Collective’s Spotlight on Tom Allison – 24 years on Celtic Board | OneFootball

Fresh from calling for the removal of Brian Wilson, the Celtic Fans Collective has now turned its attention to another long-serving non-executive director whose time on the board they believe has long passed its natural end point…

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

Their latest target is Tom Allison, whose extraordinary 24-year tenure stands at almost two and a half times longer than the widely-accepted nine-year maximum recommended for independent non-executive directors. Allison has been described previously on The Celtic Star as ‘Dermot Desmond’s eyes and ears’ so you can perhaps understand why he has been in situ for so long.

In a new statement, the Celtic Fans Collective said:

“Tom Allison joined the Celtic board in September 2001. Tom Boyd was club captain and the team was preparing for Celtic’s first ever Champions League group stage match. Like Brian Wilson, Tom’s tenure is now more than double the nine-year maximum widely recommended for Non-Executive Directors under basic corporate governance standards. As a result, his ability to hold the CEO and CFO to account has been compromised. Celtic needs fresh ideas, expertise and leaders who understand the demands of a modern football club. Tom – your time at Celtic has expired.”

Allison’s 24-year stay is now one of the longest in Celtic’s modern history and, under the UK Corporate Governance Code, would be considered far beyond the threshold at which true independence can be maintained. Governance experts argue that the nine-year rule exists for a reason, the longer a director serves, the harder it becomes to challenge colleagues with whom they have formed close personal and professional bonds.

Just as importantly, long tenure creates a different kind of risk, one we highlighted in the Brian Wilson analysis yesterday. Directors entrenched for decades often become guardians of their own historical decisions. Challenging old strategies becomes awkward when those strategies were designed on their watch.

A board cannot meaningfully refresh its thinking if its members remain deeply attached to the ideas and systems they shaped many years earlier. At that point, the culture itself becomes questionable – is the board still fit for purpose when those tasked with oversight are defending legacy thinking rather than scrutinising it?

For many supporters, the answer is becoming increasingly clear.

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Celtic Park. Celtic v Livingston, 23 August 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

The 2025 AGM takes place next Friday, 21 November, at 10:30am at Celtic Park. Among the 14 ordinary resolutions is the reappointment of Tom Allison, a vote now carrying far more weight and scrutiny than the board may have expected even a few months ago.

The timing of the Celtic Fans Collective’s intervention is no coincidence. The movement, campaigning for increased accountability, transparency and modern governance standards, has gained significant traction among the support. And according to the Celtic Trust, that momentum appears to have rattled those currently running the club.

In a detailed and sharply critical statement, the Trust said –

“Most Celtic supporters are aware that there is an organised movement of opposition to the way that the current custodians of the club (the PLC Board) are conducting themselves in relation to transfers, transparency and fan engagement.

“What has become apparent over the last week is the extent to which the movement, led by the Celtic Fans Collective, appears to have gotten under the skin of the Board and possibly even the seemingly very thin skin of the principal shareholder, Dermot Desmond. A number of possibly unconnected things happened over the past week or so which look suspiciously like a deliberate attack on those organisations which are part of the Celtic Fans Collective.”

The Trust outlined a series of incidents, copyright disputes targeting fan media, major issues with the proxy voting system, and strained communication from the Company Secretary, that, in their view, suggest resistance from within the club toward organised supporter groups.

They added –

“Next up, was the admission by Computershare UK, the Registrars of the PLC, that a change in their voting system had resulted in all of the proxies that were intended for the Trust being rejected. Unintended consequences of software changes can happen, but in the case of an AGM in which fewer than 1200 voters ever take part and for which the name Celtic Trust is well known, this should have been picked up far earlier than it was.”

The Trust also criticised the lack of engagement from the Company Secretary, stating –

“The seriousness of a shareholder organisation being impacted in this way is hard to overstate, and yet the current Company Secretary, unlike all of her predecessors, sat on her hands the whole time and was initially unreceptive to our request for an in-person meeting… Normally (and I mean over the past 25 years) the Company Secretary and the Trust would have a meeting prior to the AGM to discuss all the arrangements… Joanne McNairn has had no communications with us except to respond to our submission of the resolution requisition forms.”

The statement also referenced the sanctions imposed on the Green Brigade, adding to what they describe as a pattern of confrontation from the board.

The Trust concluded with a stark warning –

“..this war between the current custodians and the supporters is as serious as I have known it to be in decades and something has to give… It is vitally important that supporters stand firm on this campaign if we don’t want to watch the long slow decline of our beloved club.”

Their comments underline what many fans now believe, the AGM will not simply be a routine corporate formality, but a flashpoint in a growing struggle over the direction and governance of Celtic Football Club.

Tom Allison

The reappointment of Tom Allison—after 24 years on the board—will be viewed as a test of whether shareholders are willing to demand modern governance standards, genuine accountability, and a culture that welcomes challenge rather than shields itself from it.

For the Celtic Fans Collective, Allison’s tenure represents the very heart of the problem, a board that has remained unchanged for far too long, insulated from scrutiny, resistant to modern thinking, and deeply attached to its own legacy.

And next Friday, thousands of small shareholders—many mobilised for the first time in years—will finally have something to say about it.

Niall J

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