The goalkeeper had spent much time out on loan whilst at Liverpool and had never started a first team game at Anfield. Tony Warner arrived on a 3 month loan from Liverpool.

Jonathon Gould signed a new 3 year contract to July 2003.Larsson stated that he had a three year contract and that he intended to honour it. Sheffield Wednesday made an enquiry on the availability of Henrik Larsson and were sharply rebuffed by the club.The plc however did release a letter to all shareholders on the 10th and 11th of November. This was a significant development, which due to financial regulations had to be kept tight. The financial clout behind the consortium eventually turned out to be BT Capital Partners Europe, the London-based private investment arm of the Wall Street giant Bankers Trust. It didn’t help when the ‘consortium’s’ bankers, Salomon Smith Barney, withdrew their support when the bid was leaked. However by carefully doing the figures it looked like the ‘consortium’ were well short of the cash they would need to buy out McCann and offer the same deal to the other Celtic shareholders that would be necessary. Mark Goldberg, chairman of Crystal Palace was thought to be one. Kenny Dalglish and Jim Kerr fronted this consortium but the real men behind the bid were unclear. The consortium bidding to wrest control of the club from Fergus McCann again raised it’s head.Following rest and assessment Jonathon Gould started light training after his knee in jury and it was hoped that he would be fit for the forthcoming Rangers game.The strong rumour was that Billy McNeill would be appointed as General Manager. The club share price rose by 10.4% in the wake of Brown’s resignation.Fergus McCann and the other executive directors at the club, including Finance Director Eric Reilly, had to get involved in the signings in the absence of Brown or a successor to the post of General Manager. Jock Brown’s resignation put a delay on contract extensions and signings.

Keepers of Men by Eric Martindale