Celtic Board – Past | Celtic Board | Celtic’s Takeover | About Celtic
Details
Name: Kevin Kelly
Ref: Celtic Chairman during Celtic Takeover
Celtic Director: (1971-1994)
Celtic Chairman: (Oct 1991 – Feb 1994)
Tenure: 1971-1994
Notes
- Kevin Kelly was Celtic chairman at the time of the Cambuslang stadium move plans, and was head of the last “Biscuit Tin” board which was ousted in the Celtic Takeover.
- Descendant from James Kelly, one of the most pivotal players in the club’s history.
- As an estimate, it is more than likely that Kevin Kelly in his life has been to more Celtic games than any other person in the club’s history. Admittedly, in his circumstances he has not had to pay for the bulk of those appearances for a ticket, but still he was there through thick and thin. Despite any criticisms, his love for the club cannot be questioned.
- Replaced his Uncle, Robert Kelly, on the Celtic Board.
Biog
Kevin Kelly is an interviewer’s delight. Relaxed and light hearted, he has the great knack of being able to retell an old story in an easy pleasant way. With the aura and look of an adorable old uncle, you couldn’t help but like him on a personal level.
Having been reared in the traditions of the club since birth he had the interesting position of shadowing Celtic chairman Bob Kelly, prior to the Jock Stein years, to learn how a chairman was to work in times of adversity before getting a prime seat watching Celtic through nine in a row. This bred in him a love for the club that can never be faulted, and he has the most amazing knack of being able to recall matches long forgotten by the rest of us as if they’d happened only yesterday. This helped him become a regular figure in history DVDs and documentaries on the club which he handled very well.
With a background like that and a strong reputation as an honourable gentleman and avid Celtic supporter, it would appear that he was a fair choice to become the Celtic Chairman. That was the big mistake and one everyone was to regret.
For all his old Celtic charms, Kevin Kelly really was just a doddering old fool as the club chairman. His sole qualification rested alone on the limited family ownership of the club at the time and its reactionary attitude to any outside involvement. With minimal experience in high end finance and business, he was a poor choice to lead a club like Celtic at a time of major transition in football.
The football world was changing rapidly during his reign with big money and business becoming increasingly involved, yet Celtic were lumbered with a man too outdated to even be thought of as a business dinosaur. He loved to regale people with old tales of how Bob Kelly used to stand up at supporters’ meeting to show how big a Celtic man he was to all, and that he himself was in the same mould. As if that was some sort of education, Bob Kelly himself was saved mostly by Jock Stein’s success, and any Celtic fan can tell you that there is no way Kevin Kelly would last long in a function full of irate blue-collar Celtic fans.
Under his stewardship the club moved to near bankruptcy, and his dithering in making rational decisions saw him irk just about everyone. Along with his fellow directors, he allowed the club to spiral downwards, pushing Celtic perilously close to administration.
During the Celtic Takeover debacle, he skipped sides depending on whatever way the wind blew before finally signing up to a shareholder pact with fellow directors which almost brought down the club. Seemed to be too easily led despite supposedly being the man in charge. It was hopeless.
He was also a major public relations blunderer, the following being just a selection from his tenure:
The Cold Kale Episode:
On some occasions Kevin Kelly seemed to be stuck in some Scottish time-warp that would have baffled even ‘Oor Wullie’. For example, on one set of comments and criticisms by “The Rebels”, he strangely criticised them for “reheating this cold kale“. A bizarre metaphor, and it didn’t help the club’s image on being portrayed as a modernising board. It made him look peculiar and outdated.
Sport in Question:
On Monday late nights in the early 1990s, football commentator Archie MacPherson used to do a great panel sporting program called “Sport in Question” (before the other ITV companies copied and ruined the format), and one program was devoted to the Celtic shambles with Celtic board members Michael Kelly and Kevin Kelly on the show. It was a losing battle for the Kellys as actions speak louder than words, but anything that Michael Kelly could have done to alleviate the tensions were totally undone when Kevin Kelly laughably stated on the show that “nobody has Celtic’s interest at heart” more than he himself does etc and it made us all cringe [note it might have been another espisode he actually said the line not this one, but it was said]. It was incredibly insulting as when was the last time that Kevin Kelly had to save up for a match ticket or even just wait in a long queue for one having taken time off paid work to get it? No denying his love for the club but the comment was misplaced and mistimed.
The new Stadium at Cambuslang announcement:
In an interview with BBC Sportscene on questioning over timing on the proposed new stadium, Kevin Kelly stated that an announcement was close and possibly within a week. The papers took a mile with this and after a week there was nothing; Kevin Kelly was made to look stupid even though he never said it would be definitely within a week. He’d put himself and his colleagues in an awkward position by giving the press the opportunity.
