Apparently, time for Rangers fans to step forward to save their club has passed. For the want of £500k any one or collection of them could have bought an exclusive period as preferred bidder and worked on a rescue but no one stepped forward.
It is perhaps worthwhile reflecting on our hour of need 18 years ago. Celtic had exceeded their agreed overdraft limit and the Bank of Scotland informed the club that unless the account was brought back into agreed limits that day, it would go to court to appoint an administrator.
Back then there were no transfer windows, so players could, and would, have been sold by the administrator the next day. Celtic would have been left with an unwanted shell of a squad.
Word of the impending doom spread around the Celtic business community and John Keane decided to act. He withdrew £1m from his account and paid it straight into Celtic’s account at the Bank of Scotland.
John did this in the hope that he could buy time for the Celtic Movement to pull a rescue together. The bank could still have withdrawn the overdraft the same day, which would have made him an unsecured creditor with no chance of a return. There was also no agreement signed to secure the transfer of the club from the old board, each member of whom would later be dealt with on an individual basis, as shares were sold, or in the case of Kevin Kelly, pledged behind Fergus McCann’s consortium.
John kept his money in Celtic and received a seat on the new board, which he retains. He declined to appear in the publicity photos on the steps of Celtic Park when the club was rescued and although he attends the AGM every year, he remains a quiet and largely unknown figure. He has since invested more in Celtic, money he will never see back, but which has ensured his family can block a Glazier-style takeover of Celtic.
I have spoken to him once or twice, although he doesn’t know who I am, but I have often thought he deserves a standing ovation at the AGM for what he did all those years ago. Maybe this year.
We can only wonder why there was not a John Keane across the city.
Very well done to the Daily Record for their excellent story about CQN’er Tony Conway today. Tony, who now lives in the United States, suffers from motor neuron disease and made the trip back to Celtic Park last year with his Dad, John, and brother, Martin. They spent time with Jinky’s son James and met a host of people at the club, including Neil Lennon and Billy McNeill.
Read it, it’s a great story.
Remember to keep an eye on the signed Celtic shirt being auctioned for Wellburn Care Home, it ends Monday.
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Just watched the Thai Tims at Lennoxtown with the players.
Looks to me that Mo Bangura ,think it is him , is sporting the same head wear as the fella sitting in front of Neil at the game on Sunday
the new strip meets all the requirements for me
it’s got a Celtic badge on it
blantyretim.
I won’t manage tomorrow,not well enough to come through.sorry.
Jelly & Gellato:
Never a big fan of Russell. Too Anglicised, too ardently British in his thought processes. He could never quite understan Wittgensteins later “Phiosophical Investigations”. He was very full of praise for the Tractatus, purely because it echoed his own views. Not exactly the attitude of a self-proclaimed free thinker. He was obviously a great mathematician. But he was not a big original thinker. Despite that his History of Philosophy is an absolute must read. He was a master at reviewing other peoples thought. Wittgensteins later thought is widely acknowledged as the greatest achievement of the 20th C, but old Berty couldn’t get passed the Logical-Positivist gig of the Vienna School. He was very disparaging of Continental philosophy, in particular Sartre & Heidegger- In typical upper class Brit style. Personally I think A.N. Whitehead was a better philosopher than Russell. Certainly more ambitious in scope. Still you can’t take away Russells pacifist convictions- for which he did time- he was no Gandhi, but still a man of strong principles. DH Lawrence once said of him: you are promiscuous because feel nothing below the neck. There was no doubt he was emotionally very shallow, adolescent even. A real serial adulterer, of which both Aldous Huxley & Lawrence, dissaproved strongly. I do think his Nobel Prize award is a joke. I mean writers such as Borges, Lawrence, Wallace Stevens, Orwell, Rilke, to name a few, never even won it. Always think the Nobel Prize is like Jinky & King Kenny never winning the European player of the year. Its a fix. An event riddled with politics.
Sorry for boring anybody who read this. Particularly you Jelly & Gelato.
Hail. Hail.
My wee budgie broke both his legs, so I made splints out of matchsticks.
You should have seen his wee face light up when he started to walk.
Bill Proxy seems to have little money so how is he funding his bid? The delicious thought occurred to me that Craigy Whyte is recycling the Ticketus money again……..the only man to buy a club twice with the fans own money!! A genius.
(can’t see it in reality but it’s in keeping with the Whitehall farce this has become)
The Treasury is based in Whitehall I believe :-)
canamalar-Best laugh of the day :}
Been briefed some stupid huns are going to stage some sort of sit-in at ibrox.
