Dr Dan Plumley

Tue 4 January 2022 8:13, UK

Celtic have a large degree of financial autonomy but are still partially reliant on Dermot Desmond’s backing.

So says finance expert Doctor Dan Plumley, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about Desmond’s external wealth and its impact on the Hoops.

The Irish Times reported yesterday (3 January) that Desmond is set to invest £37.1million in his company Mountain Province Diamonds.

MPD are one of 33 companies besides Celtic in which the 71-year-old, whose net worth is approximately £1.6billion, has a stake.

Celtic posted an £11.5m loss in their last set of accounts but have broadly been a profit-making club in recent years.

Plumley claims that, while they are not over-reliant on Desmond’s funding, the fate of his other businesses and theirs are still interlaced.

“They are run more or less in an independent manner,” the Sheffield Hallam University expert told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.

“From what we can see in the accounts, there isn’t a huge amount of external investments,”

“But with that said, he is their biggest shareholder and your biggest shareholder will always remain massive to the club and is always needed.

“So his external finances always need to be considered in the wider scheme, but he is worth around $2billion.

“If the owners’ businesses fail, that can have a knock-on effect on the football club.

“From the outside looking in, it doesn’t strike me in the accounts that they are over-reliant.”

Desmond has been formally involved with Celtic since 1995.

He recently rubber-stamped the appointment of Michael Nicholson as the club’s new permanent chief executive.

In other news, pundit tips Celtic star David Turnbull to be out for two months after medical expert’s reveal.