Principal Celtic shareholder Dermot Desmond insists he’s a lifer at the club and has no interest of walking away – even if he’s made a mammoth bid.
The Irish tycoon revealed he has never been presented an offer from potential investors but is adamant he has a long-term vision for the club he has been involved with in for 27 years.
Desmond has received flak over a perceived lack of visibility at Celtic but he has opened up during a wide ranging interview as he fronted up to a host of burning issues.
UFC superstar Conor McGregor previously claimed he held talks with Desmond over acquiring shares from the 71-year-old.
But Desmond made it abundantly clear that he sees himself and his family remaining key figures at Parkhead for years to come.
Speaking to Celtic TV, he said: “I’m very glad to do so (addressing speculation). Nobody’s ever approached me about buying or selling shares – nobody. And that’s in the last 27 years or so.
“I’ve no intention of selling shares, not now, not in the future, even if somebody offers me a price three or four times the current share price, I’m not selling.
Fortunately, I’ve been privileged and honoured to be a shareholder of a club I’ve supported as a youth and I’ve been a fan for well over 50 years.
“Therefore, I’ll continue to be a fan and shareholder of the club and hopefully contribute to the continuous development of the club.”
Desmond and fellow board members were met with protests after their failed attempt to secure 10 In A Row – as Rangers romped to league glory by 25 points.
And he concedes not everything went to plan in a season that led to Neil Lennon leaving his post in February 2021 after a wretched defeat to Ross County.
He added: “As a club, we’re continuing to learn and want to improve every aspect of the club.
“Our facilities, our infrastructure, our personnel, that’s a given, every year.
“If we look back and analyse last year, let’s look at the facts. The first thing we wanted to do was retain all our squad to win 10 In A Row.
“That we did, we wanted to retain the players we had on-loan, (Mohamed) Elyounoussi and (Fraser) Forster from Southampton.
“We’d reached terms with Southampton that both could come. Both players wanted to come and those deals were being consummated.
“Unfortunately, at the last minute, Fraser Forster decided to stay at Southampton.
“But in the interim, we’d let Craig Gordon go. That was the start of a little bit of challenges we faced from the previous year.
“We were in need of getting a goalkeeper to replace both Forster and Gordon. That was one of the challenges we faced.
“We recruited other players so that in every position we had cover. We added Shane Duffy as cover for centre-back and we did that throughout the whole squad.