Celtic’s largest shareholder Dermot Desmond is on the brink of making a major investment into League of Ireland club Shamrock Rovers.

The Irish Times are reporting that the club’s board will meet to approve a €3 million investment into the club.

It is thought the investment will obtain Desmond significant influence at the club.

The Irish Times are reporting that the investment is being made by Desmond personally, rather than by Celtic as a football club.

The Independent reported in January that Celtic were possibly looking at buying a stake in the Irish club.

However, it looks very much like Desmond is preparing to plough money into Rovers on his own behalf.

The major investment will see Rovers able to compete with Dundalk in terms of finances in the League of Ireland.

Although the major investment is being made by Desmond personally, it is hard to imagine any investment taking place without Celtic’s interest being peaked in the club.

Celtic would presumably benefit by having an option of any Rovers’ player who attracts significant interest from other clubs.

Of course, Celtic hired Damien Duff at the start of the year. The Irish internationalist had been a youth coach at Rovers before moving to Celtic.

Duff is now first team coach in the wake of Brendan Rodgers’s departure to Leicester.

Much ado about nothing

It is unlikely that the major investment will have any huge consequences for Celtic.

It is most likely a no-lose scenario for the Scottish Champions. Desmond himself is providing the funds for the investment, Celtic’s interest will purely be on the football pitch.

There may be regular friendlies between the clubs, although Rovers may not be in favour of that. They lost 7-0 to Celtic in Ireland last summer.

There is also the possibility that the next League of Ireland star will find his way from Dublin to Glasgow.

Although it probably means very little, the next Paddy McCourt or Niall McGinn may be Celtic’s to lose out on in future.

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