DERMOT DESMOND SHOWS CELTIC FANS HOW ITS DONE!
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- Sep 24
- 3 min read
Clarity and transparency are absolutely crucial to the proper running of any business.
No business can function if those who put their hard-earned money, time and effort into it, don’t believe those funds, and that toil is being properly utilized to the maximum benefit of all stakeholders and members.
On that point, I’m going to say something I very rarely, if ever, have said before. I am in 100% agreement with Celtic’s largest shareholder Dermot Desmond.
So, I was delighted to see Desmond go public this week with the demand, under threat of court order, that a sports club he has dedicated much of his time, effort and personal wealth towards, has its finances laid out with complete transparency for all to see.
Unfortunately, though, that club isn’t Celtic. In fact, it’s a club that the vast majority of Celtic fans would probably never be welcome at, or be able to afford.
Golf Club Dispute Highlights Utter Hypocrisy of Desmond’s Attitude to Celtic Fans
Desmond let it be known this week that he is considering taking legal action against Queenswood Golf Club.
The exclusive club charges members £175,000 for share in the club (something all members must purchase) and then another £48,000 pounds as a “playing privilege fee”.
This is, naturally, in addition to the annual membership dues of £13,000.
Desmond feels he’s been ripped off, overcharged, made to pay excessive fees, to undeserving, overprivileged owners of a club he loves that isn’t living up to the high standards he expects.
Perhaps for the first time ever in my life, I actually feel a sense of empathy with a billionaire.
It would be laughable if it wasn’t so blatant. Desmond continues to refuse to even acknowledge the very reasonable demands of Celtic fans for communication, openness and accountability in the Celtic boardroom.
Yet, for the sum of £6.5 million, barely even pocket change to someone like him, he’s willing to go to court, fight it out, and demand his proverbial pound of flesh.
Perhaps it’s a wider commentary on the utter sociopathy that seems to come with excessive wealth. Or maybe its just Desmond himself who is this ignorant and oblivious to the total and utter hypocrisy of his actions this week.
Celtic fans protest, ask for dialogue, and we are not even considered worthy of even a contemptuous response. But the minute even a tiny fraction of Desmond’s own money is, in his opinion, taken from him under false pretenses, he goes to war.
Don’t tell me a man of such wealth, experience and supposed business acumen is that naïve or stupid, that he can’t see the obvious implications of this situation.
Most major shareholders in public limited companies at least go through the motions of pretending to care what us ordinary customers think of them.
Desmond can’t even be bother to feign such enthusiasm.
Maybe its time we took our protests to the golf course, then this billionaire buffoon might finally take notice. He seems far more comfortable, and competent, on the fairway than he ever has at Celtic Park.
