Celtic jeopardy laid bare amid 'radical' 49ers takeover talks with Rangers as Patrick Stewart put on notice

The NFL giants are backing a takeover bid that could see mega money thrown at the Ibrox side

Hugh Keevins reckons that Celtic's dominance of Scottish football would be at risk should the US led takeover bid of Rangers backed by the San Francisco 49ers succeed.

Record Sport revealed in a mammoth exclusive that top-level discussions over a multi-million pound investment began before the turn of the year – and they are now understood to be at an advanced stage. One of the key men behind the proposal is Leeds United chairman Paraag Marathe – the man in charge of the NFL giants’ investment arm, 49ers Enterprises - is part of the consortium that would look to restore the Light Blues as a challenger to Celtic.

With mega-money spending potentially on the table, Mail Sport columnist Keevins reckons that a deal would change the "complexion" of the Scottish Premiership going forward. He told Clyde 1 Superscoreboard: "That kind of thing would come under a radical solution. Rangers at the moment are going nowhere, and they look at Celtic and they see a team they can’t begin to compete with on or off the park at the moment.

"If a takeover of that magnitude were to happen, that changes the complexion. Rangers can't get anywhere unless they get some money. They can overhaul the squad, and be a stronger proposition than they are now."

He also felt that a takeover would mean major changes behind the scenes at Ibrox - as he namechecked CEO Patrick Stewart. The former Manchester United chief laid out plans to recruit a sporting director on Wednesday as well as backing Philippe Clement.

But Keevins said: “If it comes to pass, all bets are off. Patrick Stewart won’t know if he’s still the CEO because when Americans takeover organisations they tend to want their men and everything about the complexion of the club will change over night.”