 2025…

The Celtic Board. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Numbers don’t lie and in this instance they tell a sorry story of blunders, poor decision making, arrogance mixed with bitterness and intransigence that has not only cost Celtic off the park but also on it with a Cup Final lost as a direct result of decisions taken by the boardroom to appoint Wilfried Nancy as our manager.

Yet the financial cost of that disastrous appointment will not be seen until the second half of the financial year when the numbers are going to be even worse.

Nicolas Kuhn scores during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Knockout Play-off second leg match between FC Bayern München and Celtic FC at Allianz Arena on February 18, 2025 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

After Munich a reasonable person might have assumed that the cash rich club might have backed the manager Brendan Rodgers who had a stated ambition of leading Celtic back to a place where we could compete in Europe once again and even his harshest critics (the Lawwellites) couldn’t deny he had achieved that last season.

Yet they wanted to focus on his transfer dealing the previous summer, signing Engels, Idah and Trusty and in doing so ‘wasting’ over £25m. Yet Idah’s goals were crucial in getting us into the Champions League last season while on loan from Norwich where he was available for only £3m at that time. Celtic didn’t get an option in that deal.

Adam Idah scores the winner for Celtic in the 2024 Scottish Cup Final against theRangers at Hampden. Photo Vagelis Georgariou for The Celtic Star

Idah incidentally alongside Nicolas Kuhn were Celtic’s top scores in that Champions League campaign, with Idah also forcing the own goal that earned us our spot in the play-off round.

Arne Engels of Celtic has a shot on goal. Celtic v Livingston, Scottish Premiership, 11 Feb rural 2026. Photo Mark Runnacles IMAGO Shutterstock

Then there’s our record signing Arne Engels, a young player with bags of potential but needing to be developed. His critics were there from the start, the price paid was nothing to do with him but was continually used against him. Yet he too contributed. Just a few weeks ago Celtic turned down THREE bids from Nottingham Forest, the last one reaching £25m, for the Belgian midfielder, thus blowing the waste of money argument out of the water.

Idah had gone by then, tapped up by one of our own Darren O’Dea and glad to get away from the ‘hate’ he had to face at Celtic, mostly due to the stream caused by the transfer fee paid to Norwich City who (fair play to them) exploited Idah’s outstanding contribution to Celtic in his loan spell to help with the league and Scottish Cup double, scoring a 90th minute winner against theRangers in the final.

Auston Trusty of Celtic celebrates scoring his team’s fourth goal during the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD8 match between Celtic FC and FC Utrecht at Celtic Park on January 29, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

And Trusty too continually was targeted by the haters. Yet he has more than earned a little more appreciation and certainly has not lost his transfer valuation should he move on.

This of course is in shape contrast to the £25m wasted in the previous window when Mark Lawwell was allowed to play football manager and Rodgers was left to work with the signings. He should have appreciated though that the signing decisions taken by Peter Lawwell’s son would get worse as he entered his third of three seasons (giving a 200% guarantee that he’d see it out) when Paul Tisdale ‘club’ signings started to arrive.

Chris McKay and Paul Tisdale, Motherwell v Celtic, Scottish Premiership. 30 December 2025 Photo by Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Where was the Kyogo replacement? If Nicolas Kuhn is being sold let’s bring in a quality winger to replace him? Where is the building on Munich strategy for further progress in the Champions League?

Having attended many of the media conferences with Brendan at the start of this season, including the one where the questions focused on the transfer window and were the ‘club signings’ phrase was used, I can clearly recall that Rodgers wasn’t posting fingers at anyone but simply expressed his view as the Celtic manager in what was needed. A striker for a start.

Celtic and Kairat Almaty line ups Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 August 2025. Photo Anikita Bassov Shutterstock

The Champions League exit after two goalless draws against Kairat Almaty, who went on to take just one point in the Champions League group stages (one more than I predicted on The Celtic Star), was the biggest cause of the astonishingly bad financial numbers.

The summer transfer window showed that the club was ill equipped to operate in the market properly and with a toxic regard for Rodgers from his enemies in the boardroom it was always going to end badly.

Peter Lawwell, Michael Nicholson and Christopher McKay watch on as Celtic draw 0-0 with Kairat at Celtic Park in the UEFA Champions League play-off match, worth over £40m to the winners.

Paul Tisdale, the so-called football doctor, was given a free ride as there was little focus on him. Michael Nicholson, like Mark Lawwell an inside the tent promotion from company secretary days was clearly not a frontman like his mentor and struggled badly in dealing with the cut and thrust of transfer dealings, mostly because he had no real authority and had to report back to the largest shareholder Dermot Desmond. Clubs like Go Ahead Eagles mocked us openly.

Rodgers was still getting us results domestically and collected four points from three games in the Europa League starting the job that Martin O’Neill would eventually finish.

