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Terry Cassidy
Chief Executive (1990 – 1992)
December 1990 saw the arrival of Terry Cassidy as the club’s first ever Chief Executive. It was a bold move and a tacit admission that the directors themselves were not in possession of the necessary business skills required to turn things around.
From almost every angle Cassidy apparently was the ideal man for the job; he had quite an impressive track record given that he had added £1.6 million to the turnover of the Irish Times in his first year there; he didn’t carry the baggage of being a “Celtic man” but he was familiar with the Celtic v Rangers situation from his days with the Evening Times and Glasgow Herald. Perfect. But Cassidy was fated to be one of the most controversial figures attached to the club in the 90s. Quite an accolade if you stop to think about it.
One of his first press conferences saw him criticise Rangers for not hiring his services first and within one week of his appointment he was advising the Bank of Scotland not to increase the club’s overdraft. One of the things he had discovered on his appointment was that Celtic didn’t have a business plan. This was 1990 and a club that was supposedly due to finance a multi-million pound stadium did not have the basic foundation that every business needs. Cassidy quickly deduced that if there was no plan for finance then there was certainly no plan to repay the overdraft and he advised the bank accordingly. The board found out about this and it immediately soured relationships.
Although his relationship with the media would have deteriorated sooner or later, early interviews with the press had the new Chief Executive complaining that this was the first time he hadn’t been invited to join the board of any company he had worked for and he was not impressed. With Terry Cassidy about there were very few dull moments.
For real escapism, and a jolly good laugh, you only had to follow the court case featuring Terry Cassidy vs.Celtic. Our former CEO was suing Celtic for damages having been sacked. You must remember Terry, our erstwhile Chief Executive with the manners of a Rottweiler and all the charm of a zookeeper’s welly? He was claiming £143,000 damages for breach of contract after he was dismissed with a year or so left on his contract. The Celtic board decided to defend itself, counter-claiming that Cassidy was guilty of grave industrial misconduct. And if you think that’s rich coming from the Celtic board of the time then stick around. There’s better to come.
So, who do you call upon to defend the honour of the club when the going gets tough and you know you’re in for the verbal equivalent of ten rounds with Chris Eubank? None other than our very own diffident public school milksop Chris White. He spent the whole of the first day of the trial sanctimoniously reciting a litany of Cassidy’s misdemeanours. The directors, it was revealed in court, were none too happy when Terry burst into a cosy soiree they were attending with their wives at Hampden as guests of the SFA. Our Chief Exec hadn’t been told about this particular social event but decided to go anyway, proceeding to demand a seat for himself and partner. When they asked him to make himself scarce he called White a ‘bastard’ and called the others ‘a bunch of women.’ As if this wasn’t bad enough, according to White Cassidy had been insolent to the directors, wasted club money and had given jobs within the club to members of his family, whereas Chris had only committed two of these sins. He was never insolent to anyone on the board.
If you’re thinking that this all seems a bit ridiculous in view of the past performance of the directors themselves then you can imagine that Cassidy’s brief, Ian Bonomy QC, must have been approaching the prospect of cross-examining Chris with all the relish of Derek Johnstone at a pie eating contest. Under interrogation White was forced to concede that rather than a club run by a hard-nosed bunch of corporate high flyers, ‘wives played a leading role in the club.’ As his cross examination wore on White was warned by the judge about being evasive and eventually had to admit that he ‘may have misled the court.’ It was a truly remarkable case, and a true indication of how strapped for cash the club was. I mean for the sake of a few thousand quid to shut Cassidy up or risk all your dirty washing hung out in public. For a club like Celtic it shouldn’t even be a choice.
However say what you want about Cassidy, and most of it will be uncomplimentary but Matt McGlone (Celtic fanzine editor) had more dealings with him than any other of the Rebels and in his book gave a better overview. Critical of the man, but at least showed also that he was at least working for the club and made efforts, a far cry away from the board members. He actually had sympathy for him too after his layoff.
He seemed to be in between a rock and a hard place. To illustrate how incompetent things were at Celtic, you have to just listen to the following from him which was proved correct: “If I had reported what happened at board meetings no one would have believed me. They would have said Basil Fawlty wrote that.”
Notably, after leaving his role he was a columnist with the Sunday Mail for a very short while. One of his classics was denigrating football managers saying they were worthless and unnecessary. He didn’t last long in his role as most guess that the club must have pushed for his early departure from the role.
