Dermot Desmond has given an in-house interview denying that the board has ever been involved in the recruitment of players.
It is unclear why the club’s biggest shareholder decided to give an interview with no big news to break other than the fact that he has no interest on selling his stake in the club and that he hopes his children will continue the family interest in the club that he invested in under Fergus McCann in 1995.
The issue of recruitment has become a thorny question in recent years.
In January 2019 Brendan Rodgers was very surprised when he was asked about signing Marian Shved from Karpaty Lviv. A few days later the winger was signed by Celtic and loaned back to the Ukrainian side, within a month Rodgers had left for Leicester City.
Brendan Rodgers confirms Maryan Shved’s imminent arrival at Celtic but appears less than enthusiastic about it: `”We have got about a million wingers, we don’t need another one”https://t.co/WAkJDJ2zmW pic.twitter.com/Jv4LYJmuC4
— Clyde 1 Superscoreboard (@ClydeSSB) January 23, 2019
Other players such as Vakoun Bayo, Patryk Klimala and Hatem Abd Elhamed have had very short Celtic careers, quickly falling out of favour with the management that signed them.
Three years after being signed by Neil Lennon Luca Connell, Jonathan Afolabi and Lee O’Connor are still waiting to play a first team match with O’Connor quitting for Tranmere Rovers in January, Connell and Afolabi are currently on loan at clubs in the third tier of Scottish football.
Speaking to Celtic TV Desmond said:
The manager of the club over the last 20 years has always decided on the players to bring in. Not the board, not anyone else. Researchers provide information for the manager, the manager the decision, maybe in conjunction with his coaching staff, he makes the ultimate decision, he is the chairman of the board.
Ange is the Chairman of the Board of Celtic as far as football recruitment is concerned, and all things football are concerned. He is the person and he is the person that takes the brickbats and takes the credits. So that is the recruitment policy, it is not the board that decides yes or no. What the board does do it will set out the budget that we can afford so that we can be financially prudent in the way that we run the club.
We do not want the club to get into a financial state where the club goes into liquidation and there is going to be a new Celtic. We want our history to be continuous, not to be curtailed through financial mismanagement.
1 minute 50 seconds
CELTIC TV: When were you first aware that Celtic wanted to sign you?
BBM: For myself I think that I heard it last week. Last week there was contact with my agent, directly I said yes, you cannot say no to a club like Celtic. For me it was a great opportunity for my career.
CTV: Have you had the chance to speak to the Celtic manager yet?
BBM: Not yet but I think that will happen in the next ten days, we’ll see each other and have a good conversation.
Nice dig at Rangers there.
“We do not want the club to get into a financial state where the club goes into liquidation and there is going to be a new Celtic. We want our history to be continuous, not to be curtailed through mismanagement”
That’s pretty emphatic. And a wee message to others.
He’s said that knowing the fans will lap it up but it’s a distraction from the fact he’d just blatantly lied to the fans. We all know the Lawwell treated the club like his personal game of Football Manager, and he wasn’t very good at it. DD pisses on us from a great height as usual…
Just shows you, either side of the Glasgow divide, boards don’t give a toss about what their fans think.
Yes you’re right as there’s no way that Lawell didn’t have a hand in picking players over the heads of managers. Still nice to hear him saying it though. Just wish he would come out and trash the old firm crap in public
With fergus bringing him in that should be good enough for any Celtic supporters. He is the type of shareholder the way he talks will not let our club go into debt like where the other lot are ,if he stays in the Celtic family at least the shares and our club will not dilute,
I don’t believe that for a minute. Lawwell thought he was the director of football, therefore he was picking the players, and doing a poor job of it.
Good to see Ange picking his own players, the positive impact is there for all to see.
Lawwell leaving was one of the best things to happen to Celtic in the last 20 years.
Desmond needs to leave, and he can take his family with him. Him and the board are holding the club back. An analogue club in a digital age.
Poor we soul coudnt have got a ticket for The Masters and with nothing else to remembered he was involved in a football club