"The Rebels Have Won!" - 'The Biscuit Tin'

~ "The Rebels Have Won!" ~
A 30th Anniversary Retrospective



It was the news that every Celtic fan had been so desperate to hear. From the steps of Celtic Park, Brian Dempsey looked out over the anxious faces of all those who had assembled, he made that emotive announcement that changed the club forever.

"The game is over. The Rebels have won!"

It is no exaggeration to say that the very continuance of Celtic had been very much under threat until that final hour, late on that wet Friday night, 30 years ago.

It was a moment that changed everything.

In honour of the 30th Anniversary of that momentous occasion, perhaps second only to November 6, 1887 in importance to the very existence of the Club, will attempt to take a look back on the reasons why it was needed and the reasons why, beginning with...



I - 'The Biscuit Tin'

The 'Old Board', deeply rooted and firmly entrenched, virtually from the point at which the club became a Private Limited Company (Ltd) in 1897, just a decade after it's initial founding. Being a private company meant that shares could not be publically traded, and there were restrictions on who could own shares, and even how many shareholders there could be.

The reality being, of those that held those shares were unlikely to part with them and if they did it would almost always certainly be to others with already existing holdings, so it is easy to see how the White and the Kelly families would come to hold such control for such a long time, and it all begins with the creation of that shared dynasty.


The 'Biscuit Tin' Board: D. Smith, J. Farrell, J. McGinn, K. Kelly, C. White, M.Kelly & T. Grant

Both families with long running associations and throughout the club's existence, had revelled in the glories and success, but also all too often had put their own interests and agendas ahead of the good of the club as a whole.

From the very first game in 1888, when James Kelly lead the team on the park as captain, his influence on the fledgling club both on and off the playing field was undeniable, so there was an inevitablity that he would eventually rise to become Chairman of the Board.

Famously, it was even quipped, 'No Kelly, No Keltic'.

What began as a quip however, soon became a very real maxim. Certainly as the decades rollled on, the Kelly family took it - and themselves as the club's guardians - very seriously indeed.


The 1888/89 Celts with captain James Kelly (front centre)

From the moment that James Kelly became Chairman in 1909 until the Board's ouster in 1994, a Kelly or a White directly controlled the club in all but six years - and even in those handful of years, the White and Kelly faction still dominated and controlled influence over the Boardroom.

Tom White took over from James Kelly shortly before the outbreak of WWI in 1914 and would remain in place until after WWII ended, ultimately to be replaced in 1947 by Robert Kelly, who finally stood aside in 1971, with Desmond White waiting in the wings to then take the club into the mid-1980s.

Between them, the Kelly and White dynasty had controlled virtually every aspect of the club, some even taking matters further. As early as 1911, it is said that James Kelly would storm into the changing rooms to roast the team at halftime, if he was not satisfied with their efforts.

Robert Kelly would take that to a whole new level however, and it is well known for how much interference he had during Jimmy McGrory's tenure as manager. The constant meddling in the transfer market and releasing players without McGrory's knowledge, or imposing on team selections, all too often on a whim are just a couple of examples.

While undoubtedly Robert Kelly's finest hour came during the 1952 'Fly the Flag' controversy, it can not be forgotten that he also initially opposed to appointment of Jock Stein as manager. Despite his success as captain, and later with coaching the youths and reserves, Stein wouid have to go to elsewhere to prove his qualities before it was impossible for Kelly to ignore further what he could offer - and the success on the park that would follow.


Robert Kelly takes the applause of the Celtic support

But for all of that stability in the Boardroom, it's members were coming into position on the basis of connections rather than merit. And as the years ticked over, the entitled thinking based on privelege and nepotism become more and more entrenched, while gradually becoming increasingly out of touch, out of date and intransigent to change.

The truth is, by the late 1980's the club was still being guided by and relying on fiscal thinking that was more instep with the world of the Depression era 1930's or post-war 1940's. It was an antiquated 'biscuit tin' approach, and it was beginning to really hurt the club.

Yet, despite this, to demonstrate how amatuerish the administration was, in years since it has been revealed that in the 1970's for instance, there were shoeboxes that were literally being used internally for money and for storing reciepts etc - and this despite being one of European Football's true powerhouses at the time.

The literal truth, as it turns out, is not a million miles from what was later dubbed as a proverbial 'biscuit tin' mentality.

The build up surrounding the Centenary had masked many of these problems throughout the 1980's, but now there was no hiding, and these issues were increasingly obvious for all to see.

Celtic Park had long needed an overhaul, but in the wake of the Taylor Report following the Hillsborough Disaster, it was apparent that the ground would need a lot more work than had been originally anticipated.

The days of the old 'Jungle' were numbered.


