| Celtic Takeover | Celtic Board | Celtic's Foundation | About Celtic |
The Scotsman 04/03/1994
By Hugh Keevins FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT
THE most dramatic board meeting in Celtic's 106-year history is today poised to take the club into a new era under the leadership of rebels Fergus McCann and Brian Dempsey.
The sensational developments in the long-running Celtic saga which yesterday saw Dempsey and McCann give a 1million guarantee to the Bank of Scotland to prevent the club falling into receivership will almost certainly end the long-running battle for control at Celtic Park. McCann, the expatriate Scot, and Dempsey have pledged 5million to recapitalise the club but that offer is contingent upon three directors – David Smith, Christopher White and Michael Kelly – agreeing to resign from the board of directors by Wednesday. The first two have been charged by their fellow board members of failing to make clear the full extent of Celtic's financial plight.
It now remains to be seen whether the trio choose to accept that ultimatum or attempt to enter into an arrangement with Gerald Weisfeld, the businessman who last week thought he had gained control of Celtic, only to be thwarted by the sudden announce- ment of plans to move the club to Cambuslang, issue 25,000 new shares and transform Celtic into a public limited company.
It is understood that White and Smith, along with Michael Kelly, were yesterday pursuing the possibility of doing a deal with Weisfeld.
Last night, Dempsey, who has waged a four-year battle for control of Celtic since he was removed from the board, said:
''The club was at death's door. What we did by putting up our financial package was not out of personal gain; it was for the heart and soul of Celtic football club.'
The other choice before the three directors who can now be seen to have come apart from their fellow board members is to take the issue to an extraordinary general meeting and let the club's shareholders decide who is best equipped to run the club.
The Bank of Scotland, Celtic's main lender and mortgage holder, appears to have lost faith in those who once held the reins of power at the club and will back the group who yesterday provided a rescue package to prevent foreclosure. The 1milion guarantee last night offered by McCann and Dempsey will be posted by noon today but the board meeting that will be held first thing today can only be a stormy affair as families become divided in battle.
Kevin Kelly, Celtic's chairman, says he looks forward to planning the future of the club in association with McCann and Dempsey. Kelly's cousin, Michael, another part of the family synonomous with Celtic since the club's formation in 1888, will do all in his power to ensure that is not the case.
Last night, McCann was on a flight to Scotland from Arizona. He and Dempsey will today front a press conference at Celtic Park if the three directors who are under fire capitulate in the face of overwhelming opposition and change the face of a club where three families, the Kellys, Whites and Grants, have held sway for over a century. Should power change hands, Dempsey says he does not want to be a member of the new board of directors.
''It is time for a healing process to begin. Fergus can be the technocrat who is the club's figurehead. I want only what is best for the club.''
The installation of a new board would effectively dismantle the notorious voting pact entered into by five directors and put an end to the proposed move to Cambuslang on the outskirts of Glasgow. McCann and Dempsey have always stated their opposition to the idea of moving the club from its traditional base. The same resistance is unlikely to be applicable to any other sphere of the club's affairs, once control of Celtic is allowed to be transferred from one group to another without interference.