After a year of hype, spin and porkies about the 49ers interest in Scottish football the Daily Record has a terrible confession to make to their readers.
One of the top men at 49ers Enterprises is a Celtic fan!
Last February it was billionaires here there and everywhere at the Record as they introduced the latest off the radar whizz kids about to bring global domination to the club founded by Charles Green in 2012.
All sorts of goodies were promised while the original deal was scaled down from the San Francisco 49ers to 49ers Enterprises then onto plain old Andy Cavenagh.
With Paul Murray the matchmaker there was sure to be a happy ending for all the long suffering bears.
Paraag Marathe, Chairman of Leeds United was drafted in to give the story credibility but there was no billions of investment in the squad or transformation in the creaking Ibrox Stadium.
John Souttar, James Tavernier, Connor Barron and Rabbi Matondo still drain the wage bill. Celtic Park still has 10,000 more seats. Or 20% more for the Record’s star columnist Barry Ferguson.
Michael Nicholson’s kamikaze decisions at Celtic has created a title race but Hearts and Motherwell look as likely to capitalise on that as the Ibrox club.
Last week, on the eve of facing Celtic Marathe walked away. He had barely used his blazer and brogues but after eight months he was gone.
Just like Kevin Thelwell, the Director of Football with access to A-listers like Russell Martin and Danny Rohl.
Now barely a week after Marathe walked away a Leeds director has been telling the BBC that he is a Celtic fan!
RED FACES AT THE RECORD- AGAIN
Pete Lowy is a genuine big hitter.
An Australian now based in California with a genuine interest and passion for football. A success on three continents, in various fields.
His best pal at Leeds is Eddie Gray. A Celtic fan from Castlemilk who seems to discuss the hoops with everyone that he comes into contact with.
Celtic are Scotland’s only global club.
The distinctive strip is known worldwide. Every major international city has Irish pubs and bars.
You’ll see Celtic on the walls of many of them. Almost 60 years on the memories of the Lisbon Lions show no sign of dimming.
For many football fans Henrik Larsson is in the top 50 players of this century. Larsson of Celtic, not Barcelona or Manchester United.
Painfully the Daily Record reports:
A billionaire Leeds United director and 49ers chief has distanced himself from the NFL giants’ involvement with Rangers – after declaring his love for Celtic!
The California-based Australian tycoon Pete Lowy gave a rare interview to discuss plans for the Elland Road club going forward, including the Yorkshire club’s ambitious stadium expansion plan.
Lowy is a lifelong Leeds United fan and arrived at the club in 2021 as part of the 49ers Enterprises ownership and is one of the biggest investors through the Lowy Family Group.
While he followed the Yorkshire giants as a kid from Down Under, Lowy admitted an affection for the Hoops and made a trip to Parkhead last season with Celtic-daft Leeds United legend Eddie Gray.
CELTIC- SCOTLAND’S ONLY GLOBAL CLUB
After that painful introduction the Record had to cut to the chase.
Lowy was being asked about Leeds Chairman Marathe resigning as vice-Chairman at Ibrox, an issue barely covered by the Record.
“Probably nothing. Sorry about that. I like to answer questions. I’m not an investor in Rangers, I’m not involved in Rangers – I don’t have anything to do with that except that I’m a Celtic man. When you see Eddie (Gray) and I sitting there together….
“That’s not why I didn’t invest, it just wasn’t for me. One of the best nights I had actually. Eddie and I went up to Celtic Park last season during the European Cup. They played Leipzig, I think.
“And if you want to imagine what you can do at a stadium and imagine where you can take a club then that stadium is spectacular, the noise there, the people, the commitment and if we can get some of that up to where we are at Elland Road we’ll be doing really well.”
Celtic 3-1 RB Leipzig was probably the most impressive and emphatic victory Celtic have had in the last decade.
Despite the archaic Main Stand at Celtic Park the stadium is an arena made for the Champions League.
Through belief and ability a club from a top five league were taken apart in UEFA’s premier competiton.
CELTIC- THE LACK OF AMBITION
Sadly the decline since Lowy and Gray watched the Leipzig match has been sharp.
If Celtic had a CEO like Lowy rather than Nicholson they could have kicked on from that campaign. Instead Nicholson opted to cash in, dismantle the squad and reignite his real passion, building the Celtic bank balance. And retaining the vile O** F*** business partnership.
With moderate ambitions Celtic could be transformed.
They’ll never be a Bayern Munich, Barcelona or Juventus but they should certainly be able to out perform Bodo Glimt, Club Brugge and Copenhagen in European football.
Qarabag, Pafos and USG are surging past Celtic in the only platform that matters. The Champions League.
It would be great if the imagination of Lowy was triggered by his November 2024 visit to Gray’s home city.
Perhaps he might know a Fergus McCann type figure ready to shake fresh life into Celtic by emptying the board room. Replacing it with ideas and ambition rather than fear and contempt for anti-establishment fans.
It is those anti-establishment fans that makes Celtic a different proposition to the conveyor belt of bland English clubs.
RELATED READING
Something else for them to rage at 🤣
— He4rtOfDarkness (@He4rtOfD4rkness) March 4, 2026
