Who is fergus mccann

But look at the balance sheet - the players are gone, the salaries are way up, we didn't make any money. The assessment is typical of McCann: hard-headed, rational.

McCann spent two years talking to the Celtic board about trying to help the club as it struggled financially in the early s. The response was generally "when will you be returning to Montreal, Mr McCann? So he regrouped, found some willing allies and set about trying to oust some of the board members and instigate "radical change". With Celtic only hours from bankruptcy and fans campaigning against the board, he made his move, flying to Scotland to pay off the club's debts and begin the process of taking over.

That would have been the easiest way, as you have seen in the case of the other club in Glasgow [Rangers]. I was not donating money - I was investing and I expected to get my money back. I didn't expect to make a lot of money. I did, but that's the way it happened. I had a responsibility to the supporters to make sure their money wasn't wasted. It was the correct thing to do. Football fans across the globe now have just over 12 months to wait until The World Cup in Qatar.

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Politics Politics. Another point was that with crowds at around k at average, plans to create a 60k seater stadium were ridiculed by many. Fergus McCann was repeatedly advised against such a grand plan, critics fearing large swathes of empty seats if it were built.

Next came the criticisms over season tickets, with former chairman Jack McGinn mocking the idea stating that season tickets were more trouble than their worth.

Regardless, Fergus McCann persevered, and the successful completion of the stadium and the full-house season ticket sales are testament to his vision and business acumen. His critics were curiously silent after this. Jack McGinn in particular looked as out of touch as he ever was. The stadium has been regularly rated as one of the best in the world for atmosphere, and we have Fergus McCann to thank in large part for this. The administration under Fergus McCann really did make a difference and seemed to startle many with the commercial revolution the club was undergoing.

Derided for this action by various sections of the media, they were left with egg on their face as Fergus McCann won the case leading to the resignation of the then Chief Executive Jim Farry in disgrace. Fergus McCann basically was dragging the SFA into the modern age and giving them a public kicking along the way, and showing that Celtic were not going to accept amateurish second class treatment.

It was for the time a magnificent victory and achievement, a landmark case. In fairness, managers and players can usually just be big kids, but he still had to deal with them. Going through four managers in his short spell at Celtic shows that there was some problem. Tommy was an emotional guy and got the backing financially with Fergus McCann. Tommy lasted a long time, so in fairness Fergus McCann did give him more than enough support and chances to do the job, and they worked relatively closely together at many times, although Tommy Burns did say that he probably aged years in that short period of time.

We all love Tommy but a low point for Tommy was his quite frankly sanctimonious double spread article in the papers over his time at Celtic soon after he left, criticising Fergus McCann amongst others, which really was avoidable and not what we expected from a man of his stature.

An unnecessary action from the sections of fans in question who were being too myopic. Wim Jansen deserved credit for winning the league as manager but he was not going to be a good long-term appointment taking in many of his decisions during his time at the club. Fergus McCann deserved more respect and understanding, as well as more perspective from the support.

Jo Venglos seemed to have a better relationship with the board management, but his time at Celtic was short-lived and sadly another managerial appointment failed. Rangers were too far ahead to quickly catch up, and with the press readily attacking Jo Venglos for just about anything, it was not an easy time.

Other potential managers were just way out of our ability to pay for them, and Fergus McCann was prudent not to pay over the odds. Everyone has their value. Tricky one this, as many players are never going to go open on discussions between themselves and the chairman UNLESS the player has an agent trying to cause trouble. It was a difficult transition, and many players were themselves deluded about the realities of the real world in financial terms.

Contractual spats were a regular feature in the press, with Viduka, Cadete, Van Hooijdonk and Di Canio the stand-outs. He saved our club and he should be recognised. Name North Stand after him in my opinion. I was wrong. James Campbell — Ashamed to say I did.

Barry Gallagher — Bhoys against bigotry, when we never had any bigotry. Stevie Mac — Sometimes I question myself as a Celtic fan.

He did that. He was tough but that is business. Because of that, we are where we are. In the future, more unpopular decisions will happen at the club by others. Yet in all of this, we have survived and gotten stronger in what is a very poor league.

This was all instigated by Fergus. I never booed anyone at Celtic in my life. If you do decide to boo, ask yourself why am I booing? Could there be another reason for this unpopular decision other than my own selfish point of view?

Sean McLaughlin — Some of these comments are ridiculous. I can remember asking my Dad why are people booing and his words were because son some people are morons. On this day in Fergus McCann took over the club. But looking back to the day we stopped 10iar was probably the greatest day in my life and I agree he does deserve something named after him for saving our club and for choosing to pay the bills instead of doing what RFC have done, for that and building the stadium he deserves enormous credit.

Stephen Mcmaihin — I can honestly say yes I booed. It was only when they went bust last year that I understood why Fergus did what he had to do. Brian Booth — I booed and my reasons were that, just like today, he allowed some of our support to be vilified. He put plans in place for a new stadium, he put a team to be proud of on the park and left a legacy that lets us compete in the higher echelons of European competition.

Lawrence McNeill — Just the usual social sheepery.