Dermot Desmond’s influence at Celtic has never felt more scrutinised than it is right now, with the fallout from the chaotic AGM leaving supporters and the board further apart than ever.
As Celtic fans demand accountability and direction, Desmond’s long-held views, recalled in a rare interview with journalist Andrew Smith, carry renewed significance.
For many supporters, the frustration stems from years of minimal communication and a sense that key decisions are made without transparency or connection to the fanbase. Whether it is recruitment, strategy or leadership style, the board’s approach has become a central point of conflict. Desmond’s comments illuminate why that distance exists, and why he considers it necessary.
These quotes reveal a chairman who believes leadership requires firmness, detachment and an unwavering conviction that he knows what is right for the club. While supporters often view football as emotional and collective, Desmond approaches it with a business-like resolve, rarely influenced by outside pressures or public reaction. It is a philosophy that has shaped Celtic for decades.
Now, as Martin O’Neill calls for “unification” and supporter groups intensify their demands for change, the clash of perspectives feels more pronounced than ever. Desmond’s own words offer the clearest explanation of why bridging that gap will be difficult, and why he remains unmoved by criticism no matter how loud it becomes.
He said: (RecordSport), “The biggest contradiction about Celtic, and Celtic supporters, is from the minority. When those same supporters that sing about being ‘faithful through and through’ then boo those at the club, that is a complete and utter desecration of that song. I totally abhor anyone like that.
“The term ‘absentee landlord’ is an emotive, evocative one that goes back to Ireland and the landlord days — it has nothing to do with me. What matters is what you do with your time and how I take on my responsibilities as a shareholder and a director.
“I get up in the morning, half five, six o’clock, and go on to soccer sites to see what’s happening. I watch a lot of matches. I see every Celtic match. I don’t have to wear a hooped jersey or spend 365 days at Celtic Park to be a good, faithful devotee of Celtic.
“It was not my ambition to be the major shareholder here because that carries responsibilities over and above just being a shareholder. And the most likely result of being a major shareholder at a football club is dog’s abuse. It is an absolutely no-win situation.
“Everything that is done from this club, from all the board members and the management, we all do it because it is in the right interests. We might not get it right all the time, but we genuinely act without self-interest. When Celtic are enjoying a period of success some people think that is a just cause, requirement, a need. It makes it more difficult to manage expectations. The difficulty is to produce a good team.“
These comments show a man who puts his own judgement ahead of public opinion. For Desmond, criticism is something you take on the chin rather than talk about, and his style of leadership leans more on standing firm than having open conversations.
He clearly believes staying at a distance helps him think clearly and make decisions, even if that approach leaves parts of the support feeling shut out.
But for many Celtic fans, that same distance has become a real problem. They see speaking up as a way of protecting the club, not attacking it. When those concerns are ignored or dismissed, frustration builds, and the trust between the stands and the boardroom slips further away.
Supporters aren’t just unhappy with certain decisions, they’re questioning the entire way the board operates. To them, it feels like a culture that rarely speaks, rarely explains itself and rarely changes course.
Desmond’s ability to stay unmoved under pressure might be admirable in one sense, but for fans watching the football suffer, it can look like stubbornness getting in the way of progress.
In the end, Desmond’s mindset helps explain why unity is proving so hard to find.
Until the board is willing to genuinely engage with supporters, not just issue statements but actually listen, the gap he believes is necessary will keep feeling, to many Celtic fans, like one of the biggest problems the club has to fix.
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One Response
Kind of ‘ Not a Borrower, nor a lender, be’. DD is here fur as long as CFC Plc turn a profit?
I reckon they wull ootlive both Desmondz.
Unless one of them tansplantz their mind intae a sentient new bodie !!!!!!