Back to the Future, when Celtic needed a fan to write a big cheque

It was Back to the Future on Saturday afternoon, listening to Aberdeen rescue a point against Dundee was more like 1985 than 2015.  TV highlights suggest Aberdeen pounded Dundee, but three excellent goals were enough for the visitors to set the stage for Celtic to return to the top of the league against Motherwell on Wednesday.

Aberdeen have been imperious in recent months.  Incredibly, apart from Dundee and Celtic, they have failed to keep a clean sheet only once (at drubbing at Hamilton) since September.  That’s title challenging form in any language.

This run is unlikely to endure as the vagaries of form and fortune catch them up, but it appears our long wait for a notional title rival looks to be over.  Which is good.

Any business with operating expenses in the region of £33m a year, which is £2.75m a month or just over £600k a week, that had to borrow £500k in the first week of the month in order to pay an unexpected tax bill of the same magnitude, will by now be in urgent need of funds to pay rates, other tax liabilities, electricity and gas (no matter how little they used on Friday), while wages day is approaching.  And remember, those gardens don’t ‘duty’ themselves.

Newco Rangers will need a loan, or to sell a player for cash, to avoid imminently slipping into insolvency.  If Dave King is confident about carrying shareholders at a March EGM, and has the resources, he should loan the club money to get them through the next two months, no strings attached.  A bit like John Keane did for Celtic in 1994.  With insolvency looming, Keane, currently a Celtic director, but at the time an agitator for boardroom change, wrote a seven figure cheque, no strings attached, to pay-down Celtic’s overdraft, as the Bank of Scotland threatened to call in administrators.

Anything less than this is playing into the hands of Mike Ashley.

CQN11 St Patrick’s Day Dinner Dance is on Friday 13 March, at the Kerrydale Suite, Celtic Park.  The focus of an excellent night’s entertainment will be funding the construction of a kitchen at Chibwata Primary School in Malawi, for Mary’s Meals.

Email me if you would like to reserve a ticket, celticquicknews@gmail.com or book directly via the links at the bottom of this page.

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