There will be some din around Celtic Park tonight when the famous Champions League anthem booms out over the Parkhead PA system.
But if you listen closely, you might also be able to hear the ping of the tills ringing. Everyone knows this is the land of milk and money. TV rights, sponsorship deals, ticket sales, replica shirts flying off the shelves and pies being shoved in mouths. It’s the good old days back again for Celtic – and for their chums across the city. Directors will see pound signs flashing in front of their eyes and the kind of cash rolling in that will help keep the wheels turning for the near future.
But there’s another hidden kickback from the Champions League that’s tricky for any accountant to stick on the balance sheet. This is the kind of environment that can send players’ values sky high and send the recruitment cycle into overdrive.
Before Celtic fans get any knick knacks in a twist. This is not a column suggesting their side should be selling their top assets when they still haven’t fulfilled their potential. Celtic should aim to keep hold of this squad for as long as they can.
But the whole point of buying in talent is to move them on at some stage for big money.
Fans should enjoy these guys while they are around and if they do well then the club does well. Then they go in exchange for a tasty sum when the time comes. It’s the circle of life for Celtic and it has been for many years. They’ve been blooming good at it too with the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Moussa Dembele and Kieran Tierney leaving for top dough.
Rangers did a bit of it themselves in the summer with Nathan Patterson, Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey. Celtic have spent a fair few bob under Ange Postecoglou but he already looks to have invested shrewdly and he’s sitting on a stack of assets. The Champions League can turbo charge them though.
It was kind of strange there weren't more clubs knocking on the doors of Parkhead over the summer but if this side can maintain the sensational form in Scotland while putting on a few good shows in Europe, then there could be a stampede at the end of the season.
He likes of Cameron Carter-Vickers, Jota, Kyogo, Liel Abada, Josip Juranovic and Matt O’Riley – and that’s just for starters – already all look like £10m plus players.
Do the business in the Champions League? You could be talking double those numbers. That’s what this comp does. Celtic still take a bit of a hounding over the Barcelona and PSG beatings at this level a few years ago.
But it casually overlooks the performances against Manchester City, Anderlecht and Borussia Monchengladbach – specially from Dembele and Tierney – which went a long way towards their chunky transfer fees.
If Celtic are competitive in this group – and that would just mean giving Real Madrid a game and scrapping it out for second and third spots with RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk – then it’ll send these players’ valuations in to the stratosphere.
It’s hard for Celtic to charge top dollar for stars who only shine in Scotland. There will always be an English arrogance tax applied, even if countless players from these parts doing the business down there.
But the Champions League comes with a premium. O’Riley already looks like he can go on and command a record fee for Celts by topping the £25m for Tierney.
Ange Postecoglou and Michael Nicholson should be wearing masks for managing to snap up the 21-year-old from MK Dons for the price of a fish supper and you can hang your hat on him starring on Match of the Day in years to come. Those mentioned above are likely to be playing either with him or against him in the EPL as well.
Celtic banking the Champions League money means there’s no pressure to sell but by getting there they can also relax in knowing they are now sitting on a gold mine that’s yet to be counted.
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