A breakdown of Celtic’s ownership and powerbrokers….
After a first domestic loss at Celtic Park in two years, concerns around where the club is heading have been raised by supporters once again.
Figures at club such as Chairman Peter Lawwell and his son Mark (Head of Recruitment) plus the CEO Michael Nicholson have been subject to much of the criticism, with the trio the conductors of the club’s recruitment in the summer transfer window, a window which can only be described as a catastrophic failure. Chants of ‘Sack the Board’ and Lawwell, Lawwell get to….’ were both loudly chanted at the game on Saturday as the supporters made their positions very clear indeed.
The boardroom at Celtic has been labelled ‘the old boys club’ by many fans, with the average age of members of the board standing at 62 years of age.
Dermot Desmond
Dermot Desmond is the club’s largest shareholder, occupying 34.64% of the shares, at a valuation of £51 million.
Desmond has held his position as a member of the board of directors and largest shareholder since 1995. Ranked as the ninth richest man in Ireland, Desmond previously held stakes in Manchester United up until 2005 when he sold his shares in the club to Malcolm Glazer. When a Celtic manager is being appointed Dermot Desmond is usually centre-stage making the judgement calls and ultimately choosing the man of the job.
Chris Trainer
Christopher David Trainer holds the second largest amount of shares at 11.02%, at a valuation of £16 million.
Trainer sold his business The Forrest Media Outdoor Advertising Company, reaping more than £32 million from the sale. However, even though the Scottish entrepreneur holds the biggest single stake in Celtic after Dermot Desmond, he doesn’t hold a position on the board of directors. Perhaps that’s down to his own choice. This is even more baffling when you consider former Chief Executive of Celtic Peter Lawwell, who is a member of the board, holds just a 0.3763% share in the club.
James Keane
As the third largest shareholder, James Mark Keane holds a 6.247% stake in the club. Keane is the owner of Woollen Mill and Kiltane, and is a big name in the clothing market in Scotland. However, like Chris Trainer, he too is not a member of the board of directors despite his large stake in the club.
Tom Allison
Thomas Allison holds a 3.549% stake in Celtic while occupying a position on the board of directors. He has held a position since 2001 and holds much more influence than Trainer and Keane who although have a greater stake in the club, are not members of the board of directors. He’s been referred to as the’ eyes and ears’ of Dermot Desmond so has considerable importance at the club.
Minor shareholders
The rest of Celtic’s equity is owned by various investment companies, alongside Swiss bank Banque Lombard Odier & Cie SA and also club Chairman Peter Lawwell. The Celtic Trust have been running a campaign which targets owning 5% of the club.
James French
Listen i dont care who owns the biggest shares in CELTIC FOOTBALL CLUB 1888..our team are strugging at this moment we have a 5 point lead but The Ranjurs 2012 have 2 games in hand our next games is Livingston home dundee away and then the cheats of scotland come to paradise on the 30th dec which we need too won the 3 games añd hope they slip up and then its January and we wait and see what BR brings into the club hopefully atleast goalkeeper LB..CM.. and 2 experience players who are strong and big and help us get this title because its straight into the CL yet again and fuck giving they cheats of liebrox the 38 million so come on BR surely you’ll not give clement this title so buy good players in and hopefully it gives our team a big lift and get us going for 3inarow.Hail Hail to the celtic family loves yous and our club..
It’s more like 60m next season as the format changes to playing 8 games against 8 different teams in a big league!
Landsell Train ?