Celtic’s financial strength makes a mockery of any King comeback plan.

Celtic last night released another set of stunning annual figures, showing a £17 million profit in a year where turnover hit a whopping £124 million.

That’s an extraordinary number, one that clubs all across Europe would envy. But for the one across the city? It must make them physically sick.

What makes this even better is that these figures have set us up for an even bigger year ahead. This year’s results will include the sales of Matt O’Riley and others, and despite all our incoming transfers, we’ve still posted a surplus in the transfer market.

Add in the revamped Champions League and we’re looking at a bonanza year the likes of which we haven’t seen in our history. If we make it beyond the Champions League groups, who knows what the numbers might look like next year?

As I’ve said before, the people running the commercial side of our club deserve huge credit.

They’ve achieved these earnings figures within the limitations of playing in Scotland, and that’s no small feat. While I may have issues with our transfer strategy and wish we’d push the boat out further, there’s no denying that off the pitch, we’re in fantastic shape, and these people deserve credit for that.

What makes those figures even more remarkable is the shadow they cast across the city. That shadow is the real triumph here because it shows the size of the gap. A gap that’s now virtually unbridgeable, thanks in no small part to people like Dave King, who’s banging on about a return to power. He might be shut out at Ibrox for now, but with or without him, that club simply can’t match us financially. Their spending power is nowhere near ours.

All the fundamentals point to a generation of total dominance, both on and off the pitch, and that makes it imperative that we focus on Europe. That’s where the real money and the real challenge is. Pushing ourselves to new heights in Europe will bring greater financial rewards and stretch the gap further.

Put yourself in Dave King’s shoes for a moment. How do you sell this vision to investors? It’s impossible. What do you say to people when you have to explain that Celtic doesn’t overspend, makes a profit every year, and has a handful of players worth more than your entire squad? It’s a losing battle from the outset.

According to reports, we’ve spent over £100 million in transfer fees over the last few years. His numbers might be a little bit off, but the truth is undeniable: we’ve spent big, and we’ve spent wisely. Our financial muscle dwarfs theirs by several magnitudes. Last night their playing squad was given a valuation of just over £65 million pounds. We spent almost half of that on our summer spending. That is a remarkable, and terrifying, statistic for them.

We paid more for one signing this summer than they spent on their entire rebuild, and that wasn’t even for the player who broke our record.

So how do you sell that to investors? How do you convince someone to pour money into that club when we’re spending almost half of what their squad is worth in one window? We sold one player – one – for half that value last month. And so, all of it is our money. No debt. No dodgy dealings. Every penny comes from what we generate—ticket sales, merchandise, player sales, multimedia—you name it. It’s all ours.

We don’t have a massive TV deal, we don’t have a sugar daddy, and we’re not pumped full of artificial financial steroids. We live within our means, stay sustainable, and keep our finances in line with regulations. It’s phenomenal when you consider that we’re also employing an elite-level manager and a very good team on the pitch.

And everything we do right, they do wrong. The only answer being offered by King and the media is for them to find more mugs to pour money into their black hole. That’s it. Run up debts, overspend, and hope for the best. The media will tell you they have no choice, but it’s simply not true. They do have a choice—two of them, in fact.

The first option is to fight, to try and spend money they don’t have in a desperate bid to catch us. But that’s a dead end. Even if they catch us for one year, there’s no prospect of long-term dominance. Celtic’s financial model is sustainable; theirs isn’t. The short-term gains would lead to long-term catastrophe, likely ending in another administration or worse.

The second option is to accept reality. They could pull the brakes hard, accept the limits imposed by their previous overspending, and live within their means. But that option doesn’t look much better if you’re a club with a support base that feels entitled to win things and can’t handle prolonged periods of mediocrity.

The truth is, they’re at their ceiling.

It’s hard to see how they can squeeze more money out of the fans. Sponsorship is limited, merchandising is laughable compared to ours, and no amount of spin will change that. They can’t raise funds by spending more because they simply don’t have the means, and UEFA regulations prevent them from spending significantly above their earnings anyway.

Their fans might still buy season tickets, but additional spending will be harder to justify. And even those season ticket numbers might fall over the next few years if it looks like we’re heading for another nine-in-a-row and beyond.

The likelihood of us surpassing the Lie and their fictional trophy haul is enough of a disaster, but if we start pulling away completely, their financial situation could unravel completely.

Dave King is right when he says they can’t keep asking the fans to put their money where their mouths are. They’ve been doing that for the last 12 years. Investors are fatigued, and so are the supporters. There’s no future for that club beyond the two options.

This is as good as it gets for them.

Looking at our financial numbers, what other conclusion can you draw but that Celtic is the only show in town? Asking for outside investment is an admission of defeat. Any money spent trying to catch us is just pissing it against the wall.