Celtic AGM was a watershed moment, looking like an irretrievable breakdown | OneFootball

This morning on The Celtic Star, we posed a question that felt both hopeful and loaded, would Celtic’s AGM finally mark the moment the board said, “we hear you,” or would it be yet another weary chorus of “as you were”?

By the end of the meeting — if it can even be called a meeting — the answer was delivered emphatically, almost theatrically.

There was no olive branch, no contrition, no willingness to listen, and certainly no acceptance of responsibility.

What we witnessed instead was Celtic Board’s Black Friday, a collapse into defensiveness, panic, and a level of contempt for shareholders and supporters that will echo long after the directors scurried out of the Kerrydale Suite.

From the very beginning the tone was set by a board determined not to engage. Before anyone could so much as adjust their seat, the board insisted on playing their in-house promotional video — the kind of glossy segment supporters can watch online at any time.

When Jeannette Findlay of The Celtic Trust made a simple, reasonable request to move to the next item of business, she was dismissed. When shareholders raised hands to support the proposal, they were ignored. And the moment resistance became audible, the chairman adjourned the meeting. Thirty minutes delay, and nothing had happened except a display of insecurity and an early giveaway of the board’s true intention, avoid scrutiny at all costs.

When the meeting resumed, the board announced that the AGM would end at 12:30pm regardless of delays. No time would be added. No courtesy extended. The shutters were coming down at half past twelve, whether a single question had been answered or not.

As the video finally played, many shareholders simply walked out in disgust. Those who remained watched a familiar montage of pitches resurfaced, buildings refurbished, infrastructure upgraded — all the greatest hits of self-congratulation.

Then came the views from the top table, Peter Lawwell insisting the board had “not done a bad job,” Michael Nicholson offering platitudes about shared frustrations and promising a new app and upgrades to Celtic TV. It felt less like a board acknowledging supporters and more like a deflection strategy designed to pad out the clock until 12:30 arrived and the doors could swing open.

But none of it compared to the moment that will come to define this AGM, Ross Desmond speaking on behalf of his father, the dominant shareholder who once again chose not to attend.

Dermot Desmond’s absence has become symbolic, but today his presence was felt in a different, more troubling way.

His son delivered a prepared statement that dripped with condescension, hostility and disdain. It was one of the most provocative addresses ever directed at a Celtic support already weary of being treated like a nuisance rather than stakeholders.

What follows is his statement, because supporters deserve to see exactly how they were spoken to.

“Times of challenge call for unity and understanding, as well as honest responses to reasonable questions. Yet there are those out there who seem to lie in wait for any opportunity and any small opening to stir up toxicity around the club.

Let me start by dispensing with the absurd caricature some people spread about my father and state some of his Celtic credentials. He’s a passionate and lifelong Celtic supporter. He first put money into Celtic more than 30 years ago when Fergus McCann asked him for help. He became the principal shareholder when Fergus sold out, and he took on the responsibility that came with that. He wants the club to be healthy, successful and still thriving decades and even centuries from now.

The board shares those desires, and that’s why the board respects financial reality. We act prudently, not recklessly. Those who accuse the club of hoarding cash or being in it for the money display a deep misunderstanding of financial responsibility. The board’s fiduciary duty of care is to the shareholders, to the supporters and to the future of this club. We don’t declare dividends to distribute surplus cash to ordinary shareholders as many other businesses do. Cash is retained and used to sustain and develop our club.

As Chris (McKay) explained in the video, Celtic must maintain strong reserves and contingencies to protect against unforeseen circumstances. That financial strength is what gives us independence, stability and the ability to make our own decisions and not be beholden to anyone else. Those who talk about the club not having kicked on in Europe since 2003 ignore the enormous change in the financial landscape of football in that period.

It has created a gap which keeps growing and challenges any club playing in a smaller European league. Most supporters understand that. Of course, clubs can still punch above their financial weight, and we should aspire to that. But if you swing and miss, you risk the very stability of the club, and that would be profoundly irresponsible.

