MANUS JOSEPH J FULLERTON

BACK in September 2000 the Herald reported on the formation of, and the first Annual General Meeting of the Celtic Supporters Trust.

Among the well known names who became the founding trustees was Glasgow's Lord Provost, Alex Mosson, along with then trade union official Jim Devine. To find the full list the link is....

tcweb.co.uk/jim/listings/8.html

On it you will find that the list of people said to be sitting on the Celtic Supporters Trust board of trustees for 2000-01, includes the name of Manus Fullerton, together with a small biography which reads.....

"Born in London Road, half a mile from Parkhead, as a toddler I have vague recollections of watching Charlie Tully and am married with two kids, the older of the two, Josie, is Celtic mad and accompanies me to home games. John(1) is also Celtic mad, but doesn't realise it yet. I work in banking and I am responsibly(sic) for all the bank's activity with businesses in Scotland. I am very interested in the aims of the Trust and the need for supporters and small shareholders to have their views heard at the appropriate level in Celtic plc. With over 30 years experience in banking I hope to be able to use this to make a valuable contribution to the work of the Trust!"

Ah, a banker! But with which bank? And at how high a level.

The trail led to Who's Who in Scotland and the entry in the 2009 edition for one Manus Joseph J Fullerton, described as being the director of wholesale banking at Lloyds, which the British taxpayer now owns 41 per cent of . Lloyds are also, of course, Rangers bankers.

His entry reveals his date of birth as being 11-4-1949 and adds that he has held his post since 1999. Recreations are given as painting, reading and football, and his email address, freely available to anyone who looks him up in Who's Who in Scotland is manus.fullerton@lloydsdtsb.co.uk

The Scottish Banker magazine of June/July 2004 carried a lifestyle feature on him in which he talks at length of his love of painting. No mention is made of his other declared interests, football, or what team he supports, or what books he reads.

Whether or not this is the same Manus Joseph J Fullerton who is listed as a Celtic Supporters Trust trustee - which has no official status within Celtic plc - is a matter for debate. But it is not a common name.

In July 2008 he pops up on the BBC News Channel site, and is quoted as saying: "I am responsible for all of the bank's activity with businesses in Scotland."

The banker is certainly an influential figure within the Scottish establishment and is listed on a Scottish government website as having been appointed, in December 2009 for a period of three years, to VisitScotland, with renumeration of £8,235-per-year for two days' work per month.

He also sits on the board  and is an advisor to Reactec Ltd, is a member of the board of Social Investment Scotland, is a member of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, and is an exectutive board member past of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.

And, as is the case with so many of today's movers and shakers, there is also a Manus Fullerton to be found, and  pictured, on the social networking site, Facebook. - facebook.com/people/manusfullerton/180047559

To give a further flavour of the high echelons of the establishment he moves among, Manus Fullerton is listed as having chaired a debate in March 2009 at the Scottish Parliament when the motion was "Would Independence Be Good For Business In Scotland?"

He is quoted on  Waterstones.com , reviewing a book called "Confident Networking For Career Success And Satisfaction," by Stuart and Gael Lindenfield.

In that review he opines: " A major area for learning, for me, was on the section on enetworking."

Around that same period, as he reached his 60th birthday, the Herald reported he had delayed his retirement after being asked to stay on by Lloyds to help with the integration.

Later, in August 2009 he was pictured receiving an award at the National Business Awards and is described in a UKNet Guide interview with Patrick Hind as being the director of coporate and business banking at Lloyds.

He is also listed on the Red Orbit site Business diary as having been a guest in August 2005 at a dinner in the Easter Road, Suite, hosted by Scottish Power's HR director, Steve Dunn, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Hibernian becoming the first Scottish club to play in the European Cup.

The Red Orbit site credits the Herald as its source and quotes an unamed guest as saying:"Hibs fans among us were having a right good laugh at Celtic's expense."

This would be around the time of Celtic's crushing defeat away to Artmedia, following them being pipped on the post on the last day of season 04-05, by Rangers, who took the title by winning at Easter Rd.

All of the above is merely information I have uncovered through research, and is freely available in back copies of newspapers and magazines, in reference books, and through internet deep search engines, and is in no way meant to imply anything untoward at all.

What it does do, is paint a picture of a man who is at the very heart of the Scottish establishment.