Scottish Super League decision (link):
A proposal to create the Scottish Premier League had precedents. One of the first attempts saw most clubs agree on a format/structure, but then to the surprise of all the front page of the Celtic View had a huge headline of “I hope the Super League never happens”. In case anyone was wondering who said those words, there was a big picture of Kevin Kelly beside it. Much backtracking by Kevin Kelly to his club counterparts saw him back on board for the new set-up, proclaiming that really he was fully on board. Next thing, Celtic voted against it and said that they were actually against the proposals all along. Regardless of the board’s stance, publicly it was a shambles. Granted the press saw an inch and took a mile (again), but Kevin Kelly didn’t half give them the opportunity to do so.
From the above, he’d managed to seriously irk and ruin relationships with the other senior Scottish clubs, the Celtic support, the ‘Rebels‘, the media, any potential club/stadium financiers and his own board colleagues. What a man! Unsurprisingly, his incompetence made him easy to satirise as both the main Celtic fanzines (“Not the View” and “Once a Tim“) did mercilessly.
His distance from the genuine feeling of the support was reflected again in his comment that “most decent Celtic fans will be embarrassed by what Celts for Change are doing“. He was embarrassingly wrong then with that opinion, and once again further exacerbated a difficult situation.
At the denouement of the Celtic Takeover, he was to be an inconsequential figure (quite a feat for the chairman of the club), and there have been apologists claiming that his stance on selling out to the Rebels deserves credit. Reality is that the change of heart came practically as the club was going into administration, and he should have made the move years earlier. He only stuck his neck out once the club was financially in paralysis and there were no alternatives left. He was also party to the last gasp desperate share offer proposal by the Biscuit Tin board that failed in the final days. If he’d stood his ground in the early days with the Rebels and James Farrell, then none of the troubles would have happened. It was tragic and comical.
It’s disappointing to see that such a man who genuinely has the club at heart be such a failure, but a ‘love for the club‘ should not be the sole qualification for a role at the club. Fergus McCann was to be a success as he was able to divorce business and leisure (even when it irked others). Kevin Kelly just wasn’t equipped for the role and his tenure was possibly the most arduous the club has had to ever endure.
Post-takeover, he’d managed to carve out for himself an honorary title on the board, but it was likely relief from the other board members once he’d left. It certainly was for the supporters.
His ineptitude cannot be simply ignored and at least his cousin Michael Kelly can be argued to have been making some attempt to move the club forward (whether you agreed with his plans or not). Kevin Kelly was simply full of blind fantasy, and that was the most dangerous part of it all. It’s a lesson that has to be learnt, and any similar experiments must never be repeated.
On the resignation of manager Liam Brady (something that should have happened long before it did), Kevin Kelly said that he’d done the honourable thing. The irony of the words weren’t lost on anyone and the support could only wish he and his cronies had simply done the same thing so much sooner than they finally did.
Post-Note:
Sadly, his judgement was further questioned years later when revelations were revealed that he had entered business relations with Jim Torbett who later was found guilty of child abuse against young boys in the Celtic Boys Club. This does not mean that Kevin Kelly was aware in whole or in part of any of the wrong doings. Jim Torbett had once been released from Celtic Boys Club but later returned a number of years later. Kevin Kelly & Jim Torbett were both involved in the Trophy Centre shops in Glasgow.
The question is what did Kevin Kelly know or not on the events surrounding Jim Torbett? Was he able to help those affected, or did the poor management at Celtic provide the environment to allow Jim Torbett to proceed with his actions? One statement in court (by Hugh Birtt) claimed that he had tried to inform Kevin Kelly (and other board members) of concerns over Jim Torbett and that Kevin Kelly will have (allegedly) known about the concerns on Jim Torbett. Kevin Kelly strongly denied being aware of allegations concerning Torbett when he returned to the Boys Club, and told the BBC that he was not aware of any previous allegations against Torbett until his court case in the 1990s.
In fairness, Jim Torbett and his ilk have a knack to pull the wool over the eyes of everyone and that is what happened at Celtic, as the victims were too young to come forward (it takes a lot of bravery & understanding) and it was a different time. These cases have occurred across a number of football clubs in the UK (including Hibs & Rangers).
It may not be fair to taint Kevin Kelly with what occurred, but on top of all his mishandling whilst at Celtic, this in addition to all else sadly doesn’t help his case. Kevin Kelly is a good decent man from all the reports we have on him from people who knew him, and from the information we have to date, we do not believe he would have been party to anything that occurred but answers must be given where possible for the benefit of the victims and their families.
Links
- Celtic Takeover Homepage
- Controversies – Scottish Super League (League Reconstuction)
- Youtube: Sport in Question with Kevin Kelly & Michael Kelly (1993/94)
Quotes
“Most decent Celtic fans will be embarrassed by what Celts for Change are doing.”
Chairman Kevin Kelly clearly shows how distant he was from reality and the general Celtic support(1994)
