In 1994, when the Bank of Scotland told Celtic they would not pay wages the next day as the club was overdrawn, the old board had finally run out of road. That evening, chairman, Kevin Kelly, informed John Keane of the situation. Keane asked his manager at Bank of Ireland to deposit £1m in Celtic’s account at Bank of Scotland as soon as the branch opened the next morning.
Keane had been one of those working to open Celtic up and break the stranglehold of the three families who had largely controlled the club for decades. He became a director when the old board was replaced and retired from that position today.
That £1m payment was made without control or agreements, there was no guarantee it would save the club or that the old regime would actually move on. Keane later said, “Administration was unthinkable. It would have been a slur upon the name of the Club.”
Had the wages not been paid, Celtic would have entered administration, and this would not have been like the Craig Whyte-appointed Rangers administration. High earners would have been released, anything sellable would have been sold. Celtic would have been left with the lowest cost squad able to fulfil fixtures.
The most striking aspect about John Keane is his contentment for others to take the limelight. He tells no one what he did. It has never been about him, always Celtic.
Not all Celtic heroes wear hoops.
323 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
Ah, on seeing Jobo’s post, Inspector Clouseau called and told me it’s Tuesday. 😃
🍀⚽️
HUnderbirds – 6.45pm on Tuesday.
G’ mornin’ Jobo…………
a cloudy start in Corcaigh with the promise of sun later. Very muggy.
This season, more than others, feels like the fitba’ has never been away.
The mental pressure on players , never mind the physical stuff, must be relentless now.
HH
What have we done to the world of football’s Right Backs.
For love nor money we don’t seem to be able to find one who’ll come.
Nobody wants to follow the Tache it seems.
…saying that, bouncing around tnat big daft, inflated English market is only going to bring us pain.
I guess that’s what happens when the scouting effort is, err, not up to scracth…
Just reading Official site where Celtic wish bon voyage to our departees. Eleven first team squad members & seven reserve team squad members are individually name checked and wished well. Everybody except the cleaner & Marvin Compper,
BIGWAVY – we’re likely to bounce around that big daft Ayrshire-based market as a last minute fallback!!
Two other RBs we could have a swatch at:
Guillermo Varela (Copenhagen)
Abbubaker Mobara (Cape Town)
Someone mention Clouseau…:)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=omek-g6_LAQ
HH
With the caveat that he may have been misquoted, I find Olivier NtCham’s recent comments extremely disappointing. Personally I have always thought that he was too inconsistent in a Celtic shirt. One good game, would be followed by two or three mediocre performances, and every so often one terrible game. Given his lack of a consistent impact in the Scottish game, his recent comments about being “untested” here are laughable. His comments are dripping with arrogance and hubris. His (non-) performances at Iborcs and Paisley last season were symptomatic of his self-serving personality.
I vaguely remember his manager after his loan spell in Genoa(?), commenting on his attitude being poor. I also vaguely remember Frank de Bear commenting on Dirk Boeriggter, at the time of his transfer, saying that he was a bad trainer, and did not have the mentality to match his skill set. We really have to start researching players personalities, just as much as their physical and footballing abilities, as both of these expensive flops illustrate.
Finally, I am annoyed at NtCham’s comments, in the sense of him revealing his poor mentality, to prospective buyers. He may think the “I would thrive in a more competitive environment” persona, is helpful in attracting interest from Marseille, or whoever, but I suspect potential buyers will wonder why he is not ripping it up in the SPFhelL, and see his comments for what they are- arrogant. These comments could negatively affect any fee we receive for him, however at this stage I think it is more important that we just get him out the door. His continued presence at Celtic, will have a bad effect on the team mentality. He should also be kept away from the first team squad until he is sold.
It’s a pity, with a better attitude, he could have been a top player.
🍀⚽️
Good sign, that we didn’t rush in a squad filler to play RB against Sarajevo.
Confident we’ll spend decent money for the position, Crystal Palace are considering a 25M Euro
bid for Timothy Castagne, last years target.
Neil Lennon in Sweden CSC
Quadrophenian
I travelled daily from Busby to Holy Cross, and occasionally attended lessons in between dogging off in Hamilton and the surrounding area!
HH
Emerald
Never liked Wullie Fox, should have taught me French but was a wee bully, can’t stand
his son Liam either.
Jack McLaughlin ( Black Jack )
Doc Douglas
Henry Duddy
Frank Morgan
Jimmy Gordon
Frank Doyle
Wee Gall
Big Reid
Tommy Moules
Mrs Costella ( Wee Bella )
Jimmy McCormack
Matt Fox
Wullie Fox
Wee Gus ( Donnegan? )
Big Ryan
Kelly ( chemistry teacher sister of Michael Kelly Lord Provost )
CQN????????
HCCQN…………………….
:)
IBlameTheSkools. CSC
FRIESDORFER
I was a St Joe’s primary bhoy – roughly what vintage were you commuting to HC?
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 7TH JULY 2019 10:05 AM
Good sign, that we didn’t rush in a squad filler to play RB against Sarajevo.
If Anthony Ralston plays , he plays. That single factor should not prevent us getting past Sarajevo.
Some careful shopping required to get a Boli type signing for RB where it might become a factor in the
later rounds. (Hopefully).
There’s a new blog up, Paul67 hasn’t posted that there is a new blog uo and running.
I hear what you are saying Bourne, but right back remains a gaping hole. If we scout a suitable guy this is not the time for cat & mouse bidding. Even if we have to pay a little over the odds we need to close it out asap.
The other option is to get a loanee not ideal but at this stage I’d take one again if properly scouted.
BSR….how about McCarthy? A poor history teacher with an equally poor “personality”?
Pierce who failed to teach me french ;)
Once I’d lived a couple of years in France, it didn’t take me long to be fairly fluent. Says quite a bit about his teaching abilities :)
AN TEARMANN @ 7:12 AM,
I’m grand, hope all’s good with you.
Maybe you are picking me up partially wrong.
What my head scratch was about, was not the appropriate and fulsome praise our CEO gave to John Keane. I’m sure it was heartfelt and it’s also one of the many things Big Pedro excels at.
My point really was the comments that seemed to suggest that if a Director, namely John Keane, was worthy of unwavering praise then we should be less critical of our CEO.
Now the strengths and (perceived;) weakness of our CEO have been discussed on here many times. He is an undoubted controversial figure – whether deserved or not.
My question was really; is there substance to those posters who brought PL onto the thread, with regard to his involvement with John Keane (which as you say, PL has been around as a Celtic supporter for quite some time), or is this to do with the said posters pushing forward the PL agenda, to present our CEO in reflective glory?
Now it could be there is real and genuine part our CEO played in this and PL deserves credit in this regard. Yet it seemed to be Dermot Desmond that Mr Keane singled out for praise.
Then we had Fergus McCann confirming John Keane’s pivotal role.
So my point was, what part did Peter Lawwell play in this?
Hail Hail