This one is likely to fly under the radar, but Americans gained another quiet foothold in Europe when Oakland A's co-owner John Fisher bought a 3 percent stake in Glasgow Celtic on Thursday -- just less than $1 million worth in stock. In case you're keeping track, that makes a fourth American sports owner invested in a major British club.

Fisher joins the quartet of English Premier League teams that are part or completely owned by Americans: Malcolm Glazer and family at Manchester United, George Gillett and Tom Hicks at Liverpool, Randy Lerner at Aston Villa and Stan Kroenke at Arsenal.

It also marks another link between Major League Soccer and the Old World. Fisher and Lew Wolff are also co-owners of the new San Jose Earthquakes. Whether that means cooperation between the two clubs remains to be seen. Remember, Celtic already has good relations with MLS -- the Scottish club was the All-Star game opponent this past summer and Celtic's Polish striker Maciej Zurawski is set to make an amicable move to the Los Angeles Galaxy.

On the European side, expect the Scottish footballing public to have its predictable anxiety attack over Fisher's purchase -- as fans of all the above mentioned clubs did. What's not immediately clear is if he plans to increase his stake in Celtic, as Glazer did gradually before taking Man. United private (Kroenke did the same thing at Arsenal, but ultimately decided against a full-scale takeover). I'll pass on more details when I get them.