brian quinn on strachan, money, the media and england

Brian Quinn clearly enjoyed answering questions from fans on Celtic TV last night.

The whole nature of questions being asked about Celtic has moved on remarkably since last year. Since then, questions like, 'Why don't you give the manager more money', have been replaced by questions about the use of the available money and how to make attract additional income.

Mr Quinn was clear on the size of the challenge Gordon Strachan faced at the start of the season. 'People had not appreciated the magnitude of the job when he came. He replaced a charismatic manager, a manager who was legendary with the Celtic support, an inspiring person. To lose a manager like that was a difficulty for us.

'We had a new manager who had to replace a lot of players. He had an enormous challenge. We said to him, this is a big challenge, you have to get the player to accept you, you have to get the fans to accept you.

'To achieve what he has achieved in the first year with those starting positions... shows great resolution, great fortitude.'

One caller asked for greater clarity on the clubs finances, to which Mr Quinn said, 'No club in the UK does more than Celtic to explain exactly where the money goes. Every penny is accounted for.

'In your annual statement and semi-annual statement, it is laid out in great detail. We put it in your Celtic View, we do it on Celtic TV, it's not easy to get the local press and media to concentrate on the good news. I get irritated with references to the biscuit tin, that is ancient history.'

He explained how the club is managed from the corporate side to viewers, 'We have worked very hard at expanding the sources of revenue we can tap into. We have a terrific management team at Celtic headed by Peter Lawwell, we are actually a mini-conglomerate.

'We are a leisure company, we've got publications, catering, football, of course, we work very hard at that.

'It sounds slightly self serving and immodest to say, but I cannot think of any football club that is better run that Celtic football club.'

Chief executive Peter Lawwell has increased the size of non-football income significantly since joinging the club in 2003. He has been one of the most important signings by Celtic in the last decade. It will be interesting to see if Celtic can keep him beyond the three-year ceiling that seems to afflict the chief executives office at the club. Losing him this year would be a significant reversal.

The English Premier League appears close to agreeing a TV deal that will run to 2010. This seems to have removed a possible early move to England, Mr Quinn said, 'There isn't the opportunity to actively pursue [The Permiership], I think we are standing in readiness to the opportunity. I would say that the prospect of us going to join the Premiership or any other league has receded a bit. My firm belief is that what the customer wants the customer gets and I think at some stage Celtic will receive an invitation to join another league and we will consider it at that time.'

Celtic TV host Ally Begg asked if the club would use the anticipated £10m Champions League bounty to reduce the debt or build football resource, 'The share issue has offset the debt. It has not eradicated it, but it is normal for a company to carry some working debt. I would not say to you how much money we have available, that is for players agents to find out, but we will do everything in our power to make Gordon's job as productive to Celtic as we can.'

One caller asked about the air of inaccurate media speculation that surrounds Celtic, 'Rumour and chat is a part of football, and I think if you are not prepared for that you should not be in the game, I've got no objection to that. I just wish there was more genuine information given to the Celtic fans, that's my complaint.'

The subject of possible new money coming into Celtic was raised, 'Our recent share issue was over subscribed, so by definition there were some people who did not get what they wanted.'

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Kingoh said I was very impressed as always with the way our Chairman came over on TV last night. What I have admired the most is the way that he and the board appear fully focussed on the job in hand and, like our manager, appear to completely ignore tabloids and phone-ins. I agree that Mr Lawell will be a big loss should he move on. The work he put in to bringing the two Polish players and in particular Nakamura should not be underestimated. Securing the image rights for Naka was a big plus this year as I think we are just starting to realise in the build up to the World Cup what a big star he is in his home country.

TheGodfather said There was one terrific piece of dialogue from the chairman when he was asked if there were people actively interested in further investment in the club. He stated that the club decided on £15m for the share issue and that due to its over subscription some people had to have their investment reduced. He went on to say that he felt a club could not always teake money from any investor and that a club could have too much money. A very clever and quite unintended dig at Murray and Rangers! I'd have Quinn in charge before Murray any day of the week.

Celtic-Mas-que-un-club said At long last the board appear to be getting the credit they deserve. In this difficult financial period they have managed the club excellently. Rumours of another £5m plus spend in the summer should stand us in good stead, even against the 2nd coming! Perhaps, just as important, the board now realise and are putting into practise that they have to mange the club's finances and also the expectations of the support. With regard to Peter Lawwell, I am sure that when he joined the club, Mr Quinn stated that it was a coup to have him and that his salary was in accordance with his level of expertise. Therefore, I would think that he would be here for a while yet. If not what would be the odds of Brian McBride being the new chief exec?

CELTICFC NUMERO UNO said I'm really glad that more and more fans are realising how well the club is run these day. I've not heard the phrase 'where's all the money gone' recently and I think this site has played a large part in that. Well done. I wonder how the comments will be spun in the rags over the weekend.

stephen74 said I too enjoyed Brian Quinn's appearance on TV and fair play to Celtic for trying to talk to the supportes directly. We've now had Brian Quinn and Gordon Strachan on Celtic TV recently. Their appearances have led me to beleive that the best person they could have on that show is Peter Lawell. Absolutely everything seems to go through him. It is only through hearing the Manager, and the Chairman speak that you realise just how important Mr lawell's position at this club is. Like the average fan, I remember when Terry Cassidy et all were appointed I just shrugged and said, 'so what? It's not like they do anything important anyway.' How wrong was I? Anyway, well done Mr Quinn, Well done Mr Strachan! The message regarding money etc is slowly getting out there!

SanFran_Tic said I had a boss who once told me not to break my arm patting my back. We certainly understand that you must ultimately come back into financial equilibrium. I believe that the support will even grace a return on investment for the shareholders. How representative of the fan base the sample selected to pose (pre-selected / pre-approved?) questions to The Mighty Quinn was I could not know. Two comments from me 1. Strategically I think Celtic are moving in the right direction (The Boardroom). 2. Tactical implementation of the strategy can only be evaluated by progression in Europe. Back to my broken arm, lets not get ahead of ourselves. Abject failure in the CL this year will bring all the 'uneducated' questions back to the fore.

vinniethedog said Interesting about more investment and the different names quoted - usually the Irish mafia - Desmond, JP Mcmanus, and Magnier. A little article in the Business section of the Sunday times on private health care states Magnier, Desmond,and Mcmanus of Cygnet healthcare all hold large stakes and the group would have an enterprise value above £1 BILLION if it floats this year!