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| It's Time To Honour Fergus - Fergus McCann Stand |
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| Written by Harry Brady |
| Monday, 14 March 2011 22:44 |
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It’s time to honour Fergus. It’s time for the Fergus McCann Stand. One of the more shameful days in the last 20 years at Celtic Park was the day Fergus was booed. I know no-one who did it and was almost shaking with anger at those who did. I have subsequently heard some try to defend the reasons, but the arguments don’t stack up. When others sat around on the side lines, Fergus stood up and saved our club. He subsequently gave every one of us the opportunity to own a part of our club and now 29,000 of us have a say in how our club is run. The events of Fergus’s arrival are well documented and I do not need to detail them here and I accept that Fergus may not have been someone that I would have enjoyed doing business with but he stepped in when others couldn’t or wouldn’t and put his money down to save the club. He had a 5 year business plan in place and delivered on it all. Rangers were miles ahead of us on and off the park. The unfortunate events of the Ibrox disaster meant that they began planning an all seater stadium in the 1970’s and by the time of the Souness revolution that was virtually all in place. When commercialism in football blossomed, Rangers had the stadium to take advantage of the new “corporate supporter.” We didn’t. By 1994 Rangers had been outperforming us for 8 years. Fergus arrived and promised to have us on an equal footing with Rangers within 5 years. He promised a business model that would deliver a 60,000 all seater stadium – a task that Rangers had spent nearly 20 years delivering. Whilst he was doing that he would also spend just 5 years recovering the lost ground to Rangers. He not only put the initial money up to save the club, but he’d also spend the next 5 years working to make sure it happened. Moreover as the last few years have demonstrated, whilst Murray did this on the never never, Fergus did it and kept our club financially sound. Since then I have heard a couple of people explain why they do not believe he was the great hero. Below are their comments and why I believe their arguments don’t hold water.
Yes he may well have been, but Brian Dempsey had been on the scene challenging the old board for 4 years and hadn’t delivered. The Rangers supporting business world were in their 2nd & 3rd generation and there were wealthy Rangers supporting families. Most of the wealthy Celts were self-made people. Whilst they had cash few, if any, had the multi-millions required to guarantee the clubs debts. Indeed on the day when the bank demanded £1m in 24 hours to prevent administration, Dempsey had called Fergus as he didn’t have the money.
At the time, Celtic had an average attendance just below 30,000 and this had been the case for some time. No-one could say that you could get these people back and no-one could say you could get tens of thousands to put their hands in their pockets and buy shares. Indeed as the documentary reminds, immediately before the share launch we had just lost the league cup final to Raith Rovers.
I recently heard Barry Hearn commenting on the challenges of being a chairman. “Take a poll of supporters and ask if they’d rather spend the available cash on a new stand or a new forward. Supporters will always chose the forward, but sometimes the club needs the stand.” Fergus new that we needed strong foundations put in place. That meant building the stadium first. He delivered a 60,000 stadium without us being burdened in debt. That is incredible.
I always believed that those who feared boys against bigotry were missing the point. Fergus wanted to bring back “the missing 30,000,” he also needed sponsorship and commercial partners. To do those things you can’t have some of the more extreme songs. For me Fergus was making Celtic park a more inviting place to come. He introduced the Fields on the tannoy and virtually eradicated the songs many of us despise from Celtic Park.
Yes we did and wasn’t that wonderful, but don’t forget, before anyone knew that 14,000 of us would initially put our hands in our pockets for upwards of £600 each, Fergus risked virtually his life savings. He gave us all the faith and made it possible with loan schemes for Celtic to have the most successful share issue in British football. Furthermore in this time of discussions about fan ownership of a football club, as a consequence of Fergus, 29,000 of us own a bit of Celtic. That is incredible and something we should all be rightly proud of.
Yes he did and I don’t begrudge him one penny. He risked all and delivered what he promised. He deserves a return. For those who doubt, let me ask this. How certain are you that Celtic will finish in the top two next year. You’d bet your house right? Right? OK, remortgage the house, take all your life savings and you and me will go to the bookies and put a bet on. No? That’s what Fergus did. Fergus came and delivered everything he promised, nothing more, nothing less. He put in place the foundations (foundations we nearly ruined within 9 months of him leaving!) and we have seen the fruits of his labours since;
It’s time to honour Fergus. It’s time for the Fergus McCann Stand. #Fergusmccannstand |
| Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 07:43 |
Comments
£1million to save the club and then £5million to build the stadium... It's funny money, the opposite way around.