Brendan Rodgers talks to the media after the match. Hearts v Celtic, 26 October 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Losses to Dundee after a European match and then Hearts brought matters to a head as Rodgers made a silly error by introducing the Honda Civic reference which his enemies latched onto gleefully.

theRangers had started the season badly and at that stage no-one was really taking the Hearts threat too seriously but after back-to-back defeats he called a meeting to hold peace talks so that the season could be save. There he offered to resign if the two factions couldn’t work together.

It was known among the corporate supporters at least that they (the Celtic Board) wanted Rodgers out so his resignation offer was quickly accepted and Martin O’Neill was brought in to steady the ship. Thank heavens for Martin x 2.

Wilfried Nancy. Motherwell v Celtic, Scottish Premiership. 30 December 2025 Photo by Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

The decision makers, helped by Paul Tisdale whose influence was growing despite his role in a hellish summer window, sourced Wilfried Nancy as their first choice outstanding candidate. This being the most stupid decision of them all and Celtic went into freefall during his damaging 33 days in charge.

His time was up at Tannadice. I sat there with the Green Brigade and the Board to my right but it was to my left where the majority of the Celtic away support – those from the buses – told Nancy where to go. His time was up but on he rolled for a few more disasters as our nightmare continued.

Shaun Maloney and Martin O’Neill at Celtic Park on October 28, 2025 (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Martin returned with Shaun Maloney and the rest of the gang who knew what they were doing unlike Nancy and his ‘Crew’. We shall see how that pans out.

Nicholson though tried to ‘get tough’ with the Green Brigade over an incident at the Falkirk game in August. Putting the rights and wrongs to one side, a competent CEO deals with that much better, perhaps dishes out some punishment then reaches agreement on the way forward and the circus continues as it has done since the standing area was introduced BY CELTIC.

The Celtic Fan Media got banned, no more than grubby censorship and that’s a relationship that may never be restored. Many of the sites who joined four years ago had already dropped out and the ones that remained had to put up with a great deal from the club. From Celtic’s point of view any influence they thought they had over sites was clearly lost.

Celtic Fans Collective

The Celtic Fans Collective was formed in early September by shocked supporters who could not believe just how badly the season had started with the Champions League failure and the terrible transfer window with no replacement for Kyogo signed. That would take them a year to achieve, by the skin of their teeth.

The Collective will meet Celtic this week and will note the number released yesterday and also the decision taken to hide the merchandising numbers which must be concerning to say the least. The Celtic Fans Collective’s ‘Not a Penny More’ campaign clearly has had an impact.

Peter Lawwell was replaced by Brian Wilson at the start of the year and its taken to mid-February for him to meet the Collective, although he did meet the Affiliation last week and also the Green Brigade. Wilson is right to call for unity and that is also what the Celtic support wants.

Michael Nicholson’s position can be settled in the summer. The financial numbers will make that call, so the Collective don’t need to be too concerned about that on. The Green Brigade need to return, and also need to understand the limits, and the fan media sites that want to return should be allowed to. Boycotts and other campaigns like ‘Not Another Penny’ need to be suspended.

Then the focus can return to backing the team and helping Martin O’Neill rescue the season. Celtic PLC’s Interim Report is shown below…

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Celtic plc Interim Report

Celtic have released their Interim Report for the six months to December 31, 2025.

Key Operational Items

15 home fixtures (H1 2025: 14).
Participation in the UEFA Europa League Group Stages.
Post period end qualification for the play-off round of the UEFA Europa League knock-out stage.
Runners-up of the Premier Sports Cup 2025.
Currently 3rd in the SPFL Premiership having played one less match.

Key Financial Items

Revenue reduced by 28.9% to £59.4m (H1 2025: £83.5m).
Profit from trading before intangible asset transactions was £4.2m (H1 2025: £26.9m).
Profit from transfer of player registrations (shown as profit on disposal of intangible assets) £14.1m (H1 2025: £21.5m).
Profit before taxation of £13.2m (H1 2025: £43.9m).
Acquisition of player registrations of £13.7m (H1 2025: £28.1m).
Period end cash of £67.4m (H1 2025: £65.4m)

CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT

We witnessed a great deal of change and disruption in the six months to 31 December 2025. After winning our 4th successive league title last season and the 13th in 14 seasons, we were looking forward to the next campaign with positivity. We had no prior warning of the resignation of our then first team manager.

Our exit from the Champions League in August 2025 was a bitter blow. Following the departure of Brendan Rodgers in October 2025, stability was restored by Martin O’Neill and his backroom team before we appointed Wilfried Nancy in early December. Appointing a manager in mid-season inevitably comes with challenges, and regrettably the implementation of Wilfried’s style and ideas did not achieve our immediate objective of winning games and we took the difficult decision to part company with Wilfried in January 2026.

