When Celtic loses goodwill of fans they are in trouble – Brian Dempsey | OneFootball

It’s not often we’ll refer to the Hugh Keevins column in the Sunday Mail, although Ordinary Bhoy sometimes like to have a laugh or two about some of the daft predictions – for example, ‘ANGE’ meaning Absolutely Not Good Enough after two or three games – or radio rants about Celtic throwing away two points when St Johnstone equalised deep into stoppage time, only for Celtic to score a 96th minute winner 30 seconds later while Hugh was in mid ‘doom and gloom’ Celtic bashing rant mode.

St Johnstone v Celtic – cinch Premiership – McDiarmid Park Celtic s Giorgos Giakoumakis centre and team mates celebrate after the cinch Premiership match at McDiarmid Park, Perth. Picture date: Saturday October 8, 2022. Photo Jeff Holmes

So he’s not that respected in these parts it’s fair to say, sad really given that he’s a Celtic man at heart. But making a living in the sports department for the mainstream media outlets over the decades he’s been doing it, well, sacrifices had to be made…

An exception today as Hugh Keevins in his column spoke to Brin Dempsey, one of the prominent figures who ‘saved’ Celtic in March 1994 and famously stood at the front door at Celtic Park alongside Fergus McCann and said “The game is over. The rebels have won.”

Keevins was a prominent reporter at that time and has used his contacts book to get the views on the current situation at Celtic – were over 400 supporters organisations have signed a letter of protest and all the supporters associations have past votes of no confidence in the Celtic Board after a shambolic transfer window, crashing out of the Champions League to to lowest ranked team in the play-offs and issuing that mad statement around 9pm last Saturday night with those running our club actually thinking that was the right thing to do.

So what does Brian Dempsey make of it all and Celtic hits choppy waters once again? He starts by referring to Dermot Desmond and the crucial role that he played last time around, and perhaps this gives us some understanding of the current regime’s money hoarding ways.

Dermot Desmond prior to the Celtic vs St Mirren Cinch Premiership match at Celtic Park on May 20, 2023 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

READ THIS…Prominent supporter Auldheid proposes a Celtic Fan Membership Service

“I have to be honest and say my original thought was that Dermot might be an opportunist, but I was wrong,” Brian Dempsey said to Keevins as reported by Daily Record.

“The deal to remove the two families, the Kellys and the Whites, who controlled the club could have been done without Dermot but it couldn’t have been completed properly without his input of cash.

“He consummated the arrangement. That is why I look on with sadness and in disbelief at what is happening now between Celtic and the supporters of the club.

“When an institution like Celtic loses the goodwill of the fans then they are in trouble. They need to get it back quickly by being honest, sincere and genuine. And the most urgent need is to convince the fans that the Celtic hierarchy does have ambition,” Brian Dempsey said.

The Celtic Board. Celtic Champions 2025. Dundee United v Celtic, 26 April 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star).

“I would struggle to understand how the board can continue to oversee a situation where there is a lack of mutual respect between the club and the fans. I would never refer to the Celtic support as the customer base because they’re not customers.

“They are people who, over the 30 years since the takeover, have put tens of millions of pounds into Celtic and who make personal sacrifices to go on doing so.

“The club are financially indebted to them and must never forget that. The fans are now, as they were in 1994, the ones who make Celtic a viable company with their relentless purchase of season tickets, merchandising and everything else on offer from the club.

“And yet we have come to a situation where there will be an organised boycott of the first 12 minutes of the game against Kilmarnock. And how ironic is it that the opposition happens to be Kilmarnock.

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“The last game Celtic played in 1994 before the takeover campaign got into full swing was against Kilmarnock at Celtic Park, when disillusionment had reached the stage where the crowd was only 10,000 strong.

“The Celtic fans are the salt of the earth and the club must never overlook that fact. To have a feel for Celtic you have to understand the depth of feeling for the club that exists among families who go without in order to back the club to the hilt.

“They know the club is theirs because it is in their minds, their hearts and their pockets.”

Brian Dempsey also has sympathy for Brendan Rodgers, who he doesn’t know personally, after that disgraceful backstabbing briefing from a ‘Celtic insider’ last weekend. The Celtic manager certainly called that out brilliantly on Friday at his media conference that took Celtic over three hours longer than usual to post on their social media channels.

The club’s website hasn’t referred to what Brendan had to say about that cowardly action.

Brendan Rodgers, Manager of Celtic, acknowledges the fans prior to the Premier Sports League Cup match between Celtic and Falkirk at Celtic Park on August 15, 2025 . (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“I don’t know Brendan personally but I would find it reprehensible that a story could be planted to discredit him,” Brian Dempsey continued.

“He should have demanded a showdown with his employers and asked them face-to-face what was going on. Brendan has been an integral part of Celtic’s success in recent years and deserved better treatment on a personal level.

“Whether it is the principal shareholder or the chairman and the chief executive, they have to be true to themselves by being true to Celtic,” Brian Dempsey pointed out.

“The supporters, by their overwhelming vote of no confidence in the board, clearly feel they have been failed by the hierarchy and fear that Celtic have lost their way.

“The inability to qualify for the Champions League and the unsatisfactory transfer window that has left the fans in uproar does add up to failure.

“This situation is not irretrievable if you really do want to make amends for what has happened. But it has to start by having proper dialogue with the supporters. And that begins by saying to them: ‘I’m sorry.’”

For Celtic it’s much easier saying ‘Gaes money!” as per that famous Celtic statement sketch we’ve all laughed at repeatedly over the years.

Celtic supporters shows their support at full-time following the team’s victory in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Semi Final match between St Johnstone and Celtic at Hampden Park on April 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

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