Fergus was a saviour, no doubt. He did it... risked a lot... not THE LOT But he had a nice little earner from it, too.
He's a star, he really is, but I don't think he's quite at the level of having a stand named after him.
Everyone was behind the coach whilst Fergus was making enemies. It's one of those scenarios ans hindsight has shown everyone just how right Fergus was.
Sure he wasn't a football man but that wasn't why he was brought in. The money men always get bad press from the supporters and our current owners are no different.
But there aren't many supporters out there who see the bigger picture.
The Fergus McCann Stand
hardly the stuff of sacrifice and commitment that would justify sanctification and legend status is it?
If it was such a stick on guaranteed return, why, with 8 minutes before administration did it take Fergus to fly in from America just to put up the first million? Why was it only Fergus who then put in the next £5m?
The stuff of sacrafice that does justify legend
There's a cracking photo (which I'm currently unable to locate) of the three men surrounding - I think - the CIS Cup that we had won that season. The picture is truly revealing as to the mentality at Celtic at the time. It has both Fergus and Jock in the foreground, while Wim is tucked away in the background, behind the trophy itself. It leaves you with no illusion as to who they believed were the important men at Celtic at the time. That would be later backed up at press conferences during the summer break. Indeed, didn't Fergus come out after Jansen left and say "I'd have sacked him anyway"? No wonder he wasn't exactly popular in the summer of 1998. We'd gone from elation to deflation in 48 hours.
You can agree or disagree with the booing all you want. The fact is, there were many that felt Fergus had set our club back after finally getting us to where we wanted to be. That feeling was made vocal at the first opportunity by some.
The booing was a unfortunate snapshot of Fergus's time at Celtic. There can be no doubt that in his five years he did far more good than bad. He may have made mistakes along the way, but those were far outweighed by the good he did. A good we are still benefiting from today.
now i wouldn't lose sleep either way...if people think he deserves a stand named after him then on ye go...
more broadly i just have some difficulty aligning the words 'millionaire' and 'sacrifice'.
peace and keep the faith.
And the up for the cup Wim has elected to manage how many clubs since? I have always thought he didn't fancy it as much as they didn't fancy him
Having read The Inner Sanctum I'm inclined to think the problems all started when Davie Hay left, but again that's all hindsight. Which as we all know is a wonderful thing.
Let's compare our situation to that on the Southside - if someone came in and saved that cesspool like Fergus saved us, they'd give him a knighthood. We should recognise McCann in some way - maybe the corporate hospitality suite :o)
Had it not been for his background Jock Brown had all the attributes required of a General Manager except perhaps a bit of humility, but there were a few egos around Paradise at that time including, may I say it, Wim the Tim.
Wim may have complained about his relationship with Brown, but as far as I can see Jock delivered all the players that he asked for, while simultaneously trying to develop the youth system - the appointment of Eric Black and others - something which apparently Wim had no interest in.
I have said it before but the fact that no one ever contradicted what he wrote in his book - no one ever took him to court - might suggest that Brown told some truths however unpalatable they may have been to some us.
We criticise the media endlessly in Timworld, but many of us are too ready to believe the lies and the slanders that they specialise in - that was true of Jock Brown and it was also true of Fergus.
The truth of what Strother Martin says in Butch Cassidy: 'I've got morons on my team' was only too apparent the day the flag was unfurled.
I always thought the Main Stand was called 'The Grant Stand' after the Grant Family who were involved in the club's early days.
Anyone know for sure?
With Paolo being another of the fan's favourites, and being portrayed by some as taking the huff because his friend Tommy Burns had been let go (another fans favourite) it certainly didn't help Jock's relationship with the fans to come and say he wasn't being sold... only to then "trade" him for Regi Blinker. That made him seem very arrogant and unwilling to negotiate. It didn't help when Regi didn't fit in properly and it seemed to some like Jock shouldn't be interfering in the football side of things. The General Manager/Head Coach setup was still new in Scotland then and most were unsure how it should work.
Admittedly, having watched the Total Larsson DVD I think I now know what they saw in Regi Blinker - his time at Feyenoord when Henrik was there showed him to be a terrific player. But there's that hindsight again.
So while I agree that many were quick to judge Jock Brown on what the papers said, I think a lot of it was down to how his early dealings panned out. And, of course, when Fergus backed his General Manager, he was tarred with the same brush during that period.
Fortunately though, I think a large majority of the Celtic support since then have woken up to the Scottish media and are far less prone to believing what they say.
