Dermot Desmond’s role in Celtic’s recruitment has always been viewed suspiciously by supporters.
The official Celtic line as confirmed by Desmond’s statement against Brendan Rodgers last night, is that the Celtic manager and only the Celtic manager has final say on who the club buy and sell.
That official line has been doubted for years by fans as many believe that the board, including Desmond, have far too much input in Celtic’s transfer business.
Well, it seems that those suspicions are proved correct by ACSOM’s Paul John Dykes as he shared conversations he’s had with former players and managers about what Desmond and the Celtic board actually do when it comes to player recrtuitment and retention at Parkhead.
When Gordon Strachan and Paddy McCourt said Desmond signed Celtic players
As Celtic continue to claim all aspects of recruitment is controlled at the manager, it seems former managers and players completely disagree.
Paul John said on A Celtic State of Mind, “Okay, I’m going to bring up as many comments as I possibly can. We’ll bring this one up, ‘The board don’t pick the team or tactics’.
“No, they don’t, but what they do is they meddle in the recruitment of the players that you have at your disposal to pick, right?
“And that, in itself, can affect the tactics as well. But just as a point, right, we did a show on Friday night, and what I did on that show as I went right back to Gordon Strachan’s time, no hearsay or whatever.
“And I based this on people we have spoken to. So Gordon Strachan, when he was a manager at Celtic, didn’t sign all the players that Celtic signed, and he confirmed it.
“And Paddy McCourt confirmed it that Dermot Desmond who was buying players for the manager, right? I mean, the guy doesn’t own Celtic. He’s got more shares than anybody else, and through whoever else is quite happy to vote in his favour.
“Yeah, he has control, but he does not own Celtic. He’s not the majority shareholder. He’s got 34.7% yet he’s buying players. And there will have been many others.”
When Dermot Desmond signed Roy Keane for Celtic, and others
And the most famous of Desmond’s alleged signings for Celtic? Roy Keane of course.
Paul John continued, “You remember the Roy Keane interview, where he signs for Celtic, Gordon Strachan told him, ‘I don’t want you’.
“And Roy Keane felt I’m going to prove you wrong. So who signed him then when Gordon Strachan doesn’t want him?
“So you can go right back to Gordon Strachan. Trace it back to there. How do we know that? Because we spoke to Gordon Strachan and Paddy McCourt.
“You then move on. Who’s the next manager up? Tony Mowbray. You speak to Peter Grant, his assistant. He tells us similar tales, not only buying players, but selling them.
“They didn’t want to sell Donati, they didn’t want to sell Danny Fox, but they sold them under their nose. You move on to Neil Lennon.
“Who did we speak to under Neil Lennon? Joe Ledley, and there’ll be others. Joe Ledley did not want to leave Celtic, Neil and didn’t want him to leave Celtic. Celtic sold him anyway.
“This is the club meddling and transfer business, right? Ronny Deila. Craig Gordon. Ronny Deila had nothing to do with Craig Gordon coming to Celtic. We signed him before Deila even signed the contract.
“And there was others he was presented with because John Collins told us. So this is all backed up. It’s not hearsay. John Collins told us they didn’t want Carlton Cole, they didn’t want Colin Kazim-Richards, but they went and signed them anyway, right?”
The signings the Celtic board have made for Brendan Rodgers
Paul John went on, “And then you move on. Brendan Rodgers starts off. Fine, absolutely. He calls out Shved. Where did Shved come from?
“Has it got anything to do with Dermot Desmond and Ross Desmond’s friendship with Shevchenko? Aye, probably.
“But Shved wasn’t his signing, Marvin Compper wasn’t his signing, that’s why he left. Did Ange Postecoglou come over from Japanese football thinking, ‘I know what we need for the midfield. James McCarthy, let’s give them a four year deal’.
“We know the answer to that guys, right? And then you move into this season, and people are saying what are you talking about the board are signing off players?
“I asked the CEO the question four Monday’s ago, and he claims that Brendan is the guy that signed off all these players.
“If that’s the case, why do four of those new signings not make the Europa League squad? And then when you really need them, like Yamada today, he’s miles of it.”
So when it comes to the brass tacks of Celtic’s recrutiment, who do you believe when you are told that the board and Desmond don’t interfere with the Parkhead club’s recrutiment?
The major shareholder or former Celtic managers and players? I’ll let you decide.
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