Hugh Keevins has cast serious doubt over Dermot Desmond’s long-term future at Celtic, suggesting the time is right for American investment to rescue the club.
Celtic are currently navigating what is arguably the worst mess of Desmond’s entire tenure. Many saw it coming a mile off, but this campaign has still been brutally painful.
Either way, Keevins, who doesn’t get many things right regarding the champions of Scotland, has hit the nail on the head about the club’s current state.
“My position and I have been consistent with this,” Keevins stated early in his recent assessment. “I have a feeling that Dermot Desmond has taken Celtic as far as he can… the club has fallen into sharp decline.”
The relationship between the Irish billionaire and the Celtic Park faithful is now completely broken beyond repair.
And come the summer, the supporters are demanding change of the highest order.
Do you think Dermot Desmond would really consider selling his Celtic shares?
Hugh Keevins says Dermot Desmond’s time is up at Celtic
Not even the romantic return of Martin O’Neill to the dugout last October has been able to fix the glaring off-field issues.
Brendan Rodgers is probably Celtic’s greatest modern-day manager after O’Neill himself, but he was booted out in brutal style by Desmond, which led to the 74-year-old’s shock return.
This deep-rooted dysfunction was perfectly highlighted by the recently abject and abandoned Celtic AGM, an embarrassing fiasco that only made matters worse.
With the club operating at ‘ground zero’ and still lacking a chairman months after Peter Lawwell’s resignation, Keevins believes the solution lies across the Atlantic, claiming interested American investors could create a ‘green and white 49ers enterprise.’
While that specific comparison is rather badly worded, given the obvious Rangers connection, the underlying sentiment is hard to argue against.
Celtic fans would overwhelmingly welcome Desmond moving on so that new life can be thrust into the club, and Keevins is backing him to do so, as he stated on Clyde 1.
“My position and I have been consistent with this,” said Keevins. “I have a feeling that Dermot Desmond has taken Celtic as far as he can. Dermot Desmond, over a long number of years, has been very good for Celtic.
“But the club has fallen into sharp decline. There are so many things that are wrong. They need to be rid of almost the entire first-team squad. They need to bring in players of quality. They need to make the right appointment as manager.
“And the relationship, or the lack of any relationship between Dermot Desmond and the Celtic support, is now very, very obvious.
“They still don’t have a chairman. Months after Peter Lawwell resigned. And they are a club who are back at ground zero. They need to build up. I am not sure that those who are in charge at the moment are capable of carrying out that job.
“Dermot Desmond, for me, wouldn’t care what any Celtic supporter thought – in America, there will be people who, I think, would be very interested in Celtic.
“The only description I put out there is a green and white 49ers enterprise. I think that’s what Celtic need, because Celtic, the Desmond family and the supporters aren’t as one.
“If Desmond backrolls, whoever the new manager is over the summer time, they will need to get the managerial appointment absolutely correct.”
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