Information has emerged which provides more background to the scandal of SPFL Chairman Murdoch MacLennan’s business relationship with major Celtic shareholders.
The SPFL has this week issued two garbled and accusatorial statements in response to calls from Rangers Chairman Dave King for an investigation into the relationship between Mr MacLennan and Celtic’s major shareholders Dermot Desmond and Denis O’Brien.
Mr MacLennan is Chairman of Independent News & Media (INM) – 45% of whose shares are owned by Desmond and O’Brien. Mr Desmond also owns 35% of Celtic’s shares and Mr O’Brien 13% of the football club.
It’s clearly ludicrous to claim that there is no business relationship or conflict of interest between Mr MacLennan’s roles. Several stories in the Irish Times concerning the operation of INM put paid to the SPFL’s stance.
This story – https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/dermot-desmond-s-nominee-resigns-from-inm-board-1.3336462 – clearly shows that Mr Desmond had the right to appoint a nominee to the Board of INM. The story demonstrates that Mr Desmond has considerable influence on the operation of INM.
The following link – https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/inm-should-be-run-for-denis-o-brien-and-dermot-desmond-1.3463823 – discloses that a previous Chairman of INM (Leslie Buckley) suggested in 2016 that “that the group should be run so as to maximise returns for shareholders Denis O’Brien and Dermot Desmond.”
A third story – https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/inm-defends-text-exchanges-between-denis-o-brien-and-leslie-buckley-1.3478435 – disclosed the existence of text messages between O’Brien and the then INM Chairman Leslie Buckley concerning who might be appointed to conduct a review into the company’s proposed purchase of an Irish radio station.
I would contend that a reading of such information would lead a normal person to contend that far from being an impartial chairman operating at arms length from shareholders, there is a clear case to answer over Mr MacLennan’s independence.
The Articles of Association of the SPFL have detailed provisions regarding the requirements of directors with other interests. Some of them make interesting reading.
