Those on the Celtic board are getting verbal pelters left, right and centre.
This comes after Celtic’s woeful 2025 summer transfer window and the lack of proper backing Brendan Rodgers got throughout the window.
The man sitting at the top of the tree at Celtic is the club’s majority shareholder, Dermot Desmond, and he isn’t a popular man right now.
How much of a say does Desmond have on Celtic transfers? And how many players currently in the squad are Rodgers’ signings?
The Celtic players Dermot Desmond has pushed to sign
According to journalist Andrew Smith, and in truth, it won’t surprise the Celtic fans, there are a few players in the squad who are signed by Desmond, as he told PLZ Soccer.
The name of Luke McCowan was mentioned, including how he ‘wasn’t the manager’s’ signing, but somebody brought in by Desmond last summer.
Smith also mentioned two players signed this summer, from the J-League in Japan in Shin Yamada and Hayato Inamura.
“Dermot Desmond, he actually could have had a director of football,” said Smith. “He trumps everybody. He will, ‘Oh, I think we should sign Johnny Kenny, so they sign Johnny Kenny.’
“Apparently, Luke McCowan was his signing, not the manager’s. The manager wasn’t that (shrugs his shoulders). He doesn’t go, ‘no.’
“But it’s like Shin (Yamada) and Inamura. It’s like, ‘Alright, if the club are bringing them in.’ But they aren’t his players.
“It’s not as if he says, ‘I don’t want this guy’, and they bring him in. It’s a bit more nuanced than that.”
McCowan’s stats at Celtic
McCowan is a boyhood Celtic fan, and when he signed from Dundee last summer, he was met with open arms by the supporters.
The all-action midfielder has looked pretty lively in the green and white colours, but he hasn’t been a regular starter or earned enough minutes.
Therefore, the noise around a player like McCowan not being a Rodgers signing isn’t a surprise, as well as Inamura, who, as soon as he signed, the manager was suggesting that he would be loaned out, and he isn’t ready for the first team.
- McCowan’s games at Celtic: 47
- Starts: 19
- Goals: 8
- Assists: 9
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