There was nothing in The Herald’s interview with former Celtic Trust Chairman David Low today that was particularly new. The soundbite regarding Celtic’s vulnerability to ‘Qatari’ ownership was fresh, but Low has raised his concerns before as to Celtic’ position being wide open to a takeover before, and given Dermot Desmond’s controlling position, and his age -Desmond is 72 – you can understand why.
In his time with the Celtic Trust David Low made some admirable attempts to try and bring shares and the voting rights attached under the umbrella of the Trust, but sadly it appeared there wasn’t enough appetite from smaller shareholders, or perhaps the Celtic Trust wasn’t the vehicle to ensure success.
Either way David Low has always had concerns as to Celtic’s vulnerability to a takeover and the fans subsequently having no say in the running of the club should that transpire, as he outlined in The Herald today.
“Celtic are doing swimmingly. They are winning and they are extremely unlikely to ever be in a rescue situation. Corporately, they are very well run. (However), that hoary old subject, who owns the club. It was always very important to Fergus McCann and I, and to many others as well, that Celtic had the right balance between corporate ownership and fan ownership.
“To such an extent that Fergus committed to offering his half to the fans after five years to establish that balance. But not enough fans bought shares to enable them to own half. There were four share issues in 11 years (in 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2005). Fans were all shared out. There was a smaller and smaller fan uptake with each successive issue and that allowed corporate interest to get higher and higher. Dermot Desmond emerged as Mr Big.
“The fans’ influence has waned. When McCann and I were they held over a 50 per cent stake. It is out of synch a little bit now. This is nothing to do with the stewardship of the club or how it is run. It is just the way of the world.
“Dermot Desmond is in a controlling position. I am not saying this will happen, but we could wake up tomorrow and find he has sold his shares and control. It would not just be a case of him selling his shareholding like he did with Manchester United to the Glazers. As I say, with Celtic he has a controlling position.
“When you have that, you can find control has been sold to someone the fans don’t want. It has happened to Newcastle United fans, Everton fans, Manchester United fans. Fans have no say, it just happens. I am not picking on Dermot Desmond, it is just the reality of what could happen. It might be something that comes to a head.
“Ideally, the corporate owner of a football club wants to get as much as possible for their stake. They go through the motions and say: ‘I am only going to pass it on to someone with the best interests of the club at heart’. A lot of the time that is true, but a lot of the time it is not true, it is just down to the amount of money they have been offered.
“I just don’t want to find that Dermot Desmond has sold his shareholding to Qataris. As well as being a businessman, I am a fan and believe fans should have a say and an influence in their club if not necessarily ownership of their club. As Jock Stein said: ‘Without fans, football is nothing’.”
The Head of Supporters Direct Scotland, Paul Goodwin recently claimed, as reported by The Herald, that a fan ownership model could work at Celtic and believes the extra revenue created for the club via a membership schemes, similar to Hearts could be significant.
“Could Celtic become the next fan owned club in Scotland? If you crunch the numbers, absolutely. Potentially, Celtic could bring in £7.8m in additional revenue from their fans each year.
“Why wouldn’t they want that? Dermot Desmond isn’t putting £7.8m of his own money in each year.
“Fan ownership could give them a competitive edge. It is not that different from the way that Eintracht Frankfurt or Borussia Dortmund operate. They work with a membership scheme. It is a huge opportunity for them.”
It’s difficult to know why David Low has raised his head above the parapet nearly two years after stepping down from his position with The Celtic Trust, whether the timing is significant or it’s simply the anniversary of the Bank of Scotland demanding an immediate £1m deposit to allow Celtic to survive.
Dermot Desmond may well intend to pass his shares on to his family, indeed his son has attended the AGM on his behalf in the past, and has apparently held a strong interest in Celtic as a supporter, however Desmond has never said that is his sole intention. As such Celtic are indeed vulnerable to a takeover should Desmond decide to sell up yet we have been so for some time.
It would be interesting to know if the Celtic support would mobilise and raise the money required to buy Dermot Desmond’s shares should he intimate he was willing to sell. In theory it would be possible, but is there really an appetite amongst the Celtic support for a membership scheme that could raise enough funds to make Celtic a fan owned club?
Yet Celtic’s untraced share base is large. Many shares bought at the time of the Fergus McCann takeover, of which David Low played a huge part, have perhaps been passed on to family members, some may have lost certificates over the years, simply not updated their contact details, or there has been a lack of contact from the PLC itself. There is a lot of influence in the running of Celtic right there – should they be brought under one umbrella.
There may be no real fresh plans from David Low afoot, but if nothing else his interview with The Herald is a timely reminder Celtic are open to the sort of takeover the majority of supporters and perhaps even most shareholders would prefer to avoid.
There remain enough untraced shares out there, which if pooled together, could lead to the Celtic support having far more of a say in the direction the club takes, or indeed be in a position by way of a membership scheme or such like to be a realistic bidder for Dermot Desmond’s shares when he decides to sell – or to make him an offer prior to then.
The Celtic Trust may not have been the vehicle for David Low to be successful in bringing those untraced shares and smaller shareholders together, however perhaps a Membership Scheme with David’s insight behind it would have a better chance at success.
Niall J
