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How Gavin Masterton almost killed Celtic

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Gavin Masterton newsFresh evidence has emerged of just how close Gavin Masterton came to closing Celtic.

In the early nineties, as a director of Bank of Scotland, Masterton was effectively the king-maker of Scottish football controlling the banking facilities for almost all of the top clubs with Bank of Scotland becoming the first sponsor of the SPL in 1998.

Credit was easy to come by in those days for those with the right connections with David Murray, the shining star of the Thatcherite era, the golden boy of the banking community.

Murray International Metals were given limitless funds which Murray channelled towards winning the European Cup for Rangers with Duncan Ferguson, at £4.2m in the summer of 1993 the most expensive player in British football.

The old Celtic board would have struggled to run a corner shop as they lapsed from one disaster to the next with the sacking of Liam Brady and appointment of Lou Macari, who brought in Carl Muggleton, Lee Martin and Wayne Biggins, summing up the direction the club was going.

The early days of 1994 were particularly difficult for the old dynasties with performances on the pitch nosediving under Macari while the malcontents among the support invested their faith in the ‘dream-team’ partnership of Brian Dempsey and Fergus McCann.

Crisis point came after a Scottish Cup third round defeat at Motherwell while the overdraft approached it’s limit with continued backing from fans and sponsors under threat.

Picking up the story in the Sunday Mail Celtic director Brian Wilson reveals McCann’s anger twenty years on at the way the club was treated by the Edinburgh establishment of the Bank of Scotland.

Roland Mitchell, head of BOS Glasgow, was charged with the task of closing Celtic down, no doubt with the approval of Masterton through at Bank of Scotland HQ.

Graeme Souness Rangers newsWilson explained: “On March 3, Mitchell told club chairman Kevin Kelly that cheques would only continue to be honoured if “by 12 noon tomorrow a cash collateralised or otherwise acceptably supported guarantee for the sum of £1million is put in place to support the bank’s overdraft”.

“The other condition was that McCann “superseded” this with “a £5million cash collateralised guarantee” the following week. McCann flew in from Canada to meet that challenge.

“But he remains bitter about his treatment by BoS who, he believes, did not wish him to succeed in buying the club. He recalls: “I had taken them completely off the hook. They were never going to collect the £5.2million they were owed otherwise. Ten months later, after the bank had been fully paid off, Charles Barnett, Celtic’s interim financial director, went to BoS to learn what they could offer in loan finance.

“Their proposal was £2.5million fully secured – little more than an insult. Later, we obtained £10million unsecured from the Co-op Bank in Manchester.

“What I resented enormously was trying to do a business deal in Scotland and being treated that way.”

Masterton’s power came to a halt when Halifax took over the Bank of Scotland and started to examine the unique business practices that were commonplace in Scotland, especially through football.

Further pain came when Lloyds TSB took over HBOS with the banking collapse of 2008 requiring the government to take over the entire Lloyds TSB group.

Without the unquestioning backing of Masterton Murray’s empire came under proper financial scrutiny with Craig Whyte finally buying Rangers in 2011 for £1- five years after Murray had first attempted to sell the club.

Less than a year after taking over Rangers Whyte put Rangers into administration with liquidation following soon after.

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  • Treble T says:

    Joe, I have no worries about competing against any club that plays out of Ibrox. They can be Zombie1, Zombie 2, son of Zombie (Who cares what version they are), as long as it is done on a level playing field, with no underhand advantages being given to the “establishment team”.

  • Mike Bhoyle says:

    And they said we were Paranoid….
    Bastarts….!!
    Mon The Hoops…

  • paranoidandroid says:

    “Yeah, but all you Celtic supporters should chip in to save Sally and sevco. You should ignore all the money that’s disappeared, forget all the cheating they did, give sally a war chest, and let them cheat again. It’s for the good of Scottish football, don’t you know?”

    Yours sincerely,

    Campbell Ogilvie,

    Prince of Darkness. Er…sorry, President of the SFA.

