Celtic must clarify Dermot Desmond’s role at the football club
Celtic may have added some decent additions to the squad this window but that doesn’t change the fans scepticism of the overall governance at our club. The fans rightly have concerns about the corporate structure at Celtic and how that will impact the clubs growth and progression moving forward. There is one key area that the club must address before the fans can accurately analysis the current situation at Celtic Football Club.
What exactly is Dermot Desmond’s role at Celtic?
We all know Desmond is Celtic’s principal shareholder but what does that mean for his actual involvement in the day to day running of the football club? For years fans have suspected the Irish Billionaire has had too big a say in the management of Celtic. Especially for a guy with roughly 30% share in the company. Yes he’s the principal shareholder and a non executive director but is he really involved in transfers and other major decisions at the football club?
It is unclear to the ordinary supporter how much influence he actually has over major football decisions taken by the club. For example, when the club decides a price is too rich for a certain player, is that coming from management or is it Desmond? What about when the club looked into redeveloping the main stand? Was it the CEO Michael Nicholson who decided it was too expensive or did he have to run it past Desmond? If so then why?
What exactly is the long term plan for Celtic and who is making these major decisions. These are the kind of questions that need answered before fans can decide whether they are happy for the principal shareholder to hold the level of power we suspect he does.
The fan base deserves to know
Does Dermot Desmond approve major transfers?
Does he determine transfer budgets?
Does the chief executive require his approval before committing significant sums of money?
How heavily involved is he in appointing managers?
Can he veto major decisions?
Who determines the long term strategy at the football club?
These aren’t unreasonable questions. The club answering these would go a long way to helping the fan base decide whether there is a problem with the current corporate structure of the club. The fact that he won’t attend the annual AGM suggests he isn’t too keen on answering these questions directly.
Time for clarity
This isn’t to say that Desmonds influence is inherently good or bad for the club. It’s most definitely a combination of the two. However, as a fan base we are unable to judge and assess his influence and impact on the club until we know exactly what his role is these days. There are clear and obvious benefits to having a billionaire backer involved with the club but does it hold us back in other ways? Ideally, the club would benefit from a backer like Desmond who steps back and allows the club to manage itself effectively but is there to support when needed. However it looks from the outside like this is not how Celtic are currently operating.
Celtic should come out and explain his exact involvement in the day to day operations of the club. Only then can the fan base and shareholders of Celtic deem it acceptable or unacceptable. With so little info we are all guessing and reading between the lines. The Celtic support should make it a priority to get the club to publicly confirm the roles of key individuals and what they do for the club.
If Nicholson runs Celtic’s day-to-day operation with substantial executive authority, tell supporters that. If Dermot Desmond has to approve signings and managers, then let us know. The fact that Celtic stay very quiet around matters of this kind leads me to believe the fans would not like the answers to the questions. As I said, we’ll never know until we establish the facts. Only then can the fans decide whether they are happy to continue down the same road for the next 20 years or whether change in how the club operates is needed for the long term good of the football club.
Tim Lisbon
All views expressed on Celtic DNA are personal opinions and are for commentary and discussion purposes only
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Current squad review: What Celtic still need before the transfer window closes
Current squad review: What Celtic still need before the transfer window closes