Kenny Dalglish and Jim Kerr, lead singer with Simple Minds, are believed to head a consortium aiming to take over Celtic football club but football finance specialists doubted yesterday whether the pair have the required financial backing.

Dalglish, who made 324 appearances for Celtic, and Kerr, a fanatical supporter of the Scottish Premier League team, are reportedly intending to invest in the club themselves and hoping to take control in an estimated £140 million buy-out with backing from the City.

News of the proposed deal is contrary to the publicly stated desire of the chairman and managing director Fergus McCann that he wants to sell his 51 per cent holding to fans and existing shareholders. McCann does not want a single powerful consortium to dominate Celtic.

He said yesterday that he was: "Aware of the speculation surrounding my shareholding. I have had inquiries from various parties. My feeling remains the same, that the best plan for Celtic is to make shares available at some point next year." Speculation in the City helped push Celtic's share price up 45p to 307.5p, adding £12.9 million to the club's market value.

McCann has said repeatedly that he wants to sell up and return to Canada following the completion of his five-year plan to transform Celtic, which has included building a 60,000-seat stadium, the largest club ground in Britain.

Celtic plc said in a statement to the Stock Exchange yesterday that the Dalglish-Kerr consortium had requested a meeting with McCann but no formal bid had been made. While the club is valued at £77 million, it is believed that any consortium would have to bid around double that for outright control.

Analysts suspect that McCann might face the wrath of fans if he tried to engineer a corporate sell-out along the lines of the proposed sale of Manchester United to Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB. But, if the consortium led by Dalglish and Kerr fails to find sufficient financial backing, McCann might find it easier to make a case for a corporate buy-out, having at least made an effort to find an owner with a sentimental link to the club.

Nonetheless Celtic might eventually fall into the hands of a media group. "Ultimately Rangers and Celtic will be key players in broadcasting in Scotland," said an analyst. The Celtic price tag is small beer for a group like Scottish Media, worth more than £430 million.

A spokeswoman for Soccer Investor, which specialises in football finance, said: "Rumours about this consortium have been going around for some time. They claim that they have City backing but there is not a lot of evidence for this. Prior to this year's a.g.m. it was known that Kerr was a member of the consortium but Dalglish has obviously been brought in because of his connections with the club."

Kerr has estimated personal wealth of around £20 million and has been critical of McCann's handling of the club. Dalglish is also wealthy, following high-profile managerial jobs at Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United.

Dublin businessman Dermot Desmond, who has invested in the club, stands to gain financially from the move if it goes through.