'Huge differential' - Finance expert: Celtic take massive hit after transfer gamble fails
Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version or go back to LFC Live.net.
Credit: Imago / Getty Images
Ben Palmer
Wed 27 August 2025 18:21, UK
Celtic have less than a week to do their transfer business after a laborious summer waiting to see if they would qualify for the Champions League.
That is the view of football finance expert Dan Plumley, who told Football Insider exclusively that the Hoops may have shot themselves in the foot with their transfers so far this summer.
Celtic crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday evening (26 August), losing on penalties to Kazakh side Kairat Almaty.
Across two legs in Scotland and Kazakhstan, neither side was able to score, and Brendan Rodgers‘ side ultimately lost on penalties.
The former Liverpool manager has not been pleased with Celtic’s lack of investment so far this summer, and it showed against Kairat.
With Jota still out injured and Kyogo Furuhashi’s departure in January yet to be addressed, the Hoops were limp in attack as Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah were unable to contribute in any meaningful way, whilst Yan Hyun-jun had one of his worst games in a green and white shirt.
And now Rodgers’ side has less than a week of the transfer window remaining, and will be looking to do their business without the boost in revenue that qualifying for the Champions League would have provided.
MORE FOOTBALL INSIDER STORIES
This article contains exclusive comment from Dan Plumley, a football finance expert and senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University.
Speaking to Football Insider exclusively, Plumley explained that it was a “gamble” for Celtic to spend big on transfers without the guaranteed revenue of playing in the Champions League next season, and that was something the club appeared to be unwilling to do.
And that decision has now cost them a place in UEFA’s top-tier club competition, and they will instead compete in the Europa League this season.
Plumley said: “That’s a huge amount of money in the context of the season [Champions League revenue].
We know the TV money in Scotland is not brilliant, but it’s there as well.
“So the only differential for them, the huge differential financially, is European football, and that then dictates how you play out the rest of the season.
“It’s unfortunate in the timing, and it makes things tight to the wire.”
The Hoops find themselves embroiled in uncertainty with under a week of the transfer window remaining.
And the loss to Kairat may only be the start of the season unravelling, as Brendan Rodgers is high on Nottingham Forest’s shortlist of names to replace Nuno Espirito Santo this summer should the Portuguese boss leave, Pete O’Rourke told Football Insider.
Credit: Imago
The former Wolves boss has fallen out with Edu, the club’s global head of football, and has quickly become the favourite to be the first Premier League boss to lose his job this season.
The Northern Irishman has bounced back and forth between the SPFL and England’s top-flight throughout his career, and the appeal of managing down south once again may be irresistible.