THE struggle for control of Celtic will focus again today on the

consortium headed by Fergus McCann and Brian Dempsey. The two

businessmen will call for an extraordinary general meeting of the club

at which they will put their #17m rescue package to the shareholders.

The group was repelled at the annual meeting held towards the end of

last year, but this time they have won the support of two directors,

chairman Kevin Kelly and Tom Grant, who have rejected an offer of #300 a

share made by another group of businessmen: Gerald Weisfeld, Willie

Haughey, and Paul Waterson.

This group had initially been staunch supporters of the McCann-Dempsey

plan, but appears now to be split, though both sides seek the same end.