Celtic have made a subtle but notable change in the way they present their finances in Friday’s interim report.
Celtic have normally broken out merchandising as a standalone line within their revenue breakdown.
Football stadium operations, multimedia and other commercial activities and merchandising have traditionally been separated and clearly identifiable in the interim figures. This year, however, it reads football and stadium operations and then multimedia, merchandising and other commercial activities.
Merchandising now appears to have been rolled into broader commercial revenue streams, with no individual figure provided.
The change comes amid the ongoing ‘Not Another Penny’ fan protest campaign, which has explicitly targeted club spending through merchandise and other revenue channels, like tours, sports bar, etc.
Supporters involved in the protest have urged fans to withhold discretionary spending as a means of applying pressure to the board.
Against that backdrop, the decision not to itemise merchandising income as it has been in previous years feels significant. Without a standalone figure, it becomes impossible to directly assess whether the protest has had any measurable impact on merchandise sales during the reporting period.
There may be perfectly routine accounting reasons behind the change. Clubs do occasionally adjust how revenue is categorised to align with updated reporting standards or internal restructuring. However, given how consistently merchandising has been broken out in past interim reports, its absence this time naturally invites scrutiny.
At a time when trust between sections of the support and the board is already strained, clarity matters. Financial strength has been repeatedly emphasised by the club, but transparency is just as important, particularly when fans are actively questioning how and where their money is being used.
Whether this is a one-off reporting tweak or a permanent shift in how Celtic presents their figures remains to be seen. What is clear is that in the middle of a highly visible protest campaign, even small changes in financial disclosure are going to be closely examined.
