The latest Sunday Times Rich List reveals that two Celtic’s shareholders are in the elite ‘off the radar’ section.
Dermot Desmond’s wealth is estimated at £1.467 billion but minority shareholder Denis O’Brien, from Cork. has almost THREE times Desmond’s wealth with a fortune estimated at £3.854billion.
O’Brien is the richest individual in Ireland with his fortune largely driven from his Digicel mobile phone empire. O’Brien’s main footballing connection is with the FAI where his personal contribution has underwritten the Giovanni Trapattoni and Martin O’Neill appointments.
Within Scotland the Grant-Gordon family are believed to be the wealthiest with a fortune worth £1.9 bn thanks mainly to the Glenfiddoch whisky range.
Entering the billionaire category is former Sevco tyre-kicker Jim McColl who is estimated to be worth £1.2 billion- which is around 100 times the current market value of the Ibrox based football club.
In England Arsenal shareholder- and would-be owner- Alisher Usmanov has suffered a bad year with his personal fortune ‘slumping’ by £2.65bn to just £10.65bn although Arsenal’s FA Cup win at the weekend will have provided some form of consolation.
Andy Murray’s win at Wimbledon last year has earned him a place on the rich list for the first time with his fortune believed to be worth £40m from winnings and commercial deals.
According to the list there are now 104 billionaires in the UK- but none in Motherwell- with the number of billionaires trebling over the last decade.
The Scottish football rich list includes Roy McGregor of Ross County and Aberdeen owner Stewart Milne.