WHILE attention was diverted yesterday with the return of Jorge Cadete, who will have talks with Celtic manager Tommy Burns this morning, the last connection with the family dynasties which ruled Celtic was severed almost unnoticed. It was announced that Tom Grant was no longer stadium manager at the ever-developing Celtic Park.
Grant's departure will be welcomed by those supporters who still remember the intransigence of the previous regime which they felt was responsible for the dangerous decline in the club's fortunes.
Effectively, Celtic down through the decades was controlled by three families - the Whites, Kellys, and Grants - and it was only after the then chairman, Kevin Kelly, Tom Grant, and Jack McGinn decided to vote with Fergus McCann's camp just more than two years that the old empire fell.
It was suspected that Grant, who remains in possession of a significant shareholding - at one time he could command 1750 family shares - was given his position at the club for a term in return for his vote which helped overthrow the previous board, but a parting was inevitable. Grant has been reporting to Charles Martin, the club's capital projects and facilities manager, and the post of stadium manager may have been more or less redundant.
For a long time in the dramatic saga for control of Celtic he was one of the low-profile players, but at the same time one of the most influential because of his shareholding which could make him a tidy sum now should he sell.
If only for deciding correctly in the end Grant deserves applause, but there will not be many sad to see the back of him. Many wondered how someone who was a supporter first, like themselves, could be part of a board which seemed unable to make the changes which would have prevented the club from entering a terminal decline.
However, the fans who stood on the steps of Celtic Park waiting and hoping for the revolution to begin, will also want to see the backs of McGinn, who is kept on because his SFA connection makes him useful, and Kelly.
Grant said: ``I have a number of opportunities I wish to pursue outwith Celtic and I feel the time is right to leave my post as stadium manager. I want to thank the supporters as a group.''
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