Celtic are flush with cash these days, recording a record profit in the first half of the 2016-17 season even. However, there is no guarantee of future profits coming in like they have this season.
Given all the money coming in, a lot of attention has been paid to the future of the club and how they navigate a difficult time for Scottish football. It appears the club is going to be willing to spend some of the profits to become a viable Champions League competitor.
It also appears that the Celtic board see the need to be a part of the rejuvenation of the East End of Glasgow. On Tuesday, the Celtic board announced that it was putting forth plans to build its first part of a master plan to maximize the area around Celtic Park.
The club is looking to put forth an application for a project that will include the creation of a new hotel, retail store, ticketing facility and museum.
All of that would be great news for the club, as few clubs in the world have the traveling support coming in like Celtic does to Parkhead on a nearly weekly basis. Getting some of those travelers to stay at the hotel, buy from the retail store and take in everything that is glorious about the club at the museum would be huge.
However, as the club pointed out, this is but the first step and it will be an interesting journey to completion — if it happens at all.
"This application represents only the first stage in this process. It is important to emphasise that considerable work and investment over a number of years would be required to bring this project to fruition. There would be a number of challenges to overcome to complete a development of this scale."
It certainly would be a revenue stream that isn’t available to the rest of Scottish football and one that can be counted on to expand the coffers on a yearly basis.
Whether the Glasgow City Council will approve these plans isn’t totally known, but it isn’t as if this is a controversial plan. It seems to fit what is needed for the club and the surrounding area of the city.
If approved, Celtic may be able to not have to count on being just a selling club in the future. Perhaps it may just be able to keep some of its world-class players for a bit longer? That would certainly be a transformation for this club.