The Celtic Board’s massive £40M gamble on a result in Kazakhstan

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The Celtic Star

·25 de agosto de 2025

The Celtic Board’s massive £40M gamble on a result in Kazakhstan

Celtic has dominated the Scottish game in recent times winning 13 of the last 14 Scottish Premiership titles and during that period winning five domestic trebles…

Brendan Rodgers during the Premier League match between Celtic and Livingston at Celtic Park on August 23, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

All this has been achieved alongside creating incredible financial stability at the club with Celtic PLC currently sitting with in the region of £100m in its bank account. While the problem at the rest of the clubs in Scotland is a severe lack of money it appears that Celtic has too much and doesn’t know what to do with it!

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And this strange problem is getting worse and worse. For instance over the summer transfers of former Celtic players Jeremie Frimpong and Ben Doak added around £6m to the Celtic coffers through sell-on windfall clauses.

And Italian side Como invited Celtic over to their more scenic Paradise to participate in a lucrative summer tournament and also deposited £17m into that bulging Celtic bank account to secure the signature of German winger Nicolas Khun, Celtic’s star during a memorable Champions League campaign last season.

Peter Lawwell, Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay applaud during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Livingston at Celtic Park on August 23, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

All that Michael Nicholson, the Celtic CEO and Christopher McKay, the club’s Chief Financial Officer had to do was nothing at all, just sit there with mouths wide open and watch the millions flood in, like the jackpot winning flowing from no deposit free spins. The only thorn in their side is that pesky, moaning manager Brendan Rodgers who won’t shut up and simply refuses to see the merit in hoarding tens of millions instead insists on actually spending some of this far from hard earned fortune on players.

‘No problem, here are seven and we’ve spent millions on them,’ was the message the manager might have got from the Celtic Board room. Yet in the small print the number of millions actually spend was clearly stated, under £3m, not £30m that could easily be afforded.

Lamine Yamal of FC Barcelona reacts during the LaLiga EA Sports match between Levante UD and FC Barcelona at Ciutat de Valencia on August 23, 2025 in Valencia, Spain. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

Brendan Rodgers looked at those players. One had never actually played a senior match in professional football, another had been at University in Japan and had only played a small number of matches, to Rodgers he was deemed not to be at the level to compete in the Champions League against wingers like Barcelona’s new superstar Lamine Yamal – perhaps un unfairly high bar for any incoming Celtic signing, never mind a rookie.

However Brendan Rodgers was merely asking for the ambition he was promised when he returned to Celtic Park in June 2023. Then he was of course looking to continue the club’s domestic dominance but crucially to wanted to add progress in European football, particularly the Champions League.

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)

Back in March 2025 Celtic were within seconds of beating Bayern Munich in the Champions League on their own ground. The aforementioned Nicolas Kuhn had given Celtic the lead and the Scottish Champions threatened the Bayern goal continually.

It ended in stoppage time heartache but Celtic’s appetite for more of the same under Rodgers required quality additions in the summer window.

Benjamin Nygren celebrates scoring during Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Livingston at Celtic Park on August 23, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Benjamin Nygren, the Sweden international midfielder arrived and at that stage optimism was high among the Celtic supporters, particularly as Kieran Tierney had returned to Celtic after his Arsenal contract ended. Tierney was an earlier £25m sale to the English side.

That early optimism died a slow and painful death over the summer as Celtic sat on their hands and on their cash. Rodgers warned that he would not remain at the club beyond summer 2026 when his own contract expires as he refuses to be a caretaker.

Rodgers wants the very best for Celtic but the timid, cautious men in the boardroom have acted like rabbits caught in the headlights and have done nothing at all until the Celtic support lost its collective patience. ‘Sack the Board’ was the chant from the angry supporters as Celtic drew 0-0 with Kairat in the first leg of the Champions League playoff.

Celtic fans protest during Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Livingston at Celtic Park on August 23, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

That summer of discontent had created tensions but while the Celtic support grumbling were mostly online and in radio phone-ins, they didn’t react at matches until the Champions League playoff against Kairat on Wednesday night at Celtic Park. That seems to have woken the board up from their slumber but as we’ll know the outcome of the second leg against Kairat tomorrow, any real spending is going to come on the back of the knowledge that the £40m Champions League money has been secured or lost.

A weakened Celtic front line with no Khun (sold to Como in July), no Jota ( injured in April and out for a year with an ACL injury – and not replaced) and no Kyogo (sold for £10m to Rennes in January and not replaced) struggled to break down such modest opponents and the game ended goalless.

Celtic v RB Leipzig – UEFA Champions League – League Stage – Celtic Park (back to front, left to right) Celtic’s Nicolas Kuhn, Auston Trusty, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Arne Engels, Alistair Johnston, goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, Daizen Maeda, Greg Taylor, Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi before the UEFA Champions League, league stage match at Celtic Park, on Tuesday November 5, 2024. Photo Andrew Milligan

Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay appear to have gambled £40m that Rodgers despite them weakening his hand, would get Celtic through. He might, but it is going to the wire in a game Celtic could have deemed settled by having new signings in our team last midweek.

The Celtic Board just do nothing at all yet they still gamble that the £40m Champions League money will come their way,. Every punter knows that there always comes a stage when your luck runs out. The Celtic decision-makers will be hoping that’s not what happens in Almaty in Kazakhstan tomorrow night.

Because if Celtic drops into the Eupora League all hell will break loose.