IAN BANKIER, the Celtic chairman, last night branded the current campaign “frustrating” and made it clear the club board continues to covet the return to Champions League football.
The Ladbrokes Premiership champions reported profits of £11.7million before taxation for the second half of 2015 in their interim results, due largely to the sale of defender Virgil van Dijk to Southampton earlier this season.
However, Bankier was clear about off-field results during a season which saw the club fail to qualify for the Champions League, finish bottom of their section after falling into the Europa League and lose to Ross County in the semi-finals of the League Cup.
Ronny Deila’s side are also level on points with Aberdeen at the top of the league.
"On the park, it has been a frustrating season,” said Bankier in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.
“We are top of the Scottish Premiership and in the sixth round of the Scottish Cup, but we fell short in the SPFL League Cup, being knocked out in the semi-final.
"In the European competitions, we were unable to progress beyond the group stages of the UEFA Europa League, having not qualified for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League.
"Our profit on disposal of intangible assets of £12.6m (2014: £7.1m) largely reflects the transfer of the registration of Virgil Van Dijk to Southampton.
"Over the same period, we reinvested in the playing squad, with £6.1m expended (2014: £5.7m) on the registrations of Scott Allan, Logan Bailly, Carlton Cole, Ryan Christie, Nadir Ciftci, Saidy Janko and Jozo Simunovic.
"Subsequently, during the 2016 January transfer window, further investment has been made with the signing of Danish international Erik Sviatchenko and Turkish international Colin Kazim-Richards.
"The board considers that our self-sustaining model allows the club to look to the future with reasonable optimism.
"We sit at the heart of developments in football, both at home and in Europe, being represented by Peter Lawwell on the board of the Scottish FA, the European Club Association and on the Club Competitions Committee at UEFA. Eric Riley also serves as a director of the Scottish Professional Football League.
"The strategy of the board is unchanged. Our overwhelming priority is to win the SPFL Premiership and to qualify for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League.”
Bankier also reported that the club’s failures in Europe will have an obvious effect on finances.
“Looking forward to the second half, as with previous years, trading performance in the remaining months of this financial year will not be at the same level as that in the first six months (or the comparable period in 2014), with fewer home matches scheduled, no participation in European competition and lower expected gain on player sales.”
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