Not the pitch thing discussed earlier.
Reckon nearest pie stall will be the target.
HH
good evening cqn
has that horrible we kitman of the Rankers gone yet
canamalar
You need to spend more time in the shade:o)
Hail Hail John Keane
Edb, just woke from siesta, but yer right, I’m missing the cald dreech weather of my home town.
Will this boring sun sea and sand ever end :0)
Ernie Lynch:
They are financially illiterate…is there a form of economic dyslexia? Indeed, if you cannot count, then you will never understand elementary money matters- but thats what happens when you live oan a giro with yer maw until your forty-six.
A few rumours going about Paddy The Genius McCourt could be going to Qatar in the summer?
Embdy know any more?
Id start him every week but Id love to see this move happen.
QatarCSC
I think Bill (Windy) Miller is a pal of wee Craigy.He must be taking the p15h now he wants the 500K non returnable pledge to be returnable
Homebhoys phone-in comin up at 730 CPtime
http://www.spreaker.com/show/hail_hail_media
“Am an accountant”
Had a good chuckle at that.
Did notice none of the “expert” panel took the time to point out to her that they are already guilty. The FTT is an appeal.
A Son of Dan:
A sit in at an all-seater stadium?
That is stupid. That is premier league stupid.
Got it in first!
ernie
as we have discussed a few times before
the huns don`t seem to understand that CW owns the club and that he will remain so until he consents to a deal or the company is liquidated
And they want us to shut down our school so wur kids can be as stupid as them
Exodus allright allright, movement for the peepul
Open you’re eyes and look within, are you satisfied with the house you live in?
Who knows where you’re going and we know where you’ve been.
You’re leaving Govan town and going to a Partick land!
Oh oh oh oh oh Exodus allright allright!
V
Best bit of sense from Clyde in years..more!
.
OldTim..
Sorry Your Not Feeling well Buddi..Was looking forward to some Drinkies..
Hope You feel Better Soon..
001Bhoy
Ghuys
Calm waters at the moment, this is set-up for a last minute red herring, with the emphasis on the SFA and SPL not ‘tweaking ‘ the rules , causing Bill Miller to cancel his proposed visit, remove his offer and Bingo, the incubator is switched-off,
Weekend after next ghuys
I thought the huns had blown up Cylde fm
Vmahn,
They’ll need to go a bit further, partick is part of the govan parish
Estadio
Ah heard Paddy was going to learn to play the guitar !
Well time for dinner, a bit late, but when in Rome do as the Romanians do :0)
Ernie
Heard that stupid hun earlier. He was speaking slowly and precisely to make himself sound intelligent. To think that they can just ignore Craig Whytes shares shows you that they think the rules don’t include them. Embarrassing huns
Summa of Sammi….
Got your WhatsApp.
Im no answering.
Haha
EN
BSR.
Thai Tims with the team today
Children with a smile to match Cha-Du-Ri.
Heartwarming So looking forward to seeing them tomorrow & next thursday.
HAIL HAIL
I have to admit to having something of a generous nature- call it a character flaw if you will- that has on a few weak occassions made me feel almost sorry for der hun. I know. I know (Stop that hissing in the wings). Mainly because of decent Rangers fans I have the (mis)fortune. But then I go to the FF & Rankers Media sites& I suddenly become lucid again, like a drunk coming into sobriety- if fellow Tims waver at times, like myself, then take my advice & do the very same thing.
Clyde
No WAY were we down to 7-8000 crowds at Parkhead in the days of Gary Gillespie and Stuart Peyton.
Looks like Paddy is going,Qatar? Hope he makes a few quid if it is there.
monteblanco on 2 May, 2012 at 16:44 said
Cynic ;)
A question from a hun on rangers rumours ( I KID YOU NOT)
02 May 2012 16:52:40
spl clubs left sfa to form new league,so how does the sfa have durasdiction to apply a fine and transfer embargo on a spl club?
:)))) STUPID STUPID HUNS
There are 6 replies to this rumour. Click to view these rumour replies.
sparkleghirl-The worst thing about that programme is the constant lies that go unchallenged,i.e the season didn’t get extended etc etc.
Paul67
Your previous article has to be the poorest article you’ve blogged on here.
I have written a huge spiel on it but it doesn’t matter. If Celtic want a newco Rangers into the SPL, there’s nothing I can do about it.
All a bit sad really