Amid the chaos of last season as banners and placards demanded the ousting of the Celtic board, there was a sense that the bigger picture had been lost in the midst of a desperate season.

The suspicion that events on the park dictate entirely what the perception is off it has been solidified this term as Ange Postecoglou’s side keep the heat off a board that were badly singed last term.

As accounts emerged on Friday evening to show the rude financial health of the club there was a reminder of the successful nature of the club’s business model. Such chat may be drier than a week in the Sahara but it has essentially created the foundations for Postecoglou to deliver his football philosophy, and to much applause.

The sales of Odsonne Edouard, Ryan Christie and Kris Ajer did not just ensure a healthy profit to offset the effects of Covid that were evident in the previous accounts but also created the funds for 17 new arrivals between the summer and January transfer windows.

The manager’s eye for a player has helped to ensure it is largely money that has been well spent; the four-year contract for James McCarthy aside, Kyogo Furuhashi, Matt O’Riley and Reo Hatate would suggest the flipping of players to sustain the same model – as the club have done for the best part of two decades – will remain firmly in place.

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With £26m sitting in the bank there is now the tantalising question of what an injection of Champions League money may do. A conservative estimate would place participation in the group stages of Europe’s premier competition around the £35m mark, a sum that would appear guaranteed for the winners of this season’s Scottish title.

Celtic know only too well about the vagaries of a qualification route to the tournament; not since 2017 were the Parkhead side last involved in Champions League football.

The finances would enable to strengthen further and may well leave Rangers cursing themselves for a lack of creative thinking in the transfer market. The Ibrox side sold Nathan Patterson for a healthy £12m in January as the young full-back headed to Everton but the likes of Joe Aribo and Ryan Kent now head into the final year of their contracts.

If Celtic are successful in wrestling the title back off of Rangers it could be the gateway for another period of sustained domestic success given the disparity then of resources between the two sides.

It gives a title race that currently boasts just a point between the top two another layer of intrigue