  • Thomas Haverstock. says:

    Only in Scotland could this happen That one person could tell a PLC that he was going to close in and refuse to help it out My the boys at the lodge must have been so proud of him I but look where he is today and the other Big guy hideing in the South of France Hail Hail JMJ

  • Colin Hunter says:

    I wonder what the laptop loyal will make of this, boycott the CO-OP will be the cry tomorrow and reported to the E U JUST BECAUSE THE WEE MAN CAME UP WITH THE GOODS AND SAVED THE HOOPS, NO ADMINISTRATION NO LIQUIDATION, AND TO REMIND THEM THAT DESPITE ALL THE HELP FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT THEY STILL WALK IN OUR SHADOW, AND IT ALL STARTED ON MAY 25th 1967. Hail Hail

  • celticalways says:

    Amy recollection is that Liam Brady resigned. Don’t remember that he was sacked but maybe he realised he was about to be sacked.

    Don’ t think all the blame can be laid at BOS’s door. Think Celtic had reached their overdraft limit. Because of fans’ boycott, attendances were down to under 10,000, mostly season ticket holders. With no extra revenue coming in, Celtic could not service the overdraft. It was the boycott that forced BOS’s hand but I’m sure Fergus’s gripe was that the BOS had allowed the overdraft to get to that level. I’m sure I remember reading that the old board were having to negotiate with BOS to pay the players’ wages. If the BOS had acted earlier, Fergus would have come in earlier.

    If indeed the BOS offered Celtic a loan of only £2.5m after the successful share issue, then Fergus was right to be angry. However, I somehow recall that one of Fergus’s first moves after he moved in was to switch Celtic’s account to the Co-op. It may be that the BOS limited its loan facility simply because at that time, Celtic did not have an account with the BOS. Not a reason to turn down a reasonable request from a highly successful businessman.

    • Joe says:

      I think you are missing the point. I agree that mis-management caused the situation. However, the vultures then saw an opportunity to attempt eliminating the biggest club this country ever had to open a door for their establishment team to rise to be the sole challengers for evermore.
      Don’t forget, this is what you may be voting yourselves into when asked to vote for an independent country. Think how in the Scottish courts in recent years, a thig who physically attacked Neil Lennon and was seen by millions on tv doing so, got off with a “not proven” verdict. Only two weeks ago some retard who posted about parcel bombs for Lennon should have “done a better job” was let off too. Police in Scotland target Celtic fans week in week out, and dare I say it, the refs and SFA/SPL/SPFL combination, having been outed with the exposed bias and bigotry of dallas, mcdonald etc, are rebuilding. They have already started with the son of the exposed bigot dallas already caught red handed last week blatantly helping Sevco in a game by awarding a non-penalty when even Sevco players didn’t know what it was for! Beware, and be careful what you wish for!

      • gabe smith says:

        and the forgot to report blacks booking that would have seen him banned

      • celticalways says:

        Joe

        If it was indeed Rangers’ intention to destroy Celtic, then they failed miserably. The outcome today reminds me of a Chinese proverb – before setting out on a mission of revenge be sure to dig two graves. Or, more Scottish, never pick a fight unless you know you’re going to win.

        Rangers always had access to more financing than Celtic. Celtic went down the wrong road when Murray went on his spending spree. Stuart Slater, Andy Peyton and Mike Galloway were never going to take Celtic back to the top.

        In the 60s, Rangers went on a spending spree – Dave Smith, Alex Smith, Alex Ferguson, Tommy McLean, Colin Stein – fat lot of good it did them. In the late 80s and early 90s, the Celtic old board played right into Rangers hands. The old board were the real villains, turning their back on Fergus McCann when they should have welcomed him with open arms.

      • Andybhoy says:

        All these things happened without independence, so what’s your point? Is it we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t vote for independence?

        Celtic fans pushing the Unionist line, never thought I would see the day!

  • john says:

    This makes present day reality all the more pleasing. Glasgow Rangers gone and almost forgotten.

