19 hours ago
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Scottish Premiership update
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Celtic have dominated Scottish football for well over a decade with Rangers firmly trailing in the wake of their arch rivals. The Hoops have won 14 out of the last 15 Scottish Premiership titles and they are overwhelming favourites to make it five-in-a-row this season - Celtic’s main title challenge will likely arrive from Hearts this season, not Rangers.
Trouble at Celtic Park and Ibrox
The Ibrox side suffered well-documented financial issues and were demoted to the fourth tier of Scottish football in 2012, which enabled Celtic to upsurge their Glasgow rivals, on and off the pitch. Both clubs are tied on 55 Scottish top-flight titles and Rangers are currently in turmoil as they search for a new manager after Russell Martin was sacked, following their worst-ever start to a Scottish Premiership season. Rangers invested heavily in the summer after a takeover from a US-consortium, while Celtic fans fumed at the lack of investment from their board. And after the Scottish Premiership intermediary update, we’ve analysed both Old Firm squads and which players had notable adjustments to their valuations.
Celtic: Biggest market value upgrades & downgrades
Celtic have started the domestic campaign fairly well and remain undefeated in the Scottish Premiership, just two points off leaders Hearts. Once again, it’s been a different story in Europe as they embarrassingly failed to qualify for the Champions League after losing to minnows Kairat Almaty and they’re winless after two games in the Europa League.
Only three Celtic players received upgrades to their market values in the update and a further explanation on that can be read here. Sebastian Tounekti had the biggest upgrade due to his transfer fee, while Colby Donovan has impressed after making his breakthrough into the first team. Nine players received downgrades with Arne Engles dropping by €2m with the Belgian international continuing to underwhelm since his €13m move from Augsburg in 2024.
Rangers: Biggest market value upgrades & downgrades
It’s been a disastrous start to the campaign for Rangers with Martin paying the price with his job after quickly alienating the Ibrox faithful. Rangers spent €29.7 million on new signings but Martin was unable to get a tune out of the new arrivals and they currently languish eight in the league. Primarily due to the expenditure on transfer fees, six Rangers players received upgrades with four of those new signings.
Nicolas Raskin - who was bombed out the squad earlier in the season by Martin - received the biggest upgrade at €12m, to reflect his importance to Rangers and his role as a regular starter with Belgium. Five players received downgrades with Mikey Moore and Nasser Djiga dropping by €2m. Both arrived from English Premier clubs with big reputations but neither has impressed with Tottenham youngster Moore particularly poor and failing to justify the hype.
Celtic and Rangers: Market value development
Celtic’s overall squad value dropped by €4.45m after the update, from €137.1m to €132.65m but they still comfortably possess the most valuable squad in Scotland. Celtic’s squad is €28.2m more valuable than Rangers with the Ibrox squad dropping in value by €250k to €104.45m.The gap in squad values between the two Scottish giants has remained pretty consistent across the last twelve months. 
But looking at the squad values across the last five seasons truly highlights how Celtic moved so far ahead of their rivals. In October 2021, Rangers’ squad value (€105m) was almost €40m higher than Celtic’s (€65.7m) but they’ve generally moved in opposing directions since then. Rangers won their last league title in 2021 under Steven Gerrard and reached the Europa League final in the following season but Celtic firmly regain supremacy in Scotland under Ange Postecoglou and that’s continued under Brendan Rodgers - which is reflected in the market values.
