Hugh ‘Nostradamus’ Keevins thinks Dermot Desmond caved to fan pressure when it came to Robbie Keane – Old Shug has called it wrong again…

Old Shug is at it again – Hugh “Nostradamus” Keevins.

The man whose predictions on Celtic, Ibrox and Hearts I’ve documented down through the years.

The man who told us, with a straight face, that we had a “zero per cent” chance of winning the title.

The same man who had Hearts running away with it as recently as April.

That Hugh Keevins.

He’s back, and this time he’s pulled a fresh one out of the crystal ball.

According Keevins, Dermot Desmond has gone all populist on us this week.

Read his piece in the Daily Record yesterday morning if you don’t believe me.

Apparently, our 75-year-old billionaire principal shareholder.

The absent golfing meddler who lives on the eighteenth green in Barbados.

Has gone full Glasgow Green over Robbie Keane.

Let me read that one back for the people at the back.

“Even Dermot is not so contemptuous of the fanbase. He’s respected their opinion that hiring Keane would be morally indefensible. Hence the deal done to extend O’Neill’s time in charge of the team for the coming season with the added burden of taking care of the club’s soul.”

Right.

Yeah, right.

The puppet master golfer.

The man who couldn’t even be bothered to leave Barbados last season while the club he supposedly “loves” was burning to the ground.

Has now developed a sudden, deep, soulful respect for the very fans he’s spent the last two decades treating as an annoying coffee stain on the Celtic Park boardroom carpet.

Pull the other one, Shug.

It’s got bells on.

Let me lay this out for those at the back, Hugh – and that means you too.

Dermot Desmond does not, and never has, done populism.

He never has.

He never will.

Never.

You don’t get to be a double billionaire by listening to the punters in the stands.

You get there by being absolutely ruthless, and by not giving a single solitary toss what anybody else thinks.

Don’t take my word for it.

Take Mark Pirie’s.

In the same paper.

On the same day.

In a piece that ran a few hours later than Old Shug’s pearl-clutching column.

Pirie absolutely demolishes the Keevins narrative.

“It is claimed that the anger from fan groups ‘were categorically not the reason why he ultimately failed to land the role at Parkhead.'”

Categorically.

Not the reason.

Got that, Shug??

Pirie even uses the word in scare quotes for emphasis, so even the most populist-narrative pundit in Scotland might just catch it on the second read.

Apparently not.

Apparently, Old Shug did not.

As I said in my article on Read Celtic earlier this morning – and I’ll point you to it again now.

I told you all this morning, when the Irish Independent dropped its breadcrumb piece, that Robbie Keane was always plan B.

Keane was always plan B because Martin O’Neill was always plan A.

End of.

O’Neill had first refusal, and Desmond was happy to let him stew on it.

Once O’Neill said yes, Keane’s interview ended.

Not because of the Bhoys Celtic banner.

Nor was it because of the Green Brigade statement.

And it wasn’t because of the supporters groups list that did the rounds on social media last week.

It was because Martin O’Neill wanted the job.

That’s it.

That is the entire list.

Did Hugh “Nostradamus” Keevins, the man with his finger on the very pulse of Celtic Park, somehow miss all of this??

He did, didn’t he??

I had to read his piece twice.

Three times, in fact.

Because somewhere between the “populist” framing, the “father of the club” line about O’Neill, and the chest-thumping about “continuity over conflagration”, the wee detail that the man making the decision doesn’t actually do populism has snuck out like an embarrassed cousin at a wedding.

Funny that.

Is Keevins for real here??

Stop the bus.

Did Old Shug really write – with a straight face, presumably – that the man who stuck with Neil Lennon in 2021 to spite the fans, instead of saving 10 in a row, has suddenly developed a working set of ears for the support??

He did, didn’t he??

Did he really??

Give me a f*****g break.

The Desmond who stuck with Lennon was a man making a point.

The Desmond who hand-picked O’Neill in October was a man making a point.

That Dermot Desmon?

Who let the Irish Independent run with the “earmarked” line yesterday afternoon is, once again, a man making a point.

And the point is the same one he’s been making for the best part of three decades.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, tells Desmond what to do.

Nobody.

And now we have the Irish Independent telling us, in big bold letters, that Keane has been “earmarked” as a future Celtic manager.

There’s a “strong chance” he becomes the boss “in the future”.

In Desmond-speak, that’s a year from now.

If Keane is still hanging about as a free agent in the summer of 2027, Desmond will be back at his door with the same contract in his back pocket.

Bhoys Celtic banner be damned.

Green Brigade statement be damned.

The Celtic support be damned.

That, Hugh, is what a man who does not “respect the fan anger” looks like.

Bollocks to the “populist” narrative.

Bollocks to it.

Hugh, I genuinely don’t know what to say to you any more.

You spent the back end of last season telling us we had a “zero per cent” chance of winning the title.

You spent the build-up to the final day insisting Hearts had it in the bag.

Now you’re telling us the dictator in Barbados has gone all Mahatma Gandhi on us over a manager’s appointment.

Mate.

Read the Mark Pirie piece.

It’s in the same f*****g paper.

The fans had nothing to do with it.

Categorically.

Save the populist take, Shug.

Desmond doesn’t do populism.

He never has.

And he never will.

Sorted.

Done.

Logged.

Moved on.

I rest my case.

Please keep the predictions coming, Hugh.

You’re the gift that just keeps on giving.

The one, the only, Hugh “Nostradamus” Keevins.

Six-in-a-row incoming, peepul.

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