Celtic AGM – “As you were,” — or will they finally say, “we hear you”? | OneFootball

This morning, Celtic directors will walk into an AGM unlike any other in recent memory. Months of unrest, organisation, protest and public scrutiny have brought the club to a moment of reckoning…

Celtic’s summer of self-harm has now hardened into a winter of discontent, and the question hovering over the club is painfully simple – does the board understand the gravity of this moment, or will it behave as though nothing has changed?

For the support, everything has changed. The open letter signed by more than four hundred supporter organisations. The formation of the Celtic Fans Collective. The delayed entry at Rugby Park. The placards at Firhill. The twelve minutes of silence against Hibs. The balls-on-the-pitch protest at Dens Park. The mass rally at the Falkirk game. The escalation of governance scrutiny. The Green Brigade ban and the supporter solidarity that followed. The public challenges to Non-Executive Directors, then to Dermot Desmond himself, and finally to Peter Lawwell and Michael Nicholson.

That is the reality Celtic walks into today. A support more united, more organised and more assertive than at any time since the Fergus McCann era.

And yet the nagging fear remains. That when the lights go up and questions begin, the familiar pattern will return, aloofness, defensiveness and the quiet arrogance that insists supporters simply do not grasp the complexities the board must navigate. That the problems are exaggerated. That the noise is temporary. That the real issues lie elsewhere.

If that tone emerges today, if “as you were, folks” is the message, Celtic will confirm the worst suspicions of its support. It will reinforce the belief that the club has grown complacent, insulated from reality, unwilling to modernise and uninterested in accountability.

But it does not have to be that way. Today could be the day Celtic chooses contrition over deflection. It could acknowledge its mistakes, the bungled summer window, the lack of structural vision, the absence of modern football expertise, the erosion of trust, the repeated communication failures. It could outline a roadmap for governance reform, fresh Non-Executive Directors, genuine board independence, modern football operations run by experienced professionals rather than long-standing insiders. It could demonstrate that it hears and understands the concerns voiced by tens of thousands of supporters.

Celtic Fans Collective protest poster outside Celtic Park on 29 October 2025. Photo The Celtic Star

Fresh faces. New ideas. A willingness to move Celtic out of the stagnation that has defined recent years. These are not extravagant demands. They are the basic markers of a club prepared to evolve.

But if none of that comes — if the board chooses once again to minimise, to dismiss, to hide behind process and platitude — then another message will ring just as clearly, the cycle of self-harm at Celtic will continue. And if it does, the Celtic Fans Collective will not disperse. It will dig in for the long haul. Protest will become sustained pressure. Scrutiny will become resistance. Regime change will move from whispered desire to explicit campaign.

The club holds the pen today. It can break the cycle. It can turn the page. It can offer a signal that renewal is possible.

Or it can retreat into the bunker, convinced that the supporters simply do not understand.

Today, we will discover which path Celtic has chosen.

Will it be “as you were, folks” — or will it finally say, “we hear you”?

Niall J

Last orders for Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter

Celtic in the Eighties and Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style both by David Potter. Photo The Celtic Star

Last remaining copies of Celtic in the Eighties – get your copy now before it’s too late! Here’s what you get…

Order Celtic in the Eighties from Celtic Star Books and we’ll automatically add Putting on the Style. Please note postage will only be charged on one book so there is no cost to you at all for the Willie Fernie biography.

These two books combined will make a brilliant Christmas present!

Danny McGrain signing copies of Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter. Photo: Celtic Star Books

Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter. Out now on Celtic Star Books. Order at celticstarbooks.com

Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style. Available at celticstarbooks.com

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