Very much criticised for the supposed debacle that was Billy McNeill’s sacking, but in truth there was a board leak of the details which wasn’t his fault. Sorry to have to say it but McNeil had to go, and no other position was likely suitable unless he was moved up to the board (and would you have wanted to work with that board?).
One matter that proved that Cassidy was really no different to the board was when he put his son in charge of some commercial work at the Celtic. That in itself proved that he had to go.
After all, he went and the board had no buffer to take the flak anymore. That is mostly what Cassidy was there for, and for his own sake was best away.
Quotes
“If I had reported what happened at board meetings no one would have believed me. They would have said Basil Fawlty wrote that.”
Former Celtic Chief Exec Terry Cassidy on his time at Celtic (1994)
“In my dealings with Cassidy I found him thoroughly unpleasant, untrustworthy, overbearing, offensive individual.”
Billy McNeil
“Celtic have spent £4.5 million on new players in the last few years, and that’s a bloody big biscuit tin.”
Terry Cassidy, Celtic Chief Exec 1991
“I had to cope with Terry Cassidy during my time and that was not a very pleasant experience, I can assure you. The trouble with Cassidy was that he was not a football man and, as such, did not understand football people.
“We had some stand up rows, Cassidy and I. It did little for the morale of the place with things like that going on. I wanted to manage the team and do my level best to put out a team that deserved to wear the green and white hoops. Simple as that, but there was interference from every corner.
“When Cassidy eventually left, Celtic put in Michael Kelly to handle the club’s Press Relations department and things didn’t get any better. It all became a bit intense and it got to the stage that you had to continually look over your shoulder. So much for team harmony and pulling together! Yes it was quite an experience managing Celtic Football Club!”
Celtic manager Liam Brady 1998
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Celtic look for a calm future after the Cassidy era: A turbulent 22 months in Parkhead politics ended at the weekend.
REPORTER: DAVID MCKINNEY
THE INDEPENDENT
Tuesday, 27 October 1992
IT WILL be difficult for Celtic historians, when looking back over the last 22 months, to determine the contribution made by their former chief executive, Terry Cassidy, who was dismissed on Saturday. On the face of it, he achieved few of the goals set out for him on his appointment in January 1990.
He was charged with turning round the financial affairs of the club, with a view towards the provision of an all-seat stadium, and to act as spokesman on the club’s behalf. At the end of his well-paid tenure, it is difficult to list his positive achievements and, with his particularly abrasive manner, he made many enemies, who will no doubt be delighted to see his departure.
Two years on, Celtic are arguably in a more precarious position than when Cassidy arrived. There is little sign of movement towards the all-seat stadium demanded by Uefa and urged by the Taylor Report, and, with two years having been lost in the process, the Government’s 1994 deadline looms large. Also, the club have debts reported to be in excess of pounds 5m.
Perhaps more importantly, Cassidy has done much to harm the traditional family atmosphere at Celtic Park, where loyalty and an appreciation of the Celtic way of things have always been paramount. He has, in turn, angered executive box-holders, the ordinary supporters, employees of the club, and the Press.
Shortly after his arrival, he upset some of the club’s main financial backers, including Brian Dempsey – who was to join the board and then be expelled – and the shirt sponsors, the double glazing company, C R Smith. If his manner represented the new face of Celtic Football Club, people no longer wanted to be associated with them. Today Celtic are the only senior club in Scotland without a shirt sponsor.
The badly handled dismissal of the Celtic great, Billy McNeill, as manager has also been partly pinned on the chief executive’s door. He drew up a memo outlining the steps to be taken towards the sacking of a manager shortly before McNeill was dismissed. His replacement, Liam Brady, did not see eye to eye with the man.
As a former newspaperman, he must have known the impact of his assertion that sports writers would have been at the end of the queue when brains were being given out, but nevertheless he kept detailed files on the reporting of Celtic in the papers, and at one point instigated legal proceedings against a senior Scottish sports journalist.
On the plus side, there are those who believe he has done a good job for the club by making the hard decisions necessary to overturn years of weak stewardship, and that his approach was the only one which would get the job done adequately. Certainly, he deflected a lot of flak from the board.