PhycHo just like to add i believe Davie Hay said (in his latest book) there was faults on both sides regarding Jock Brown.
Lachie James Grant got new Main Stand Built in 1898 this remained the Grant Stand until new Main Stand was Built in 1929.
Harry are you sure Main Stand is Jimmy McGrory Stand never read or heard of it being refered to as such although Jimmy did provide Celtic with a loan of 800pounds which i think was to help with the building of new stand back in 1929.
BTW nobody knows if Jimmy was given the 800pounds back!
Ultimately Celtic was as good for Fergus as he was for Celtic. I don't grudge him one thin dime, btw, but if we’re going to talk naming parts of the stadium for all eternity, it’s worth bearing in mind. He was a businessman, albeit a remarkably astute one, who saw an opportunity and seized it. Fortunately for us that he did.
I have no problem with his place in the pantheon of great Celtic men and agree he's as close as we've come to a genuine 'saviour' in modern times, given the timing and circumstances of his entrance, and his willingness, unlike others, to put his money where his mouth is. The stadium itself is his legacy and I've no doubt in the years from now fathers and grandfathers will continue to introduce the next few generations of supporters to Celtic Park by standing and pointing all around whilst passing down his name, along with their memories of his time at the club, to their sons.
But I can't help but wonder if McCann himself would be among the first to bristle at the suggestion of sticking his name on the building itself. There's only so many of those things we've got to go around, a couple of them are already claimed, and hopefully plenty legends still waiting to be written, not least where it really matters - on the pitch (and in the dugout!)
McCann always had a healthy contempt for popularity contests and (forgive the pun) grandstanding, another quality which served both he and the club fantastically well given what was going on across the city during his time here, and the overwhelming media pressure on the club to follow suit and throw financial caution to the wind.
(Along with PWHC in their annual reports on Scottish football leading up to the turn of the century, he was one of only a very few voices at the top level of the British game calling out the Murray business model and others like it as reckless and unsustainable - long before merde met extractor. How grateful we are and how those huns who relentlessly lampooned him must now dearly wish that a wee spekky bollix of their own would appear on the horizon to reach into his pockets and rescue them.)
That’s how I like to remember him, it’s all part of a unique story. A bullish, prickly operator who often times stuck up two fingers to popular opinion in order to ‘get it done’, motivated not by recognition but fair reward (which the support stumped up and delivered). There would be a certain irony in naming a stand after him all these years later, given the qualities that defined the man. He has his enormous wealth, his place in history, and the eternal gratitude of thousands. We should be content to leave it at that – I’m certain he is.
Btw, thought he was marvellous on the Football Years, particularly his closing remarks about “Celtic’s youngest shareholder” which clearly came from the heart.
Btw2, his “we would have sacked him anyway” comment was in response to a deliberately loaded question from a hack to generate precisely that kind of headline. If memory serves it was Keevins (though I can’t be certain) who, at that press conference, asked, “What would you have done if Wim hadn’t resigned yet still refused to work with you?” Well, d’uh, Shug - there isn’t a club owner in the world who would answer that with, “Remove myself.” Sadly wee Fergus walked right into a classic tabloid trap, though with his plain-speaking manner it was perhaps inevitable.
It’s a memorable quote that doesn’t beging to tell the story. Personally, I reckon Jock Brown was a disaster for the club, whatever his and McCann’s intentions for the role, but I could never forgive Jansen for going public with his contractual dispute on the old ‘clubcall’ service in March, with the title run-in just kicking off and our form clearly beginning to dip after the last real kicking we gave anyone that season, Dunfermline at home (5-1), some weeks before. Of the two I know which one I reckon had the club's best interests at heart. Jansen gambled with the stopping of the Ten to strengthen his own position at the bargaining table. Had George Boyle’s header hit the net instead of flying centimetres over the bar on the final day, make no mistake, the curly-heided one would occupy a very different place in the Celtic history books and I can guarantee you supporter recollections would be particularly unkind. His constant sniping in the media (along with Murdo McLeod) the following season also served to potentially undermine Jozef Venglos, which, from the pair who constantly bigged up their ‘football men’ credentials in the war of words with Fergus and JB, was really unedifying stuff. I’m grateful for what they did in just about hauling us over the line in that most crucial of seasons but to this day have very little time for either.
I accept what you say about JB - he certainly wasn't everyone's cup of tea but the question about how much he was to blame for the way things turned out is one which will never adequately be answered.
You are also bang on the money about how much damage was done to Dr. Jo and his chances of success, by the constant carping away in the background by both Wim and Murdo, supported by another bitter individual in Brian Dempsey and his press poodles like Keegans.
