When none of that made much of a difference they utilised the Alfred Dunhill Championships to try out a different tactic. Embarrassment.
Celtic’s controlling shareholder was standing at the Old Course in St Andrews with a putter in his hand when a basketful of tennis balls bearing his scored-out face bounced on to the green of the 15th hole on Saturday.
The stunt was filmed by the Celtic Fans Collective, the affiliation of supporters’ groups who later released a statement accusing Desmond of running the club from the shadows and “using his wealth to hide from supporters and accountability.” Fans, they said, “took the chance to send a message that this arrangement cannot continue.”
This month marks the first anniversary of the 551 word Saturday night Desmond statement which excoriated Brendan Rodgers on the club website.
Read more:
Branding his former manager disingenuous, divisive, misleading and fixated on “self-preservation at the expense of others,” anger and indignation leapt from the screen.
No one believed that the Irish billionaire could commission a more coruscating missive than that until ten minutes past ten on Saturday when a lengthy nameless statement appeared lashing out at the antics of the collective on the Celtic website.
The recent appointment of former BBC journalist Raymond Buchanan as a non-executive director raised hopes of better communication with fans. The Parkhead hierarchy have never seen much benefit in complaining or explaining, taking the view that anything they say is only likely to bring more grief.
That changed when the collective dared to put the owner off his stroke at the 15th. After weeks of silence a statement swiftly appeared reading like an ageing uncle laying off after a few jars at a wedding.
When it comes to the world of golf Desmond moves in some exalted, high profile circles. Tiger Woods has spoken of hitting a few balls, fishing and socialising in Ireland with Celtic’s Mister Big and his close friend JP McManus. Rory McIlroy has been a playing partner at the Irish Open pro-am and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Hanging out with Ryder Cup icons like Paul McGinlay and Shane Lowry and Padraig Harrington appears to bring as much – if not more – pleasure than watching Celtic. And word of what happened at the home of golf must have spread faster than wild fire.
Dermot Desmond has essentially been allowed to run Celtic Football Club whilst using his wealth to hide from supporters and accountability. Fans took the chance today to send a message that this arrangement cannot continue. https://t.co/Dx3fubN2Xp
— Celtic Fans Collective (@CFC_Collective) October 3, 2026
Tipping petrol on the burning blaze Celtic’s statement condemned the ‘pre-meditated’ stunt and warned that a “line was crossed” from protest to deliberate disruption via a “significant and unacceptable escalation.”
Blaming those responsible for bringing “shame” upon the club the fans collective were warned that the days of engagement and discussion were over.
It’s debatable whether the tennis balls brought any real shame upon Celtic as a club. What they did do was heap embarrassment upon Desmond as an individual.
A vow to identify those responsible and ban them from Celtic Park probably felt more like a dart hitting the bullseye at Collective HQ than a threat. The cue for back slapping and high fives all around.
The issue there is that a bloody nose on the golf course offers no certainty of winning the war. It could even go the other way.
Echoing the words of Desmond’s son Ross from the stage of an incendiary, aborted AGM last November the statement warned that the club would “not be intimidated or coerced by organised acts of disruption. Nor will decisions concerning the stewardship of Celtic Football Club be dictated by those prepared continually to escalate their behaviour in an attempt to exert pressure upon the Club, its employees, directors, shareholders or others associated with Celtic.”
There’s a danger now that Golf Gate will have the opposite effect to the one fans hoped for. Billionaires are not exactly noted for accepting free advice on how to run their affairs and Desmond has shown signs of a stubborn streak in the past. He could batten down the hatches and dig in for the long haul.
In a rare interview, the 76-year-old once outlined his disregard for the whims of ungrateful supporters.
“If a million people told me to do something (in a body of) only a million and one and I was the only one and I didn’t feel that something is right, then I would take my own counsel,’ he said in the official Celtic Opus.
“We lose a big match and I’m the greatest bollox on the earth. It’s all my fault, all the directors’ fault. But when we win it is down to the manager and the team, not the directors. We are beneficiaries of abuse, we are never beneficiaries of praise.”
Praise has been in short supply since the league and cup double last season and Celtic’s statement spoke of the damage done to the reputation of supporters by the kind of stunt usually conjured up by the local student union.
If reputational damage is the concern then it’s only right and proper to acknowledge the damage wrought to Celtic’s reputation by a sixth straight defeat in a Champions League play-off to LASK Linz. Their eighth in the last 10.
The Scottish champions once bore a reputation for winning games of football at the highest level of Europe and they don’t any more.
Preparing to mark the 60th anniversary of the Lisbon Lions the current team return to the scene of the club’s greatest triumph a week on Thursday and fans are preparing to watch the Europa League game against Benfica through the cracks of their fingers.
Judging by the recent back-to-back defeats to Rangers their dominance of Scottish football is no longer a given either. And that’s another reason why Dermot Desmond now spends his annual outing at the Dunhill peering over his shoulders in search of disruptive fans in balaclavas.
There is no quick, clean or obvious solution to the toxic battle of wills between the man who runs Celtic and an increasingly disgruntled fan base. No sign of any effort at all being made to build bridges.
Over the weekend a long read appeared on the Substack page of the Celtic Underground fan media site pointing out that Desmond owns more than 30%. And under rule nine of the Takeover Code any prospective buyer would need to extend their offer to 28,000 of the club’s shareholders.
If they all accepted – unlikely – the purchase could cost a sum in the region of £400million and that’s a heck of a lot of money to shell out for a football club in the Scottish league.
Any deal would also require a willing seller. And, despite the rancour which played out on Saturday there is still nothing to suggest that Dermot Desmond is ready to wave farewell to Celtic and get back to playing golf in peace.