Few coincidences in football politics, even fewer at Celtic | OneFootball

There are few coincidences in football politics, and even fewer at Celtic Park…

The Celtic Board. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Last night, and just three days before one of the most important AGMs Celtic has faced in years, the club issued a new statement. The timing, so close to a meeting already expected to be dominated by questions over governance, accountability and supporter unrest, was striking. The content, even more so.

Framed as a “Supporters’ Update”, the club’s release revisited the October 29th incident involving the Green Brigade, the steward, and the police. But where previous communications had at least the veneer of formality, this one bristled with defensiveness and intent.

“Supporters will be aware of the three home game ban issued to the Green Brigade this month following the assault of a steward and two police officers during an incident at the Falkirk game on October 29, which involved around 100 of the group’s members…

The Green Brigade has written to the Club describing the incident as ‘extremely minor’. As can be seen from the footage released by the Club, this is evidently wrong.”

Sack The Board protest at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock v Celtic, 14 September 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

From there, the tone hardened further. The club referenced prior pyrotechnic use, “unauthorised access” to areas of the stadium, and claimed that despite the sanction, members had ignored the ban. The statement also announced that the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) of Glasgow City Council had called a special meeting to discuss “recent events,” a meeting Celtic must attend, but one which the Green Brigade had asked to be represented at.

The club stressed that the SAG is “an independent body” and that any link between the current situation and wider fan protests was “misleading and disingenuous.”

For all the legal phrasing, however, the underlying message was clear, this was Celtic, doubling down.

Barely half a day later came a reply, not from the Green Brigade, but from the Celtic Trust.

“We note with increasing concern the ‘update’ published by the club at 18.45 yesterday. This lengthy and oddly-timed diatribe appears to be yet another attempt to deflect from the Board’s own failings – failings which are acknowledged across a broad swathe of the support. The timing of this intemperate attack is itself suspicious, coming as it does three days before what is likely to be the most difficult AGM this Board will face.”

The Trust accused the club of “accusing Celtic supporters of criminal acts” without investigation, of giving “misleading information” about the SAG, and of issuing “threats of more collective punishment.” The statement ended with an appeal to supporters not to be “diverted from the important task of holding the Board to account.”

That final line is telling. Because at heart, this isn’t just about a concourse scuffle or even a group ban, it’s about control. About how Celtic is governed, who wields influence, and how dissent is managed.

The AGM on Friday looms as one of the most charged in recent years. The Celtic Trust has worked hard to mobilise proxy votes from small shareholders unable to attend, ensuring a sizeable contingent of supporter representation inside the room. It won’t overturn resolutions, the Desmond bloc still dominates, but it may change the tone.

For the first time in a long while, this board can expect scrutiny in real time, from a floor of informed, frustrated shareholders and supporters armed with awkward questions.

Which is why the timing of the club’s “update” has raised eyebrows. For many supporters, it looks like a pre-emptive strike, an attempt to shape the AGM agenda around the Green Brigade controversy rather than around the performance of those who run the club.

If the meeting descends into a re-litigation of the ban, the board can claim it’s listening to concerns about safety and discipline. But if questions turn instead to governance, leadership, or the shadow cast by Dermot Desmond, the conversation becomes much harder to control.

Over the past week, The Celtic Fans Collective has ramped up its activism. What began as an umbrella for various fan groups has evolved into a coordinated campaign that now directly challenges the legitimacy of Celtic’s leadership.

Celtic Director Brian Wilson with CEO Michael Nicholson at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock v Celtic, 14 September 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Having already called out non-executive directors — Brian Wilson, Tom Allison, Sharon Brown, Brian Rose — for their longevity and perceived lack of independence, the Collective has now turned its focus on Dermot Desmond himself.

Celtic Chairman Peter Lawwell, Dermot Desmond, largest shareholder and Michael Nicholson CEO are seen during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Falkirk at Celtic Park on October 29, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Their latest statement is unflinching.

