Former Celtic and Ireland goalkeeper and current member of the Football Association Ireland board Packie Bonner has suggested Celtic should takeover a League of Ireland club. The Donegal man believes Celtic should takeover an Irish club as an affiliate, in a similar way to how Manchester City have taken over clubs in their establishment of the City Football Group in recent times.
Speaking on Celtic’s official club podcast-Celtic & Ireland Legend Pat Bonner said the following:
“I’ve been talking to Dermot Desmond a few times I mentioned that we should have a club over there. We should have a club in the League of Ireland and run the whole thing. That will be lovely – a feeder club.
“Man City do it all over the world, why can we not do it? I know we’ve got a connection with Shamrock Rovers through what Dermot Desmond’s doing. But, buy your own club, that would be fantastic, wouldn’t it?
“The club is special. It’s got that connection with Ireland that’ll never change.”
Celtic have had many exciting young Irish talents at the club in the past decade, such as Luca Connell and Jonathan Afolabi, with almost all of them ultimately failing at the club.
Many Irish football fans have reacted sceptically at the idea of Celtic taking over a League of Ireland club, considering the clubs poor record recently in developing young Irish talent.
The multi club model has been a huge talking point in Irish football in recent times, with Fleetwood taking over Waterford and the Turkish owners of Hull City buying Shelbourne in the past year.
James French
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