We again turned to Martin, Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham and their backroom colleagues to steer the Club through to the coming summer and are pleased to have seen Celtic return to winning football matches in early 2026. We owe them and the players, who have also had to deal with change and uncertainty, a great debt of gratitude.

Participation in the Champions League carries great financial as well as footballing significance. The results for the six months ended 31 December 2025 show revenues of £59.4m (2024: £83.5m) and a profit from trading, representing the profit excluding player related gains and charges, totalling £4.2m (2024: £26.9m). Operating profit, which includes player transactions, amounted to £11.1m (2024: £42.0m).

The decline in H1 revenue compared to the same period last year is primarily due to Europa League participation as opposed to Champions League participation, which we had last season. This reflects the lower media rights values associated with the competition along with lower ticket pricing.

The reduction in profit from trading was driven almost entirely by the reduction in revenue. There was also a lower level of net gains from player trading, with £21.5m in the prior period compared to £14.1m in this one. The latter figure included the disposal of Nicolas Kühn, Gustaf Lagerbielke, Marco Tilio and Adam Idah. The reduction in operating profit also included an increase in amortisation over the previous year from £6.4m to £7.1m reflecting the investment in the first team squad.

We went into the January 2026 transfer window with the objective of strengthening the squad to give Martin, his backroom team and the players the best possible opportunity of retaining the SPFL title, progressing in the Scottish Cup and making an impact in Europe. Funding was available for new signings and we introduced six players to enhance the quality of the squad. We were pleased to acquire the temporary registrations of Julián Araujo, Tomáš Čvančara, Benjamin Arthur, Joel Mvuka, Junior Adamu and the permanent registration of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Some of these players brought in on loan were acquired with the option to acquire them permanently, which is an approach that has served the Club well in previous transfer windows including current first team players Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota. We also look forward to the return of our long-term injured players to the squad.

At time of writing, we are in contention in the SPFL with all to play for. We have progressed to the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup and the knockout phase of the Europa League. Having finished 21st of 36 in the league phase, we await a two-leg tie against VfB Stuttgart.

Our women’s team welcomed the arrival of its new manager Grant Scott, following Elena Sadiku’s decision to take up an opportunity to manage in her native Sweden. Elena made an outstanding contribution in her two years at the Club by winning the SWPL title and qualifying for the women’s Champions League, both delivered for the first time. We thank Elena and welcome Grant to Celtic whilst looking forward to the title run-in.

In recent months, the Board has acknowledged that mistakes have been made. We are endeavouring to develop, enhance and refresh key areas of governance and strategies. The immediate priorities are to restore stability, achieve unity and deliver football success. These have provided the foundations for the achievements of the past 20 years – a period of outstanding success within the Club’s entire history.

Since unexpectedly finding myself in this role as Interim Chairman following Peter Lawwell’s decision to step down from the Board on 31 December 2025, I have tried to encourage unity within the stadium and behind the team. This cannot be achieved unilaterally and requires the shared acceptance that we all, passionately, want the very best for Celtic Football Club, as well as an understanding that our highest obligation is to the safety of all supporters and staff.

In October, we released the results from one of football’s biggest ever fan surveys, a hugely important piece of work which has identified a number of key areas in which we must aim to progress and develop. These include a structure for fan engagement, improved digital experience and potential further development of safe-standing. Celtic was the first club in the UK to argue for, and successfully deliver, a safe standing area.

The second half of the financial year typically sees a reduction in earnings due to the inherent seasonality within the earnings profile. This is largely driven by recognition of revenue associated with European competition. It can also be influenced by player trading which this year to date was more biased towards the summer 2025 transfer window. Taking all of this into consideration, we are taking a more cautious view on the outturn for the remainder of the current financial year. We currently expect our revenue and profits for the second half of the year ending 30 June 2026 to be significantly lower than the result posted for the first six months of the financial year, and profits for the year ending 30 June 2026 to be lower than the first half of the financial year.

I take this opportunity to recognise Peter Lawwell’s exceptional service to the Club. Peter had a long and extremely successful period at Celtic as CEO and latterly as Chairman. His commitment to the ethos and values of Celtic Football Club was second to none and future generations will look back on his contribution with the appreciation and respect it is due.

As ever, I thank the staff of Celtic for their diligence and commitment in every aspect of its affairs. While recent months have been challenging, Celtic supporters remain the bedrock of the Club. We all have shared objectives and obligations to help deliver the best possible outcomes for our teams and to uphold the principles on which the Club is founded.

Brian Wilson

Chairman

13 February 2026

Download the Report HERE.

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The sheer stupidity of the way Celtic has been managed since running Bayern Munich ever so close in the Champions League play-off round almost a year ago was exposed yesterday evening when Celtic PLC dropped their Interim Report for the six months to 31 December, 2025…

Continues on the next page…

Celtic plc Interim Report

CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT

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