Willie Haughey

Willie Haughey

A lifelong Celtic supporter, Willie Haughey was invited by Fergus McCann to invest in Celtic following McCann’s take-over of the club. Haughey invested £500,000 and was given a seat as a non-executive director on the Board.

Willie was chairman of City Refrigeration Holdings which he had founded in 1985 and developed into a multi-million pound company. A self-made millionaire he was born in 1956 and raised in the Gorbals. He left school at 15 with no qualifications. In 2007 he was awarded an OBE for his philanthropic work.

He was quite pivotal in the turnoaround in Celtic’s financial fortunes following the takeover in 1994, but also on a personal level. Celtic legend Jimmy Johnstone has stated publicly the personal debt he owes to Willie Haughey for helping him turn his life around after alcohol ravaged his life and saw Jimmy try to hawk his medals away to Willie amongst others. Willie said no and instead held out his hand to help him. It’s a great measure of Willie as a person that he did so.

Resignation from Celtic
On the evening of 28/4/97 Peter McLean, Celtic PR man gave a press statement out which tersely stated that regretfully Mr Haughey had resigned his position as a member of the Board of Celtic plc. The short statement showed little of the happenings behind the scenes but they gradually played out over the next few days. Willie himself stated that he had not resigned and that the statement to the Press followed a meeting between himself, Fergus McCann and a lawyer for the club that evening.

It was alleged by McCann that Haughey had made statements and leaked information on Celtic matters, thought to be his support for Tommy Burns, to a public meeting. Despite his denial of these allegations, Celtic issued a second statement which suggested that lawyers acting for Mr Haughey had tended his resignation.

The situation, rather than drawing to a polite and quiet closure continued to develop. On 30/4/97 the club issued another statement on behalf of non-executive director Michael McDonald. This stated that he was sad to see Haughey leave but that he, Michael McDonald, personally had no intention of resigning from the Board and that he accepted the position of the club. The reason to this rush of statements on resignation might have had less to do with Tommy Burns’ position anfd more to do with discussions on the future of McCann’s share holding and plans that Dermot Desmond had to become the principal share holder. This was confidential information and information that could affect the markets and club valuation and was extremely sensitive.

Events continued to gather pace. The same night that Michael McDonald had issued his statement through the club, Dominic Keane, the club secretary, resigned after a 4 hour meeting with other members of the board. Keane was said to be furious at the manner in which Haughey had been removed from the Board. Dominic Keane’s departure was a more serious matter given his executive role and his representation of Celtic at SFA meetings. Keane refused to discuss the matter further publicly however McCann was drawn into a comment. He said, “I understand he was not in agreement with the process by which Mr Haughey had to be removed. However, the corporate structure of Celtic required the decision of the plc board, which was unanimous and reflected their responsibilities to all shareholders and supporters.”

This was revealing in that there appeared to be a split within the plc and the non-executive sides of the Board, with the plc’s directorate retaining complete confidence in McCann and his actions.

“They support my position as managing director and majority shareholder that it is in the interests of all parties, including Mr Haughey, that the specific reasons for that decision remain confidential to those who made it,” he stated.

On the 2/5/97, following a meeting between Fergus McCann and Tommy Burns, Burns was sacked as manager of the club after refusing to move sideways to allow a new manager to be appointed.

Five-hour Celtic boardroom row as Haughey quits

The travails of Celtic continued yesterday and the club board – the football board that is – met for five hours yesterday to discuss the departure of director Willie Haughey.

After earlier confusion, Haughey tendered his resignation to the club through his lawyer, but still refused to accept the allegations being laid at his door by managing director Fergus McCann of leaking stories to newspapers. The Haughey affair seems to have become so central to the club’s thinking that a proposed meeting with under siege manager Tommy Burns was postponed. Burns, whose own future has been open to question, was scheduled to meet the directors yesterday. Instead, the five-hour meeting concentrated on the problem of the director who had left. I understand that other directors feel a sense of disquiet over the entire handling of Haughey’s departure. And the Glasgow businessman, who put up #1m of his own money to help the rescue operation, will remain a source of embarrassment to McCann. As a major investor, Haughey’s continued presence at Celtic Park is guaranteed. It remains to be seen whether his allies on the board will follow him out of the club, or remain to fight his cause from within. There is no doubt that the board are divided. Haughey spent yesterday at his Glasgow home receiving messages of support from supporters’ associations with whom he has worked closely since becoming a director following the revolution which sent the old Celtic ”families” into the wilderness. Initially, he refused to accept the resignation letter he was being asked to sign. Despite that, Celtic announced that he had left the club. Yesterday he did so, but only after consulting his lawyer and allowing the official resignation to go ahead. Celtic responded with their own statements. Managing director Fergus McCann said: ”Mr Haughey last night (28/4/97) tendered his resignation through his lawyer, Jack Gardiner, to Celtic’s lawyer, Kevin Sweeney. ”As for other allegations, jibes, and general attempts to discredit Celtic, and various other individuals, I do not feel it is appropriate for Celtic to be dragged into a public slanging match. ”It is felt that it is in the best interests of all concerned, including Mr Haughey, that the circumstances surrounding his departure are not disclosed. ”The plc board of Celtic unanimously agreed the action required, and the fact is, Mr Haughey is no longer a director of Celtic.” Then later the club’s public relations officer, Peter McLean, added: ”It is not an unusual response in Mr Haughey’s position to aim to try and discredit individuals. I fully support the statement and line taken by the club reflected in Fergus McCann’s comments.” Celtic supremo McCann may hope that the five-hour meeting yesterday has ended his problems. If he does so, he will be wrong. There is more to come. Probably much more. This is not simply about ”leaks,” this is surely about the manner in which the club is being run and the on-field problems which continue to plague them. The supporters have a voice now, they have a vote now, and they will make themselves heard.