The Full Scottish Round-Up - April 2025
Welcome to the Full Scottish Football Report – April 2025, a month that started with more bad news for Scottish football, this time of a more serious nature.
Served by Brian P. Dunleavy
Scottish Football Faces New Challenges:
The report highlights recent serious issues, including legal settlements related to abuse at Celtic Boys Club and ongoing efforts to reform youth development in Scottish football.
Potential League Expansion and Structural Changes:
Proposals to increase the Scottish Premiership from 12 to 16 teams and to eliminate the season-ending ‘split’ have gained support, though concerns about competitiveness remain.
Celtic’s Performance and Domestic Dominance:
Celtic maintains a strong lead in the league but shows signs of complacency, which may threaten their ability to sustain success in both domestic and European competitions.
Financial Disparities in Scottish Football:
Celtic significantly out-earn other Scottish clubs through European campaigns, underscoring the ongoing financial divide and its impact on competitiveness in Scottish football.
More bad news for Celtic and Scotland
Last week, we wrote about what had been a rough two-week period for Scottish football and several interested parties, including both Celtic and Rangers as well as the Scottish national team. Unfortunately, this week has made that fortnight seem like halcyon days.
On Tuesday, representatives for the victims of alleged historic abuse at Celtic Boys Club announced that more than 20 legal claims had been settled for a seven-figure sum. This means that roughly 70% of the nearly 30 former players who had launched a class action against Celtic for damages have agreed to settlements, with additional settlements expected in the coming weeks.
Celtic Statement
Several former coaches and officials at the boys club have been convicted in recent years of sexual crimes against teenage players spanning decades. For years, Celtic argued that the Celtic Boys Club was a separate entity.
In a statement, Celtic said, “The club acknowledges the strength of the survivors of abuse who have come forward, and hope that this resolution may help to bring them some closure. Celtic Football Club is appalled by any form of historic abuse and has great sympathy for those who suffered abuse and for their families. The club is very sorry that these events took place at Celtic Boys’ Club. The club takes this abuse extremely seriously because of the historic contacts between the two organisations.”
We realize that this issue transcends football—and is obviously far more important. However, it’s worth noting that Celtic are far from the only club in Scotland—not to mention elsewhere—that have had to deal with similar allegations.
On a positive note, cases such as these have definitely been a factor at efforts to reform youth development programs at clubs globally. However, as we’ve noted in this space, more work needs to be done.
Reform
Yes, the idea is to develop the future athletes of the sport, which Celtic and several other clubs in Scotland have had trouble doing of late. But that needs to be done in a safe environment.
Speaking of the future, the Scottish Premiership may look significantly different in the coming seasons, if a few reformers have their way. According to recent reports, the top division could soon have as many as 16 teams, up from the current 12. The move could mean the end of the “split,” in which the top six and bottom six clubs in the top flight face off against one another to close out the season.
The proposed change has the support of St. Johnstone owner Adam Webb, who was interviewed by the Full Scottish recently, among others, but it remains to be seen if enough clubs in the country truly have the resources to remain competitive against higher-level competition.
Those of us of a certain age will remember Gretna. And the last thing the sport in Scotland needs now is more news like that.
Celtic Look ‘Too Comfortable’ In Final Stretch
St. Johnstone took a big step toward avoiding relegation on Sunday, though they still remain five points from 11th in the Premiership table. Of course, that wasn’t the headline following the Saints’ 1-0 victory at McDiarmid Park. Coverage, understandably, focused on the opponent on the day—that being league leaders Celtic.
The Hoops maintained their 13-point cushion in the league, thanks to Rangers’ loss to Hibs at Ibrox on Saturday. But they missed a chance to clinch the title before the split—and didn’t exactly show much resolve or competitive fire in doing so. This despite the fact Celtic supporters occupied three of four stands in Perth, with an eye on a pre-title party.
St. Johnstone may have done more than play the role of party-poopers, however. They may have revealed a weakness in the Celtic team for all to see.
“I’ve seen a trend now with us, and it will be interesting between now and the end of the season in terms of mentality,” Hoops manager Brendan Rodgers told the media after the match. “We talked about being a top team and having talent, but also having drive, desire and ambition to win and having spirit, and too many of our players have been too comfortable. There’s no excuse, we also have to give a big, big credit to St Johnstone.”
Celtic Mettle
It seems strange to question the mettle of a side with a commanding lead in the league and a legitimate shot at the domestic treble, not to mention one that went farther in the Champions’ League than anyone expected.
But whereas last year’s team finished strong down the stretch (winning 10 and drawing two following a 2-0 defeat to Hearts), the 2024-25 installment has already dropped four matches since the turn of the year. And both seasons need to be viewed within a certain context. Although casual observers of Scottish football (if there is such a thing) consider the league a two-horse race, at best, at times in the past quarter century, it has been even less than that.
Since Wim Jansen’s Celtic side “stopped the 10” in 1997-98, the Parkhead side have won the league 18 times, including 13 of the last 14. Rangers have finished in the top spot just eight times.
To be fair, ’Gers have fared relatively well in Europe in that time—reaching two finals, with this season’s continental campaign still in play—but it’s understandable, to some degree, that at least some Celtic players feel like they can coast domestically.
Still, as any avid supporter of either Glasgow club will tell you, coasting isn’t an option, irrespective of what the stats and table say.
Rodgers will be hoping that his “too comfortable” players have gotten that message. If not, those players may not want to get, er, too comfortable in Glasgow.
Celtic Get Richer As Scottish Football Doesn’t
With Celtic set to clinch their 13th Premiership title in 14 seasons on Saturday, we want to bring up our least favorite topic in sports (and in life): money.
That’s because money matters in sports (and in life), and the Hoops’ recent track record in the league proves the point. Now, the Parkhead club appears to have expanded their cashflow advantages even further.
After Rangers’ loss in Bilbao last week, the European campaign for both of Glasgow’s big two is now complete and the figures are in—perhaps not surprisingly, they don’t look pretty for the side from Govan.
According to media folks with heads for math bigger and better than ours, Celtic’s run to the knockout play-off round of the revamped Champions League brought in nearly £28 million in prize money from UEFA this season (the first time Brendan Rodgers’ side have made it past the group stages of the competition since 2013).
That figure is nearly three times the total of approximately £9.6 million Rangers received during their Europa League campaign.
Both sides of the Glasgow divide far out-earn their competitors in the Premiership, of course, a fact that won’t be lost on the likes of Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen, and Dundee United, the other so-called “big clubs” in Scotland.
Mind The Gap
As far back as ’Gers are from Celtic in the 2024-25 league table—15 points, as of this writing—Hibs sit a distant third (13 points behind the Ibrox side).
That gap isn’t likely to close any time soon, even with Celtic no longer having the luxury of direct Champions’ League qualification as league champions (they will have to navigate one playoff round in August to qualify for the 2025-26 tournament). As second-place finishers, meanwhile, Rangers will have successfully passed through multiple qualifying rounds.
Given that, neither Glasgow club will be happy to learn of a potential rule change to the Champions’ League that could see UEFA scrapping extra-time in the knockout rounds and heading straight for a penalty shootout. Should UEFA make that adjustment, it could also impact the qualifying rounds, meaning that in the case of a draw at full-time, the winner could be determined directly from the spot.
A crapshoot that—but in Scotland, only two clubs really roll lucky 7s anyway.