Questions for Brian Quinn

Last updated : 17 August 2006 By Neil Burns

Celtic Chairman, Brian Quinn has been able to announce that the club have been able to reduce its level of Debt from £19million down to £9million during the financial year until the end of June.

The figures which included news that the club had also recorded a before-tax loss of £4million.

The loss was the result of an expenditure of £8.8million in the acquisition of players that cancelled out the operating profit of just under £4million.

There was a drop in turnover due to the poor performance in Europe last season but the club have continued to cut operating costs.

With an exact breakdown of the figures yet to come out we can only assume the reduced costs have come from removing some of the higher paid players, such as Sutton, off the wage bill.

With an extended European run guaranteed until the end of the Champions League group stages the clubs finances should continue to look healthier in the coming year also.

There are questions that do need to be asked to Mr Quinn.

Of the £8.8million spent on acquiring players, how much was transfer fees and how much were payments to players and agents?

Also we can not forget the £14.55million that was raised in the last shares issue, that was to be earmarked for developing the site at Lennoxtown.

We made a loss of £4million but reduced our debt at the same time by £10million.

I am sure these figures are simply a coincidence and that the share issue money has been set aside for Lennoxtown and not been used to give a temporary boost to the look of the clubs finances.

By Neil Burns