Keevins’ notion that Desmond will broker a take over at Celtic is utterly fanciful. Dermot Desmond will own his shares till the day he dies

Hugh Keevins must have been desperate for a story this weekend due to the fact that Celtic were back to winning ways.

Because the doozie he came up with today is total fantasy.

In fact there are so many holes in this story, it resembles a Swiss cheese.

I’m not even going to get into his notion “that it might be a good idea if someone were to come in and make a takeover bid for the club to give Celtic a fresh dynamic“.

Keevins states that Dermot Desmond is “owner in all but name”.

He’s not, he’s the principal shareholder, so the reality is that he might be in a position to sell his shares to someone else if he wanted, but that would still not bring about a takeover.

If Keevins was any good at his job, he would know that in order for that to happen, then the people potentially taking over would need to secure 51% of the company’s shares.

If Desmond sold his Celtic shares, whoever purchased them would acquire 34% of the club shareholding.

And that would then make them the principal shareholder.

This would not be a takeover.

But I can see exactly where Keevins pulled that notion into his article.

And he did it to create the following controversial statement:

A takeover before they are overtaken by the club across the road on the other side of the city. For the first time in the last 15 years, R*****s have internal stability in the boardroom and financial security as a business concern because they are owned by 49ers Enterprises. From the time when R*****s went into administration, and then liquidation, in 2011, they have failed to be credible opposition to Celtic.

First of all, I’m going to set aside the situation at our club.

I’m giving that plenty of coverage at the moment anyway.

Yesterday’s result and performance showed everyone what they didn’t want to see, a resurgent Celtic, back in this title race.

If the Celtic board manages to take their finger out of their arse and get us a prolific striker, then there is going to be nothing standing in our way of landing this title.

I firmly believe that.

Martin O’Neill will deliver it, because he knows exactly how to get this group of players playing fast, fluid, attacking football.

With the added bonus of being able to defend.

So Keevins’ fantasy of the Ibrox side overtaking Celtic is exactly that, a fantasy.

True to form, though, Keevins made several blunders in just one sentence in that statement.

Rangers 1872 did not go into administration, and then liquidation (which Keevins refuses to acknowledge, except when he blunders) in 2011.

That all happened in 2012.

Then again, a proper journalist would know that, wouldn’t they?

Keevins goes on to renege us with a blow by blow of what’s gone wrong at Celtic this season.

Which we’re all acutely aware of, to be fair.

But there was one more ridiculous comment from him, which once again fails to recognise what the Celtic fans are trying to achieve this season:

The day-to-day running of the club’s business is being harmed by the team on the park who struggled under a manager who appeared not to know what he was doing. Successful team, successful business. Unsuccessful team deserted by a disgusted support? Trouble. Failure to win the league title to Hearts, or a Rangers team universally accepted to be not that good, would be a monumental embarrassment of Celtic’s own creation.

Unsuccessful team deserted by a disgusted support??

Let’s get one thing straight, this Celtic team has never been deserted by a disgusted support.

Even throughout the disastrous Nancy experiment.

Granted, exasperated fans might have vacated the stadium when we were losing abysmally in games.

But that was simply because they couldn’t stomach any more of what they were watching.

And when fans knew that the games in question were well and truly beyond us.

But we never, ever, desert the team that we support.

Keevins rightfully mentions that there could have been a boycott yesterday, but that would only have happened if Nancy was still the manager for the Dundee United game.

That was a last resort.

As a result of the disgust we feel towards the Celtic board for having put us in that position in the first place.

The reality is, had Nancy been in charge yesterday, we would most likely have lost another game.

Regardless of whether fans had boycotted or not.

The idea of a boycott was to force the board into the realisation that the Nancy experiment was over, and no longer tenable.

Just like Michael Nicholson’s position at the club is no longer tenable.

The longer he stays in his position, the more of an insult it is to the intelligence of the entire Celtic support.

Yesterday’s banner from Bhoys Celtic, while saying very little, said everything it needed to.

As has been the case over the last few weeks, there are parts of Keevins’ article which are on the money.

But as I highlighted recently in an article, with Celtic in freefall at boardroom level, critcisism of Celtic from the media is akin to shooting fish in a barrel.

There isn’t much that you can get wrong.

Keevins still manages it though.

In the below segment, he actually believes the balance of power in Glasgow is shifting:

But they are failing to see the bigger picture. The balance of power in Glasgow is undergoing a shift in front of their eyes for reasons that have nothing to do with limited footballers – but everything to do with a regime who jettisoned Nancy but jeopardised their prospects of retaining the title by hiring him in the first place.

Once again I’ll reiterate it, Celtic under Martin O’Neill will win this title.

Every player, to a man, will run through walls for O’Neill.

That was clearly evident yesterday.

Limited footballers or not.

Whether Keevins chooses to accept it or not, Celtic still has the strongest squad in the Scottish Premiership.

At the time of writing, Hearts have just secured a hard fought win while down to ten men at Dundee.

Former Celtic keeper, Craig Gordon, at 43 years of age, just made a world class save in the final minute of injury time to ensure they left the city of discovery with all three points.

Their defensive display while down to ten men was masterful.

Dislodging them from top spot is not going to be easy.

It is them that we need to worry about, not the Ibrox side.

Hugh Keevins seems to forget that entirely.

Someone might need to remind him that there are three sides in this title race?

Then again, he might realise that if it wasn’t for his O** F*** fixation?

And Rangers 1872, who got liquidated in 2011, but they didn’t.

But they did in 2012, but they didn’t when it suits Keevins’ narrative.

And Dermot Desmond will sell his Celtic shares.

Takeover imminent, with a shift in the balance of power in Glasgow.

You catch the drift.

Waffle, waffle, waffle.

From an old fart past his sell by date.

Number of days Michael Nicholson remains Celtic CEO since Wilfried Nancy’s sacking – 6

Key Takeaways

• Hugh Keevins’ claims about a Celtic takeover are baseless and demonstrate a lack of understanding of shareholding structures.
• The notion that Dermot Desmond’s sale of shares would lead to a takeover misrepresents Celtic’s ownership situation.
• Despite criticism, Celtic’s strong squad and potential under Martin O’Neill signal a bright future and title contention.
• Keevins fails to acknowledge the current strength of other clubs, particularly Hearts, in the title race.
• Recent media commentary on Celtic seems overly critical given the complexities at the boardroom level.