May 15 1993: The old Jungle's 'Last Stand'

Across the city, the club's southside neighbours were in the midst of a revival, but it wasn't just a matter of being second best in the city, as Aberdeen and Hearts piled more pressure on Celtic's stretched resources, while lax practices and outright negligence lead to the Mo Johnston affair, among a series of embarassments regarding the team.

As the crisis deepened, it effected results on the park. In the seasons following the Centenary Double, the Hoops never finished higher than 3rd, with a 5th placed finish in 1990/91 proving a low and just the 1989 Scottish Cup to show, with little evidence this trend was likely to change.

Commerically, the club seemed equally clueless. At a time when revenue streams were on the rise and there was more investment being pumped into the game than at perhaps any time previous, precious little of it was making it's way to the Celtic coffers. The same could be said of securing suitable sponsorship, both in terms of value or fan sentiment.

One need look no further than the Ford People shirt sponsorship, with it's red, white and blue logo across the front of the Hoops, to gauge how out of touch and a slap in the face that was to the support base.


The far from popular 1991/92 'Home' kit

By the time Kevin Kelly took the Chair in 1991, there were so many problems and precious little in the way of solutions. Noone could ever deny the new Chairman was passionately Celtic, through and through. It is very likely he witnessed more Celtic games first hand than anyone else ever has or ever will, purely because of his family connections as a youth, his position of privlege within the club that he inherited and even now, 30 years later has continued to follow Celtic.

However, for all of that, Kevin Kelly was simply not equipped to deal with the myriad of issues that were engulfing the club, much less able to seperate business from pleasure. With little experience in the world of finance as well as being a complete PR disaster, it only further undermined his own, and the Board's credibility.

While Kevin Kelly was inept to lead, his cousin Michael Kelly was pursuing flights of fantasy, such as the Cambuslang relocation proposal. It may have been all with the best of intentions, but the reality of this was all simply wishful thinking, and likewise only further serves to underscore just how dire the situation was and how few practical ways there were to get the club back on track.

Elsewhere, majority shareholder Chris White was far more interested in preserving his own position and holdings than he was in seeking out solutions that would benefit the club, outwith his self centred agenda. With the White holdings significantly the largest block within the Limited company, there was simply no serious move that could be made without the consent of the Whites and the Kellys.

Inept. Delusional. Self Interested.


Terry Cassidy was rought in as Chief Executive - it turned out to be another own goal

Matters were only getting worse. and were helped little by the first real effort to bring in some outside hard-nosed business acumen into the club, with the appointment of Terry Cassidy as Chief Executve. This to also soon proved to be yet another spectacular own goal!

Upon his arrival, Cassidy discovered the club had no business plan and upon further inspection of the finances immediately recommending the Bank of Scotland not extend the club's overdraft.

To the wider Celtic support looking from the outside and despite the clearly tough situation, Cassidy won little sympathy here either - and largely through his own doing,

He certainly did himself no favours by engaging in nepotism to hire family members to key posts, while his comment at one of his early press conferences, that it was a shame that R****** had not hired his services instead, bristled and raised even more eyebrows among the support.

Inside the club, Cassidy made few friends, including famously clashing with both of the managers during his time, Billy McNeill and Liam Brady, making many disparaging remarks about both and later, famously even questioned the need for football managers at all!

It's safe to say that the feelings were indeed mutual, as neither McNeil or Brady ever had anything positive to say of Cassidy either. Indeed, the iconic Lisbon Lion skipper was quoted, “In my dealings with Cassidy I found him thoroughly unpleasant, untrustworthy, overbearing, offensive individual.”


May 1991 - An internal document leaked to the media confirmed Billy McNeill's imminent sacking

Cassidy was dismissed in 1992, which prompted legal action that only further demonstrated the extent of the problems within the club. Chris White, the majority shareholder, insisted on pursuing the matter in open court rather than cough up with the few thousand it would've cost to keep Cassidy's mouth shut. Yet again it proved a horrible mistake and another own goal.

All it did was provide even more opportunity for all of the club's dirty laundry to be hung out for all to see, including the revelation that Board members' wives influence on the club's governance, and ultimately even admissions that White had misled the court.

In the end, Cassidy was merely just another symptom of a much larger problem, namely the complete incompetance of the 'Biscuit Tin' Board.

The patience of the fans was running thin. Many had already had enough and were beginning to turn openly against the Board. A former director, Brian Dempsey, had begun his own quest to oust the Board and even notable figures, such as Lisbon Lion, Jim Craig, had added his voice to the disquiet.

And across the Atlantic, more than 4.500km away in Canada, not all of this was going unnoticed...



~ To Be Continued ~​