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The Scotsman 02/03/1994
By Susan Dean
UP TO 300 Celtic fans walked out during last night's game with Kilmarnock – the worst attended match at Parkhead in six years – in protest at the Celtic board. The walkout had been organised by groups of supporters in conjunction with a boycott of the match. Their plan seemed to have been effective because the Parkhead crowd was 10,882, which included about 2,000 Kilmarnock supporters. The walkout, in the 60th minute of the match, was jeered by the Celtic fans who stayed. The boycotting supporters claimed not to be disappointed at the number who had left the stadium, saying that the crowd size showed the dissatisfaction with the board.
Malcolm Jones and Paul Drysdale, from Alloa, who walked out, said it had been the only way to show their feelings. ''We are season-ticket holders and this was our way of putting our point over because we've already paid to attend the match,'' Mr Jones said. Another fan, Michael Fisher, from Motherwell, said he had walked out but was not bothered that most of the crowd did not follow suit. ''It is up to the individual to do what he or she wants. The only thing that will put this board out is the Bank of Scotland.''
The walkout and boycott ended a day in which Celtic was plunged into another crisis over allegations about the funding for the proposed stadium at Cambuslang. A newspaper claimed that Gefinor, a Geneva merchant bank which Celtic said was providing the 20 million needed to revive the club, has denied that a deal had been struck. Frantic attempts were made yesterday by a Celtic director, Michael Kelly, to clarify the status of the promised money.
Last Friday Celtic's vice-chairman, David Smith, said that Gefinor had underwritten the initial 20 million. The club, he said, would raise up to 6 million to reduce its overdraft of about 7 million and buy players by issuing about 25,000 shares.
The latest allegations prompted renewed calls for the Celtic board to step down. Brian Dempsey, the Glasgow businessman involved with a consortium which wants to put 18 million into the club in return for the board's resignation, called on Mr Smith to give the fullest possible public statement. If the allegations were true, he said it was a ''disturbing'' way to do business. Peter Rafferty, the chairman of the Affiliation of Celtic Supporters, said the news was the ''final straw'' and put the club into disrepute. ''The board should go lock, stock and barrel, particularly David Smith, who gave 100 per cent assurances that this was OK,'' he said.
Mr Kelly was said last night to be waiting to ''make contact with the people necessary to obtain answers to questions about Gefinor''. Mr Kelly issued a statement which read: ''We have no reason to believe that anything has changed since Friday.'' Mr Smith was not available for comment.
Empty gesture: Wide open spaces were not confined to the pitch as Celtic played in front of their lowest home gate in six years