The financial independence of this club was jeopardised in the mid-1990s and we must never allow ourselves to fall into that position again. We constantly strive to improve, to become more competitive and to go deeper into Europe, and there’s no doubt we get things wrong and we make mistakes, and we try to learn from them. Our model is far from perfect, but for the most part, it has served this club well over the past 20 years.

So we will not be bullied by aggressive or irrational factions. We will not be railroaded by those whose only vocation in life is to be anti-establishment and by those who try to degrade the club. Our focus is on what matters: improving this club step-by-step, systematically, without ever risking its future. Improving recruitment, investing in data analytics, upgrading facilities, enhancing the stadium and trying to make Celtic stronger in every way.

Criticism and advice are welcome and the right of every supporter, but some of what we have seen recently is not constructive, it is destructive and cynical. All it does is strengthen our resolve to protect the integrity and stability of Celtic Football Club. Our board, led by Peter, and our executive, led by Michael, are dedicated to the Celtic people. The attempts to dehumanise and vilify them are shameful. These are people with families; they love the club every bit as much as anyone here, and when we are not performing, they suffer just as much as anyone. They work tirelessly, often under intense pressure. They do an outstanding job for this club, and we are very lucky to have them.

Of course, we are not blind to our shortcomings. We can communicate better, we can recruit better, we can compete better, but we will do it responsibly, sustainably and always in the best interest of Celtic. Celtic was founded as a club open to all, and we have a tradition of having the greatest fans in the world. We must now protect that reputation that was created over generations. The behaviour of certain sections increasingly brings the club and its fanbase into disrepute. The incident a few weeks ago at the Falkirk match was symptomatic of wider problems. These people are bullies, and they try to hijack the good name of Celtic supporters. We cannot allow them to define who we are. I’m well aware of the target I put on my back when I say this.”

Celtic AGM 2025. Photo The Celtic Trust

Here, in a single uninterrupted statement, was the distilled worldview of Celtic’s ruling class, criticism is toxic, dissent is bullying, scrutiny is anti-establishment, and the board themselves — these poor misunderstood servants of Celtic — are victims of a support that refuses to appreciate them.

It was the Brendan Rodgers club statement treatment all over again. Only this time, directed not at a manager, but at the supporters themselves.

Shortly after this speech was delivered, and sensing the storm that was about to break, Peter Lawwell shut the meeting down. No questions. No dialogue. No accountability. An AGM without answers, by deliberate design, by provocation. It was, in every meaningful sense, a retreat.

Something important happened today, and not in the way the board hoped. By closing the meeting early, they did not project strength. They projected fear. Fear of scrutiny. Fear of the Collective. Fear of supporters asking the questions they cannot answer. Fear of facing the consequences of a season defined by failure, silence and a summer window that can only be described as self-harm.

But perhaps most importantly, they revealed something they have spent months trying to conceal. The rupture between Celtic’s hierarchy and the Celtic support is now total. When even shareholders — the very people who legally own Celtic PLC — are spoken to with contempt, dismissed, mocked or ignored, then the board is no longer governing with authority. It is governing in isolation.

And isolated boards fall.

They fall slowly or they fall suddenly, but they fall all the same.

This morning’s AGM was not a bump in the road. It was a watershed moment. The board answered the question we posed before the meeting with absolute clarity. There will be no change, they said. No humility. No listening. No shift in culture. Not today. Not ever.

But in answering that question, they opened a much bigger one. Because if the board will not change itself, then the supporters — unified, organised, determined — will have no choice but to try.

The Collective will dig in. The Trust will dig in. CSC’s will dig in. Celtic fan media will dig in. And supporters who watched this morning’s display with disbelief will begin to understand what others have been warning all season.

The walls are closing in. Not around the support — but around the board.

Today, the Celtic hierarchy said “as you were.” But the support’s response, the one that comes next, is unlikely to be so forgiving.

Niall J

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

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