Celtic Diary Tuesday October 1: Board Games

The revised fixture list for December was published yesterday, and Celtic will play nine times during the month, which seems a little much.

It’s also worth noting the times and the venues, with early excursions to Dingwall and Perth, and an evening trip to Edinburgh, when all the drug dealers are at work.

There’s not one Saturday 3pm game, and whilst there are a few re-arranged fixtures in there, did they really have to cram them all in during the most expensive month of the year ?

Already having forked out for European quailifiers, season books and new strips, the raid on fans pockets continues.

The board, however have yet to comment.

The board have also yet to comment on the bizarre refereeing of Kevin Clancy at the weekend. surely there is a case there to make all referee reports available to the public, such as his thoughts on match incidents, and his summary of why he made certain decisions.

Football is a business, and each decision made by a referee affects that business. Those who invest in that business have a right to know why and how certain decisions are made.

And remember, the SFa has no money of its own to pay these officials, it all comes from clubs, which means it all comes from supporters…and we must demand transparency.

And as for the ongoing Resolution 12 issue, combined with the doubts around the financial situation over at Ibrox, there has been not a word.

It appears they aren’t even worried about the lack of league sponsorship next season either. which brings us back to the ineptness of the game’s “leaders “.

In fact, it all seems a bit last day of schoolish, as rumours of a possible takeover continue to circulate.

All together now..

“Said Willie , to Peter, as they sat down to dine,

I’ve sent a wee note to an old friend of mine

His name is big Dermot, you will know who

and his time here at Celtic,

well, it’s nearly through…”

We hear some shite at Etims, but this one is on repeat…

And this is odd…especially now the Co op have been paid back, according to some sources at least..

From FootballTaxHavens..

Below is a copy of the Title GLA150218 which is Celtic Park.

Amazingly it is appears it is owned by Willie Haughey and he paid £1,000 for it on 4th August 2000.

Seems a low price even compared to Glasgow City Council’s usual discounting policy for land valuations given to Celtic.

Who knows what contrivance is behind it – questions please to Dermot Desmond, Celtic’s main shareholder at the next AGM. He became main shareholder after he bought most of Fergus McCann’s shares in 1999.

How this sale can be done at such a low price under the noses of shareholders I dont know. Maybe that is why the asset was price so low. There is nothing in the companies notices to the stock exchange so it kind makes a mockery of shareholder protection.

If Celtic wanted to protect their asset it could have been put in a trust or something neutral rather than selling it for such a low price to a businessman – even though he’s ‘Celtic-minded’ and previously been a director:

Almost a year after Celtic Park was acquired by Willie Haughey then security over the asset was given to the Co-operative Bank for Celtic’s current 34 million loan & overdraft.

Now I don’t think there is anything illegal about a third party, Willie Haughey, offering up the security for a loan from the Co-operative Bank to Celtic but if I was a shareholder it would be a worry. What other assets have been ‘arranged’ in such a manner? Are players next?

Regarding the Co-operative Bank though, I wonder what the value of the security is on the Co-operative Bank’s loan book? Do you think it will be £1,000?

Repayment of initial Co-operative Bank loan

Fergus McCann, talking of when he bought Celtic, says that the Co-operative Bank gave them a loan on much better terms than the Bank of Scotland. That was in 1994. But this was suddenly repaid by Celtic in 2001 under mysterious circumstances when the proceeds of a share issue did not get used for it’s declared purpose i.e. a training ground & team expansion. ( See previous post) Again Celtic shareholders did not have the full picture.

One thing is for certain is that Ian Bankier at the next Celtic PLC AGM will not be holding the title to Celtic Park unless Willie Haughey loans him it for the day. Somehow I think Big Dermot will be playing golf that day and may not attend the AGM.

Land Register Extract

©footballtaxhavens.wordpress.com 2014 

Could that explain why the board don’t seem to care about several ongoing issues ?

Is their custodial period about to draw to a close ?

There is no pleasure on criticising the board, some would argue that is all some of us do when we get the laptops out, but there are times when questions have to be asked, and as a PLC, shareholders and supporters alike have a right to demand answers.

But as is often the case in the murky world of business, just as in politics, the issue isn’t finding the answers, it’s finding the right questions.

If we were simply to ask if what the board are doing about, say, alleged corruption at the SFA and Resolution 12, they would simply reply that they are collecting evidence, like they did when they asked for a smoking gun.

They got the smoking gun, so the follow up must be

“When are you going to use it ? ”

As regards the SFA and their ineptness to efficiently run the game, why don;t the board at least attempt to hold them to account ?

More worryingly, why is a public company conducting any negotiations about any issue in private ?

Public companies should not be under the rule of institutions that do not offer transparency as a matter of course.

Yesterday, we had this..

Today..