Celtic are gold medal winners at throwing money down the drain with a squad of inadequate lightweights - Hugh Keevins

It’s ironic. Celtic’s board of directors are being lambasted on the back of mid-season accounts showing the club to be making a fortune while the team on the park is impoverished.

But the truth of the matter is Celtic aren’t remotely tight-fisted. Just the opposite. They’ve turned throwing good money down the drain into an Olympic-sized event. And they are gold medal winners at it. Which is why, in my estimation, they’ll finish second to Rangers in the league championship.

The latest financial report isn’t indicative of a well-run business in the eyes of the fans. The figures represent proceeds from crime so far as the supporters are concerned. The crime being to have taken last season’s Treble-winning team and turned it into a second-rate side comprised in large part of signings who sum up the excessively bad judgement which has heaped hostility on the board in general – and the chairman Peter Lawwell in particular. Head of recruitment Mark Lawwell and manager Brendan Rodgers have, at the same time, lost the trust and backing of a tormented fan base.

It is a complete and utter shambles and the negative effects of consistent misjudgment will be demonstrated at Motherwell this afternoon. The last time Celtic lost the league title, the absence of fans inside grounds, due to a global pandemic, was put forward as a contributory factor. The next time Celtic lose the league title, which will be at the end of this season if I’m correct, it will be the presence of fans inside grounds that will be the main contributory factor.

The assembly line of inadequate lightweights gathered in error during two seriously ill-judged transfer windows do not have the mental strength to cope with the remainder of the championship. The ones