  • larsson7 says:

    Sympathy for Sevco Zilch.
    The bunnet had their cards marked.
    Farry the Caddette mistake,
    Celtic fans want them back.
    I will not be happy to the Bullfozers move in.
    And bring along SDM, Masterton,Malcolm Murray,the lot
    of them to Watch it,oh how I wish…………….
    ps I forgot the msm as well.
    as I always say,does not make me a bad person

  • peter says:

    Great article,Joe.

    Wee St.Fergus was bitter,with the bitterness shown towards our club by the
    BoS.

    Scotland’s Shame,was then,as.is now,
    prevalent in business circles.

    But,all us Tims, are revelling in the demise
    of the establishment’s club.
    They can’t bring themselves to admit they
    died.
    Their torture, is our JOY.

    Hearing graham speirs,last night on radio
    scotland,say the CLUB died,not the company nonsense,was MUSIC to our ears.
    I could imagine,Zombies throwing radios
    out of many a window,as Speirs spoke with great honesty.

    St.Fergus will never walk alone !!

  • sam mckeown says:

    I wonder if Masterton is still around to see what became of his evil plans.

  • dublinbhoy says:

    Ha…isn’t karma a real vengeful bitch?

  • sligotim says:

    Celticalways the truth masterton was behind all the dealings, its a well kent that when murray went into any of scotlands bank offices he had carte blanc loans, there is a story that murray asked how they could beat us, so insteps masterton a lot lf other clubs had bigger debts than us, so d;nt come this crap we reached our limit, time you remember its scotland we live in that great wee BIGOTED COUNTRY yes I used capitals cause W A T P not them

  • johnny gal says:

    what goes around comes around , that’s why they are where they are

  • Dmunitas says:

    Fergus McCann… legend! Deserves a statue outside the stadium. I remember in the Jansen year I thought he was out of order, despite him saving the club, stopping ten in a row & signing Larsson!!

    I’m the first to hold my hands up and say that I was wrong. Thanks Fergus!

    • Aldo says:

      Legend is right. HeaAlso got henke signed up on a new contract. Get a big bronze bunnet in place before the commonwealth

    • peter says:

      Dmunitas,

      St.Fergus stuck rigidly to a 5 year business
      plan.
      Yes, the late,great, Tommy Burns wanted
      2 players, to stop 9.
      Yes,those players might have made the
      difference ( the reason he was booed )

      But, St Fergus’s vision was long- term.
      Revered by all the top.players, as best
      atmosphere and stadium in Europe.
      This was down to.the bunnet’s foresight.

      So our short term pain, has more than
      been made up, by our long term gain.
      As we look at where we sit today, compared to our former rivals, who were
      forced to die.

      Yes,Fergus is a saint in my eyes.
      I sit in the North Stand, which should be
      called the Fergus McCann stand.

      We should start a campaign, to re- name
      this stand after him.

      Anybody agree ?

  • Tosh67 says:

    Closing my BOS account down first thing tomorrow HH Fek em

  • The Jedi says:

    Fergus MaCann stand would be a very good idea as I to sit in the north stand- the wee man was a visionary

  • Tony Cassidy says:

    Fergus flew in to the UK from Pheonix (happy irony !) , and of course John Keane put down the £1mill, what a legend !

    Paul Larkin also refers to Angus Grossart, a buddy of Masterton and Murray. Up to their neck in it !

  • Celts agogo says:

    Is this why Fergus was booed ?
    The way some of u fellow Celtic fans behaved then and now is embarrassing……..

    • peter says:

      Celts agogo,

      What do you mean by behaved ?

      Fergus was booed, as posted above, due to not financing,Tommy Burns ( rip ) to
      stop 9. FACT !!

      Who is embarrassing who now ? Expand ?

  • Eddie Cantwell says:

    WE STILL WON

    you can read all about this and murrays attempts to close down celtic in-depth in the @theasteriskyears the Edinburgh establishment v Celtic . Paul larkins latest book .

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