The SRU comment that leaves Celtic with hope Dominic McKay could arrive early

By David Walton

February 25, 2021

The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) appeared to make it pretty clear for the most part yesterday that Dominic McKay won’t be arriving at Celtic early.

Chief Executive Mark Dodson said as much when asked about the situation at Parkhead. He would claim that McKay has a notice period to serve and stressed the importance for the SRU to be stable in their own right:

It looked as though that was the prospect of it dead then. That McKay would have to stay with the SRU until his official start date in July. However, that would be far too late to appoint a new manager – one of the key issues facing McKay ahead of the summer.

But it appears that all hope is not truly lost. In fresh quotes reported by the Scotsman, Dodson said the following:

“Until we’ve stabilised our business, until we can replace and make sure the business is in good enough shape, that’s the only time we’ll consider allowing Dom to move across to Celtic.

“It’s not about the money. That’s a short-term fix. If you get into those kind of compensation deals, then the most important thinking is making sure this place can run and function properly. That’s my job as CEO, to make sure, selfishly, that we look after this business.

“If there is a point in time when we can let Dom go earlier than that then I’m sure we’d try to work around that, but as it stands at the moment we are some way away from that.”

SRU chief Dominic McKay needs to be in communication with Celtic immediately

It doesn’t matter if McKay is arriving July or in the coming weeks – Celtic will need to be communication with him ahead of a monumental period for the club.

How hands-on the SRU COO will be is still up for debate. That hasn’t been clarified by anyone. It remains to be seen if he’s brought in to firmly focus on the business side of things at Parkhead.

But even so, with Celtic looking to hire a Director of Football plus a new manager, McKay needs a say. These are the two people he’s going to be working closely with. It’s essential, regardless of how loosely, that he’s involved in the appointment process.

Dominic McKay represents change at Celtic, but he needs to bring in a new manager / (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Make no mistake, there’s no way he isn’t keeping in touch with Celtic over the next couple of months. The scale of change is far too monumental to keep an incoming Chief Executive out of the loop. He won’t be getting his Celtic news by reading the Daily Record, Scottish Sun, or any other outlet.

Of course, he’ll be busy enough with current events at the SRU. That can’t be forgotten about either. He has important Pro 14 negotiations ahead of him as well and the upcoming Rainbow Cup to get through in April. Any official Celtic arrival may still be a short period yet.

But even then, he won’t be left in the dark ahead of his start-date. McKay’s influence will surely be felt at Parkhead in the coming months – even if he isn’t yet there officially.

In other news, a report has outlined the main responsibilities for Celtic’s incoming sports director.