The group, headed by former Celtic player Kenny Dalglish, said it continued to have an interest in the club, but "in light of the board and the majority shareholder's stated unwillingness to deal with the consortium, the consortium regrets that it cannot advance its proposal further."

Chick Young: The consortium were unhappy about the way they have been treated

Celtic formally rejected the consortium's takeover bid last Friday.

The Scottish champions said the proposal made by a consortium, which included Dalglish and Jim Kerr of rock group Simple Minds and was backed by venture capital firm BT Capital Partners, was "below the market value of the club."

The consortium said it was disppointed that the bid was rejected without any attempt to discuss it further from Celtic chairman Fergus McCann, who owns a 51% stake, and the board of Celtic.

Craig Brown: Players not affected

Glasgow businessman Jim McAvoy and U2 frontman Bono were also part of the bid.

Mr McAvoy said he had reacted with "disbelief" when informed of Celtic's rejection. "We expected we would be granted a meeting but nothing was forthcoming."

Jim Kerr questioned Fergus McCann's decision to speak to the consortium only through his advisers and complained: "We did not get the chance to talk to Mr McCann. They were not man enough to meet us.

Investment critical

McAvoy: Disbelief over rejection

The consortium maintains Celtic requires "immediate and substantial" investment in players and training facilities to see it once again become one of the elite clubs in Europe.

The group said their offer included the immediate provision of substantial amounts of cash to be made available to the club to achieve this.

A statement to the Stock Exchange added: "In Kenny Dalglish, the consortium would have been able to offer the services and commitment of one of Europe's leading football experts, and a man uniquely qualified to lead an effort to return Celtic to the elite tier of European football."

The club is worth around £100m ($168m) at present, after the club's successful share market flotation in 1995.

Annoni wants out

In a separate development, defender Enrico Annoni announced on Tuesday that he hopes to leave Celtic as soon as possible and could return to Italy.

"I am just waiting for January until the Italian transfer market is open. The Spanish window is already open," said the 32-year-old.

Annoni, who has been out of favour at the Scottish club and has also been injured this season, added: "I would like the chance to leave now as I want to play.