Unfortunately, with regards to Fergus, while he ticks some boxes, he wasnt a unifying factor and even now I know some supporters who view Fergus with negativity. Something like this needs everybody behind it and unfortunately Fergus wouldnt be able to achieve this level of unity amongst the supporters.
I'm sure that would be Fergus' take on it as well.
I agree with all your sentiments however one thing is missing. Fergus wouldn't accept it. The wee man never courted publicity then and wouldn't now.
The happiest thing in all of this is that Fergus came over in 94 as a hard nosed businessman and left 5 years later with a wife and 2 kids. He would have seen things in a different light by then.
The Good Lord works in mysterious ways.
He does deserve some sort of recognition and I have no qualms about naming the north stand after him, either that or he should be part of a walkway of statues of the good and great of Celtic who form a guard of honour on the approach to Celtic Park. The Lisbon Lions and the greatest ever 11 should form part of that along with the likes of Maley, McGrory, Quinn, McMahon, the list could go on and on but as they "if you know the history" and that would be a good place to start.
As we have discussed before, I would like the city to honour modern day heroes with statues at George Square instead of the current crop that no-one knows.
Steveo, I like the idea of our heroes statues lining up Kerrydale St and to cintinue the theme for the podcast this week, how good would that look as the Queen drove up in 3 years time
Someone on one of the Celtic forums a few weeks ago suggested a good way to honour Fergus - a bronze Bunnet hanging on a hatstand just inside the front door of the main stand...
I n all my time I never heard anyone refer to the main stand as the Jimmy McGrory stand. I have alot of old stand tickets in my collection and not once is there a reference to the great man.
He did open it so maybe this has caused confusion.
Fergus is and always will be a business man first and foremost. It was a well calculated move that worked out extremely well for all concerned. He is no founding father, trophy laden player or manager that I will tell my (grand)kids about in years to come. When or if my (grand)kids turn round and say who was Fergus McCann I’ll say he was an opportunist who took a punt on the fans. By all means delivered a great stadium, left us in a secure financial footing but at the end of the day took 40plus million of supporters money.
OK…Ok… I know what’s coming next….”he did what he said he was going to do” if that is the case then we do not need the stand named after him. He has got his money and kudos and we carry on.
I believe Brother Walfrid deserves better recognition than a six year old statue at the front door. His name should be on the stand as a beacon to everyone across the East End why we are here. Our Faith, strong links to Charity and as a Football Club. To name the stand after a business man who walked with obscene amounts of money is not what I want to pass on to future generations.
If we want to honour Fergus name a restaurant after him!
You do need to remember we lost Wim right after stopping the ten and failed to buy a single player during the summer against the backdrop of Advocaat's spending spree however we all know the long term impacts of that dont we.
Obviously with hindsight now you can only really appreciate the scale of what Mr McCann did and what he was up against.
As I keep saying with an average attendance below 30,000 those who say he was guaranteed to make a return a revisionists who ignore the facts. He put in £9m with no guarantees. He could have lost the lot, but after 5 years he doubled his money, NOWHERE NEAR £40m.
Nakamura25. I sometimes think fans take the Scottish press like horoscopes. We decry them but believe them when we hear what we want to hear. He turned us around in 5 years and the media were running scared to portrayed him poorly. He made string decisions for the long term good of the club and avoided the finical doping on the other side of the city.
We were going backwards with no stadium, no team reducing crowds and increasing debt.
I ask all (especially royaitkensafro) re-visit yourself at the first home game of 1993. Tell yourself this - 8minutes before the bank pull the plug, an expat from Canada will write a cheque for £1m and guarantee our debts. Within 10 years, he'll build a brand new stadium at Celtic Park & it will have the biggest capacity in Scotland with a reputation throughout Europe and we'll have over 50,000 season book holders. We'll stop ten in a row and go I. To be the dominant team in Glasgow. At the end of that 10 year period, 29,000 of us will own a bit of the club and 100,000 will travel to Seville to see Celtic play in a European final.
I fairness does 29,000 shareholders equal fan control of the club.
It is still a PLC and not every fan owns as many shares as Dermot Desmond.
I personally dont have a huge issue with Celtic PLC as long as it run ethically and effectively and arguably under Fergus this is when the PLC operated at its most effecient.
But to imply that shareholders equal fan control or 'democratic' control of the club is not accurate in my opinion.
fergus is the man
THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE AT LEAST A DECADE OR EVEN LONGER AGO
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