GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - MAY 17: Celtic Chairman Peter Lawwell, Majority Shareholder Dermot Desmond, and Chief Executive Officer Michael Nicholson (L-R) during a William Hill Premiership match between Celtic and St Mirren at Celtic Park, on May 17, 2025, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Alan Harvey/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Dermot Desmond won’t be a happy billionaire when he hears about the contents of the Scottish media today.
It won’t quite wipe away the enjoyment of being at The Masters as Rory McIlroy retained the Green Jacket but his Celtic problem is growing.
Across the media there is stinging criticism of Celtic’s largest shareholder by Frank McAvennie.
Normally Desmond wouldn’t pause for breath on hearing the views of the former Celtic striker.
To him McAvennie is a joke figure best summed up by the caricature created by Jonathan Watson in Only An Excuse.
The faded blonde from the eighties and nineties, part of the Stringfellow’s set that lived their life around the front pages of the tabloids.
At the same time Desmond was getting lucky with some business deals, in the early nineties contact was made with Celtic. For 25 years he has held over 30% of the shares in the club.
Desmond’s wealth is genuinely off the radar.
He doesn’t scrape around the media fringes. Pushing a podcast or appearing at Q and A sessions giving away the dressing room secrets from 30 years ago.
MCAVENNIE GOES BADLY OFF MESSAGE
Ahead of Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final someone at Premier Sports decided to get the former Celtic and St Mirren striker to talk up the match.
This morning McAvennie has all of the headlines.
That news will reach Dermot today from his son Ross. As well as berating anti-establishment fans one of Ross’s tasks is to keep Daddy upto date with news in and around Celtic. The old school publishers and those ungrateful fan media types.
This morning the coverage isn’t favourable.
Inside Hampden McAvennie put the boot into a billionaire. These things shouldn’t happen. Memories of a flustered, sweaty Ross reading out a letter from Daddy at the Celtic AGM remain very fresh.
McAvennie isn’t the sharpest of business brains.
He does watch Celtic closely, he can see when a club is progressing or is falling apart.
He can tell that Wilfried Nancy is a dud of a manager, much like the CEO that decided he had found the ideal replacement for Brendan Rodgers with the useless Frenchman
Three main bullet points sum up the criticism from McAvennie.
THE CHARACTER ASSASSINATION OF BRENDAN RODGERS
The statement that he [Desmond] made against Brendan [Rodgers], somebody should have said, ‘No, you’re not doing that through Celtic, that should be through you, that shouldn’t be through Celtic.
We’ve never been that kind of club and it was a crusade against him, wasn’t it?
UNDERMINING OF BRENDAN RODGERS
Brendan’s getting found out to be right
He said: ‘If you want to progress then I’m your man. If you don’t then I’m not that kind of manager.’ And he’s being proven right, isn’t he?
ROSS DESMOND’S MESSAGE TO THE CELTIC AGM
I just think there are ways to do it. And then Dermot putting his boy in and calling them bullies, you just don’t do that.
Someone at Premier Sports will be on the receiving end of an angry call from inside Celtic today.
McAvennie has summed up the delusions around the self declared best run club in European football.
As ever Martin O’Neill will have to provide the reply when he faces the media on Friday.
He’ll probably pretend that he hasn’t read the McAvennie quotes. Or make a joke about his age and say that he’d love to have prime McAvennie in his squad for Sunday.
That is if anyone in the invited media audience defies orders and asks O’Neill for his reaction to the criticisms from Celtic’s 1988 Scottish Cup hero.
NOTE: Celtic fans will be able to see the golfing skills of Desmond at the 2026 Dunhill Cup between October 1 and 4 at St Andrews.
Don’t like Macca tbh but wish Desmond and Co would sell up and let us be the best we can be.
Unfortunately Joe the tax dodger and his silver spoon son aren’t going anywhere….looks like we’re stuck with Desmond, but look on the bright side thanks to him we’re the best run club in Europe and have a ball of money in the bank……?
In the episode of ‘Icons of Football’ dedicated to Frank McAvennie there was mention made by his (loathsome) agent Bill McMurdo of wealthy businessmen freeloading from the generous and easily-led McAvennie during his West Ham days.
I suspect Frank has met a lot of people like the Grand Old Duke of Cork and is probably better qualified to speak about them than many others. Frank in some ways is like the antithesis of McCoist – a simple enough soul who calls things exactly as he sees them on the fairly rare occasions his opinion is asked – rather than a mendacious, duplicitous, two-faced media whore…… Frank was also a success in England’s top tier, another area where they diverge.
Frank McAvennie’s absolutely spot on with that and it’s (the article) the very best and most uplifting thing I’ve read in weeks.
However, on another note. I well remember a bastardisation of The Celtic Song with words like ……”it’s a Grand Auld Team tae go tae jail for”.
Point is, I live in NW England and don’t intend travelling to Saint Andrew’s in North East Scotland purely to get arrested and jailed. However, if we had a cunning plan………I’m in.
McAvennie was a great striker for Celtic…
Fancy getting the old fu**in boots on again Frankie Bhoy !