Singer supports Celtic fans' group

The musician Jim Kerr is backing moves by Celtic supporters to claim a seat on the club's board.

The Simple Minds lead singer, who was once linked with a bid to buy the club as part of a consortium with Kenny Dalglish, is set to allow the fans' group, Celtic Supporters' Trust, to use his proxy votes at the club's annual general meeting next week.

Now the CST vice-chairman, Jim Divers, believes Kerr's help can boost their hopes of gaining a seat on the board for fans. "Jim Kerr has told us we can use his proxy votes at the AGM to try and help the first stage of the attempts to get a supporters' representative on the Celtic board," said Divers. "He has told us he will support the resolution at the AGM to ask the board to set up the mechanism to get a fans' representative on to the board at Parkhead."

The club's manager, Martin O'Neill, yesterday appeared to have erased his name from the list of candidates for the vacant Tottenham job. The Northern Irishman was linked with the White Hart Lane position within hours of Glenn Hoddle's sacking last weekend.

O'Neill signed a rolling contract last season and he insists he is happy to stay with his Champions' League competitors unless the chairman, Brian Quinn, has other ideas.

"Four months into the job my future was under scrutiny and has remained so," O'Neill said. "But after three years and three or four months, I am still here battling away and battling my hardest to keep this job. It is difficult at the best of times and almost impossible at the worst times, but on I will go.

"I am delighted to be here for the Champions' League match on Tuesday unless Brian Quinn tells me something different between now and then and we have an extraordinary defeat against Hibs [today]. I am hoping we can go right through the competition for as long as possible. I can't stop the speculation, but I am absolutely delighted to be in the hotseat."

A number of leading names have been linked with the job, including the Rangers manager, Alex McLeish, while the former Chelsea manager, Gianluca Vialli, has now put his name forward.

"Alex's name was mentioned a week ago and he has now signed a contract, which puts him out of the reckoning," O'Neill said. "Vialli has put himself forward and we could go on speculating from now until eternity. By talking about speculation, then we could insult other clubs when I am not being considered. I want to be talking about this club and I am really happy to be in this job.

"We have been doing fine and last season we ended up being really disappointed but it was a memorable year. We look at those things and now we want to try and progress in Europe and capture the league again."

O'Neill also gave his seal of approval to the Celtic shareholder Dermot Desmond's reaffirmation of his commitment to the club. "He has said emphatically that he is not selling his Celtic shares, which is fine," O'Neill said. "He's in it for the long term. It's his passion so I have always believed him and I always will do."

The news that Kerr is allowing the CST to use his votes at the AGM also received a positive response. "I could not agree more," O'Neill said. "I thought I'd be represented myself but the idea of a fan coming on is fine and I'm all for it."