Celtic plc (LSE: CCP) or CLTFF wouldn't exist today if not for a hero Canadian businessman Fergus McCann. Back in 1972 when it wasn't possible for Canadians to watch European football on television, Fergus purchased satellite television rights to broadcast the Celtic vs. Inter Milan 1971–72 European Cup semi-final so that he and his friends could watch from Toronto.
In early 1994, Celtic FC's checking account at Bank of Scotland had a £5 million overdraft and the bank was refusing to clear any additional Celtic checks. On March 3, 1994, the Bank of Scotland announced that they were 24 hours away from forcing Celtic into receivership.
In the years prior, Fergus McCann had made multiple offers to Celtic's old Board of Directors who were desperately hanging on to influence from the 1967 glory days of when Celtic became the first U.K. football club to win the European Cup now known as the UEFA Champions League. Fergus made multiple attempts to inject badly needed capital into privately held Celtic, fully aware of how new safety regulations were being implemented as a result of the Hillsborough Disaster of 1989, in which 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death in the standing room section of Hillsborough Stadium. Celtic needed to remove all of its standing areas at Celtic Park and convert their facilities to an all-seater stadium, but the Board rudely told Fergus McCann to get the hell out of Scotland and go back to Canada where he belongs.
Fergus loved Celtic so much that, despite being mistreated by egotistical board members whose families had controlled the club for decades and had run Scotland's most beloved sports franchise into the ground, he flew to Glasgow to save the team he adored after years of watching from his home in Montreal. Without any kind of a firm deal in place, and 8 minutes away from Celtic being forced into receivership, Fergus McCann at 11:52am on March 4, 1994, deposited a £1 million check into Celtic's account at the Bank of Scotland to prevent the club from going into receivership.
In the following days, Fergus McCann purchased a 51% controlling stake in Celtic from existing shareholders at a fire sale price of £9.5 million. He promised that he would only stay for 5 years to turn around the club and get it onto solid financial footing. He vowed to sell his Celtic shares after this 5-year period and move back to Canada.
In 1995, Fergus McCann turned Celtic into a PLC and took it public on the London Stock Exchange, in what was then the largest and most successful sports IPO in history. The offering was oversubscribed raising a total of £21 million from 10,500 Celtic fans including Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond who invested £4 million. The money was used to rebuild Celtic Park into a 60,000 all-seater stadium, and it opened in 1998 with 53,000 season ticket holders. In 1999, Fergus McCann kept his promise and sold his Celtic shares for £2.80 per share receiving proceeds of £40.32 million. Fergus made a profit on Celtic of £30.82 million while successfully turning Celtic around into what is currently the world's #1 most consistently profitable football club and the #1 ranked best managed football club in all of Europe!
Celtic ended fiscal year 2024 on June 30th with a record £77.2 million in cash and no debt! As of September 20th, Celtic has an estimated £100 million in cash!
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