Celtic have been a fractured club with tensions between the fans and the board boiling over at certain points of last season.
The Celtic board have been severely criticised by fans for their handling of transfers, progress in Europe and for the banning of supporters, namely the Green Brigade from Parkhead last season.
Dermot Desmond is the figure that most Celtic supporters believe is the root cause of the problems at the club and it seems that misinformation about the Celtic Supporters Limited ‘buying out’ the majority shareholder has been doing the rounds.
Well here, the group has moved to clear that up with a statement on X.
Do you think Dermot Desmond would really consider selling his Celtic shares?
Celtic Supporters Limited address Dermot Desmond ‘misunderstanding’
As Celtic fans know, there are two groups that have been set up to try and force change at the club. The Celtic Fans Collective and the Celtic Supporters Limited.
And here, the CSL have spoken out after being accused on social media of ‘misleading’ Celtic fans over buying out Desmond.
They posted on social media, “We will address this directly because it’s a genuine misunderstanding of what CSL is doing. CSL has never said there is a plan to “buy out Dermot Desmond.”
“We haven’t said it in the paper, on the podcast, or in any public communication. If you can find where we did, please share it. What CSL is building is an organised shareholder voice.
“The Companies Act gives shareholders specific rights, to requisition resolutions (5% of voting rights, Section 338), to requisition general meetings (5%, Section 303), and to block special resolutions (26%). None of these require buying out anyone.
“They require coordination. Celtic PLC has approximately 29,000 shareholders. Most hold shares through nominees and have never exercised a vote. CSL exists to organise that fragmented base into a collective block that can use the rights those shares already carry.
“That’s not misleading anyone. It’s corporate governance. It happens in every listed company where shareholders organise, from activist funds to institutional coalitions.
“The only difference is that Celtic’s shareholders are also supporters, which apparently makes the concept harder to take seriously. As for “a rerun of the 1990s”, the 1990s shareholder movement saved the club from extinction and funded the stadium you watch football in.
“If that’s the comparison, we’ll take it. The naivety isn’t in organising shareholders. It’s in believing that 29,000 people holding shares in a company should have no collective mechanism to exercise the rights those shares give them.”
Dermot Desmond and Celtic
Even if the CSL did plan to buy out Desmond, there appears to be no appetite from the Irish billionaire to share his stake in the club.
Despite the tensions between him and fans, Desmond is clearly going to stick around for the foreseeable future and in the unlikely event that he does leave the club, his shares will most likely pass on to his son, Ross.
So while Celtic fans are in a serious rush to force change at the top, they can forget about the CSL looking to buy out the shareholder. It’s simply not going to happen.
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