Celtic And State Aid. The Conspiracy Theory That Refused To Die.
It was State Aid that was going to do it at first.
An investigation was going to uncover all manner of corruption and malfeasance and the club was going to have to give back huge sums of money and pay mammoth, debilitating, perhaps even ruinous fines. The allegation that Celtic had benefited from a council-backed sale of tax payers land, seemed, for a while, like the conspiracy theory that simply wouldn’t die, and no amount of laughing at it or the central planks of it being pulled away seemed like it would end the nonsense.
The guy who ran with this – yes, it was one guy, the very epitome of “lives in his mum’s basement” – really put his back into it.
He spent a fortune chasing documentation under Freedom of Information requests, he pored over old maps, he spoke to alleged experts, he compared our deals to various others … it was exhaustive work and I cannot, I do not, believe that he missed the glaring holes in his theory or the various points which underscored the valuation at which we bought the land for Lennoxtown and the parcels around Celtic Park which form the basis for The Celtic Village project.
He just ignored them. He pretended they weren’t there. He promoted his fantasy long after it had collapsed.
The Greater Glasgow Health Board, who had owned some of the land, examined the claims regarding Lennoxtown.
No case to answer.
Glasgow City Council investigated the claims regarding the land around Celtic Park.
No case to answer.
The Charities Regulator looked at the deals.
No case to answer.
The European Union competition commission looked at the whole issue of State Aid involving Celtic.
No case to answer.
Every time one of these bodies opened an inquiry – as all were legally obliged to do – he publicised that as “proof” that the corner had been turned and that the “investigation” was bearing fruit. Every time one of them announced its findings he cried conspiracy. Ironically, he has cost the taxpayer far more money than Celtic have.
And it continues to this day.