“Dermot Desmond’s grip on Celtic has shifted from dominant to out of control. His influence towers over the board to such an extent that any genuine accountability has vanished. His recent public statements, where he insulted fans following the transfer window and used the Club’s website to launch a personal attack on an ex-manager, highlight how dangerous and unchecked his influence has become.

“These recent comments were not the words of a leader who cares about the Club and the support. They were the rantings of a man who believes that he is untouchable. His authority goes unchallenged and the Celtic board has drifted into a role that serves his demands rather than acting independently and protecting the Club’s long-term interests.

“Celtic needs leadership that understands modern football structures, embraces progressive change and respects supporters. Instead, the Club is held back by a principal shareholder, surrounded by familiar faces, clinging to a bowling-club mentality and underpinned by a jobs-for-the-boys culture. Dermot – your time at Celtic has expired.”

It is rare to see the Celtic support this organised. Rarer still to see such a coordinated, public challenge to the club’s dominant shareholder.

But the tone is not one of anger, it’s of weary defiance. Supporters are tired of being told that safety and compliance justify secrecy, tired of governance that feels more like control than care.

Celtic Fans Collective protest at Celtic Park ahead of the Celtic v Falkirk match. 29 October 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

The Green Brigade ban, the proxy vote confusion, the “Not Another Penny” campaign, the North Curve’s accusations, they all converge into one story, the widening gulf between Celtic’s boardroom and its support.

When supporters talk about cleaning house, the implications are vast. New leadership, new governance, perhaps even new ownership, ideas that once felt unthinkable are now openly discussed. That prospect carries its own risks.

Celtic has enjoyed two decades of relative financial stability under Desmond’s oversight. But stability isn’t the same as progress, and for many fans, the club feels stuck, self-satisfied, outdated and insulated.

That’s what the Collective is tapping into, not just anger, but fatigue. A belief that Celtic could be so much more if only it could recognise Celtic’s potential, match the ambition of the support and mirror that in boardroom and executive appointments.

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

This was something many us hoped would emerge from this AGM, that Celtic would recognise and address supporter concerns, reflect that in changes at boardroom and executive level and show they were listening and acting. That feels like a forlorn hope right now.

The club’s recent statement, in contrast, reads like an attempt to regain control of the narrative. By doubling down on the Green Brigade story, Celtic risks confirming what its critics have long argued, that it listens only when its authority feels threatened.

The Green Brigade are seen during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Celtic FC and Livingston FC at Celtic Park on December 23, 2023. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

What this latest statement also raises, and what many supporters are now openly asking, is whether the club is attempting to shape the battlefield ahead of Friday’s AGM.

By dragging the Green Brigade dispute back into the centre of the conversation, Celtic risk narrowing the agenda to a single, emotive issue. For a board under pressure over governance, communication, the proxy vote saga, player trading, recruitment failures and strategy, a barnstorming argument about “fan behaviour” might just be the distraction they need.

If the floor at the AGM is consumed by a manufactured culture war between supporters, the board avoids the far more uncomfortable questions about competence, accountability and direction.

And that possibility — that the club might be using one controversy to smother a dozen others — will trouble anyone who believes AGMs should illuminate rather than obfuscate.

Friday will tell us a lot. The resolutions will pass, the bloc votes will hold. But the theatre of the AGM lies not in the count but in the confrontation.

The board will still face questions about process, communication, governance, and the belief that Celtic’s supporters are treated more like liabilities than lifeblood.

If the club hoped its latest statement would deflect attention, it may find it has done the opposite by galvanising a movement already gathering pace.

Celtic Fans Collective, Founded September 2025.

For the Trust, the Collective, and the growing chorus of ordinary fans now paying close attention, the debate is not about one section of the support. It’s about who runs Celtic, and for whom.

If the board truly believes in transparency, it will need to show it, not through statements, but through dialogue. If not, Friday’s AGM may not just be uncomfortable, it could mark the start of something the club can no longer control.

Niall J

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