Kenny Dalglish shook with passion yesterday as he explained why Celtic need him as their next figurehead, and said he is committed to fight on for control at Parkhead through his "football-minded" consortium.
After their initial proposals were rejected on Friday night despite neither a formal bid tabled nor a meeting with managing director Fergus McCann granted, the angered consortium adopted a gloves-off approach yesterday.
Dalglish was joined by Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr as well as Jim McAvoy, while the group confirmed U2 frontman Bono was among those with the financial muscle helping to make their vision for the Glasgow club a reality.
The trio dismissed McCann's suggestion they cannot be taken seriously by outlining both their commitment to the ideals of the club as well emphasising the funds were in place to launch a full takeover.
Dalglish said: "We are football men. It is in our blood, we are footballing people, but to get the football right you must have financial support and backing which we do.
"The current ground at Celtic Park is as good as anywhere, but there is no point having that right if you cannot do it on the pitch, that's the most important thing when it comes to being successful.
"We are not faceless individuals, we are up front and want people to see what we have to offer.
"There is nobody who does not have any money involved in this bid; McCann talks about debt, but we have substantial funds. The Bankers' Trust are in there as investors and shareholders to finance what we want to achieve."
Dalglish admitted persuading McCann to release his 50.3 per cent stake in the club to them will prove a major challenge, but echoed McAvoy and Kerr in demanding the right to be listened to.
He added: "We know there is only one person to buy from and that's Fergus McCann. If he doesn't want to deal that is up to himself; I speak from the heart as a genuine Celtic fan.
"Fergus McCann said he had given five years service, but that's only half the service I gave the club as a player and a fraction of what supporters like Jim Kerr have given. We'll happily put our service records on the table.
"Fergus is an intelligent man, or so I am led to believe, and we have outlined where we are coming from. We are honest and would rather give a manager a wad of money for players than the chairman."
Rock star Kerr was fuming at McCann's treatment of Dalglish, a Celtic legend, and voiced his fears the club's supporters would be the losers if the consortium are ultimately forced to accept defeat.
He said: "The reason why we have put this together is the whole thing is centred around football; that is symbolised by a Celtic great who has been shown short shrift and disrespect when Kenny Dalglish is what the club needs.
"I'm here as a fan who wants to see football come up the agenda in Celtic's future because the past 10 years have been frustrating. But we never got a chance to meet McCann - they were not man enough to meet us.
"Rejection is rejection, but we were trashed. Either the club don't fully understand what we're about or Celtic is not for sale at all. Unless football is part of it, whoever controls Celtic will let them down."
McAvoy revealed that the consortium's interest, with the backing of venture capitalist group BT Capital Partners Europe, was first expressed in October after McCann made it known he wished to sell.
Advisers for both parties had been in regular contact, but only at late notice were the consortium informed of Celtic's decision to make public their rejection of their overture on Friday night.
Understandably stung at the veiled accusation from Celtic that even considering them had been a waste of time, McAvoy expressed his "disbelief" at how McCann had chosen to handle matters.
McAvoy said: "Celtic asked us to release them from the confidentiality clause at 10 minutes' notice; we refused, but they went ahead with their announcement anyway. Our interest in Celtic remains strong and is not limited to our proposals."
