Tackling celtic's big issues

Celtic football club would seem an attractive proposition for any prospective buyer. Almost debt-free, profitable, with a massive support, a romantic history and a solid chance of annual Champions League entry, Celtic would seem at least as appealing for businessmen as, say, Manchester City, the latest in a string of several Barclays Premier League clubs to have been taken over.

However, one man holds the key to Celtic's future. Dermot Desmond, Celtic's major shareholder, did not rule out the possibility of a takeover at Celtic Park when I interviewed him in depth for Celtic - The Official Biography, a publication that examines the club's characteristics and story in detail, but he emphasised that he would set down strict conditions of entry for anyone wishing to gain control.

"If somebody came along," Desmond responded, "and said that they were going to do something absolutely amazing, outstanding for Celtic and that they wanted to buy my shareholding and I felt that they could do a much better job than me or that they would be a better shareholder than me, then Iwould certainly release my shares. But there would have to be evidence that they were going to do that because my interest is in the greater good of Celtic.

"They would have to have the resources to do something absolutely amazing for Celtic. I would impose conditions. As far as I am concerned, talk is cheap and people would have to do something in a tangible way. If they were theoretically going to buy my shareholding they would be buying it on the basis that they did bring major added value and they would have to commit to that."

Despite having the wealth to own Celtic outright, Desmond has stopped short of taking full control of the club and, although his powerful influence on Celtic is indisputable, there is a fine distinction in his being Celtic's major and not majority shareholder.

"People have suggested to me that I make a bid for the club and take it private," he said. "I'm not saying that would never happen but I'm not interested in that because I think Celtic Football Club is a family. It's not about one family, it's about the greater diaspora of Celtic supporters and therefore I think it's better to have a broader level of ownership.

"I think about my investment in Celtic as an emotional investment rather than a pure financial investment. I'm not looking to sell my shares. I'm not looking to generate a return on my shares. My other financial investments give a rate of return over a period of time, whether that's three, four, five, six, seven or 10 years but I don't measure the rate of return on Celtic; that's not on the horizon. In terms of financial logic, it is not met."

No match in Celtic's history has invoked greater discussion of the financial differences between the participants than this week's encounter with Manchester United. That the Old Trafford club could afford to spend more than £30m on Dimitar Berbatov, the Bulgarian striker, demonstrates a financial gulf between them and Celtic.

England's premier clubs have embraced a culture of debt in recent years; two years after the 2005 takeover of United by the Glazer family, the club were £604m in the red while Chelsea, their Champions League final opponents last May, floated there on a tide of loans from Roman Abramovich, their owner, that totalled a staggering £619m in 2007.

The long-term effects of this are unpredictable. With the ongoing rumblings in the financial markets and figures showing most clubs in England's top flight to be in serious debt, it provokes speculation as to which FA Premier League house of cards might collapse first.

Celtic have plotted a steadier course since the mid-1990s, when Desmond made his initial investment in the club, purchasing £4m worth of shares, the first in a series of investments from the Irishman.

On meeting him at his central Dublin offices overlooking the River Liffey, I found him to be a man of dry wit, good humour and even temper; the only flash of annoyance from him coming at mention of the old chestnut that, despite him having spent millions of pounds underwriting several share issues at Celtic, some of the club's supporters believe he should donate even more of his fortune freely to the club. I get that all right, about splashing the cash or putting my hand in my pocket or giving more money to the manager," Desmond said. "For those people, I really have no respect or regard whatsoever. When people say that you can just solve all problems by throwing cash at it, it's absolutely stupid. It's an insult to my intelligence. So those people, if they've got lots of money and they want to throw cash at it, we'll take it every time from them "I don't believe in burning pound notes or euro notes or whatever the currency is. To me, if you start that approach, you'll go bust pretty quickly. It doesn't make any sense and what you're doing is deferring a problem. You're propping up something that doesn't have a foundation and it'll soon collapse.

"What we are trying to do is build the club. Nobody has the divine right for success. It's not a formula in football: it's an art picking a manager; and then it's an art finding players; and it's an art then of putting the right team together. The only concern I have going forward is that we retain people of the calibre of Peter Lawwell and Gordon Strachan and that we continue to improve our structure, personnel and playing staff. We're brave enough and strong enough that in difficult times we'll stick together and won't panic and won't have any witch hunts. I think part of what makes Celtic strong is that in tough times we are united not divided."

These tough times have come in the financial world but Celtic seem recession-proof. One aspect that became clear in researching The Official Biography of Celtic was that, without the intervention of Fergus McCann and then Desmond in the mid-1990s, the club would have become a different and less substantial entity. It would have become a club that could only have dreamed of competing in the Champions League.