At a time when the club were under pressure from a takeover group, the chief executive, in a radio interview, questioned the credentials of those craving power at Celtic Park. His outspoken manner dissuaded others from questioning his own credentials and achievements. In the end, he made a mistake in angering his own employers with a premature public statement on the club’s move to Cambuslang and a new stadium.
Ultimately he was employed to help the club move towards a new stadium, whether at a rebuilt Celtic Park or elsewhere, and perhaps that is the platform on which he should be judged. The evidence of his two years’ work would suggest that Celtic’s best chance of having an all-seat arena before the 1994 deadline would be to write a letter to Anneka Rice. The experience of the last two years will certainly make the club wary about appointing a s
Celtic director tells why Cassidy had to go
CELTIC director Chris White agreed yesterday that he may have misled a court over the reasons why the club sacked chief executive Terry Cassidy.
Earlier, he had said that Mr Cassidy’s poor performance in the commercial side of the club was reason enough for dismissing him.
But yesterday he agreed that the finance was only one of several reasons why Mr Cassidy was sacked.
He was giving evidence at Glasgow Sheriff Court in the legal action which Mr Cassidy has raised claiming #143,000 damages for breach of contract.
Mr Iain Bonomy, QC, for Mr Cassidy, reminded Mr White that he had said in his evidence that the chief executive’s alleged poor performance in generating money for the club was sufficient grounds for terminating his contract. Other club directors agreed with this at a meeting on October 8, 1992, when it was decided to dismiss Mr Cassidy.
Yesterday, after repeated questioning, Mr White agreed with Mr Bonomy that finance was only one of several reasons.
Mr Bonomy said: ”You have significantly misled us on this. Do you accept that?”
Mr White replied: ”I may have. I am sorry.”
Earlier, the court heard that Mr Cassidy was removed from his #90,000-a-year job with 14 months of his three-year contract still to run.
Negotiations over his severance pay broke down and he opened court proceedings.
Celtic make various counter allegations about Mr Cassidy’s conduct and performance.
Mr White agreed that as club secretary he was the main Celtic witness in the action.
He was asked by Mr Bonomy what the main reasons for Mr Cassidy’s dismissal were and he said there were three items in particular.
Mr White said these were Mr Cassidy’s conduct when he gatecrashed a Skol Cup semi-final dinner at Hampden in 1992, ignoring a board directive not to speak to the media, and appointing members to the staff without confirming it with the directors.
There was also the poor financial situation.
Mr Bonomy asked: ”When he was informed of his dismissal at a board meeting on October 24, 1992, was he told all the reasons?”
Mr White replied: ”All except his behaviour at the Skol Cup dinner.”
Asked why this had not been mentioned, Mr White said: ”Because it was a personalised matter and it was hoped some arrangement could be made with the chief executive and there was no point in exacerbating the situation.”
Earlier, Mr White claimed that Mr Cassidy had not been invited to the pre-match dinner at Hampden, but had appeared half way through with his girl friend. He then called Mr White a ”bastard” and called the other directors ”women”.
Asked yesterday if he thought girl friend was the correct term to describe Mr Cassidy’s guest, Mr White replied: ”I thought that was how he referred to her himself.”
Mr Bonomy asked if it would not have been courtesy to tell Mr Cassidy that the Celtic directors and their wives had been invited to the dinner.
Mr White replied: ”Perhaps so, yes.”
Asked why their chief executive had not been told about the dinner, he said: ”A breakdown in communication.”
In reply to Mr Bonomy, Mr White said there was no intention of the board to humiliate Mr Cassidy.
He agreed Mr Cassidy was occasionally invited to pre-match functions and he was surprised at his reaction that day.
”His behaviour was a source of great embarrassment,” he said.
Pressed by Mr Bonomy, Mr White agreed that no letters of complaint had been received by Celtic about Mr Cassidy’s behaviour at the Hampden dinner.
Asked how many outsiders had written complaining to Celtic about their chief executive’s behaviour, Mr White said ”None. I would not have thought it was something they would write to the club about.”
Mr Bonomy asked: ”How many people mentioned it to you as being a source of great embarrassment?”
Mr White replied: ”Only the other directors.”
Mr Bonomy asked about Celtic’s proposed move to a new stadium at Cambuslang, and suggested that the plans were lying ”dormant” before Mr Cassidy took up his duties in January 1991.
Mr White said: ”The plan was under consideration. There were copies of different proposals by different organisations over a period of time.”
The hearing continues.
