Celtic AGM – The support will be heard and the board must listen

In partnership with

The Celtic Star

·20 novembre 2025

Celtic AGM – The support will be heard and the board must listen

On the eve of the AGM, Celtic stands at one of the most consequential supporter–club flashpoints in decades…

Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay. Dundee v Celtic. 19 October 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

What has unfolded since early September is not a collection of isolated protests, but the emergence of a mass movement, one that began with a single letter and quickly evolved into the most unified supporter mobilisation since the club’s modern rebirth.

OneFootball Video

It began on 3 September, when over four hundred supporter organisations signed a joint letter to the board. The letter asked seven straightforward questions about transfers, football strategy, governance and accountability.

The club responded with a defensive statement that answered none of them.

In earlier years frustration might have dissipated. This time, it ignited something much larger. Within days, representatives from more than two hundred groups met in Glasgow and agreed to form a unified body – the Celtic Fans Collective.

From its inception, the Collective was unusually broad. The Affiliation of Registered CSCs, the Celtic Supporters Association, the Association of Irish CSCs, the Celtic Trust, Disabled Supporters reps, regional CSC networks, Celtic fan media, Bhoys Celtic, the Green Brigade and others all came inside the new structure. A steering group was created. Sub-committees were formed. Regional structures began to take shape. Within weeks, the Collective represented more organised Celtic support than any initiative in the club’s history.

Kasper Scmeichel at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock v Celtic, 14 September 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

The first demonstrations arrived quickly. At Rugby Park, supporters executed a coordinated twelve-minute delayed entry, the absence of the “12th man” highlighting the growing disconnect between board and support.

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

A week later at Firhill, placards with red-crossed portraits of directors filled the away end, momentarily delaying kick-off and setting the tone for a new, confident style of protest.

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

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

Then came the “Sound of Silence” at Celtic Park against Hibs, where twelve minutes of silence transformed the stadium into a powerful statement against the board’s refusal to answer its own supporters.

A formal invitation from the board followed, leading to the “Monday Night Meeting” at Celtic Park where the seven questions of the open letter were finally addressed in person. Answers were partial and often evasive, but the meeting acknowledged the Collective’s legitimacy.

Days later, at a packed gathering at Grace’s Bar, the Collective launched the Not Another Penny campaign, a coordinated boycott of all club revenue streams outside match tickets until February unless meaningful change occurred. By this point, the Collective’s structures were strengthening, communications, research, governance scrutiny, regional organisers and a growing membership of CSCs across the world.

Fan Protest at Dens Park. Dundee v Celtic. 19 October 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

At the match away to Dundee at Dens Park, supporters escalated their message with a coordinated thrown-balls protest. Dozens of balls were launched onto the pitch, delaying the match just after kick-off and creating another nationally-reported disruption that underlined the growing determination of the support.

Then, in late October, came the most dramatic show of strength so far — the mass pre-match protest at the Falkirk game.

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

Thousands gathered outside the main stand. Flares, banners and sheer numbers turned the front of Celtic Park into a statement of defiance. Technical issues meant speeches were barely audible, but they weren’t needed. The turnout spoke for itself, and Dermot Desmond, present at the match, could hardly have missed it.

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

Throughout November, the focus shifted toward governance, transparency and structural change at board level. The Collective’s research groups published detailed briefings on long-serving Non-Executive Directors, highlighting concerns about entrenched tenures, outdated skillsets and the erosion of board independence. Calls for a Fan Advisory Board were renewed, grounded in the argument that Celtic supporters — who sustain the club financially, culturally and structurally — should have a formalised voice in strategic decision-making.

It was against this backdrop that the Green Brigade ban exploded into the centre of the narrative. The club imposed a sudden, sweeping and collective punishment on the ultras group — a measure so severe it stunned even many who often disagree with the group’s approach.

What followed revealed something deeper about the state of the club–supporter relationship. Instead of isolating the Green Brigade, supporters rallied around them. Tickets were redistributed. Fans cooperated to bring the banned group into the stadium for the Kilmarnock match. The board attempted to divide the support. The support closed ranks. It was a pivotal moment, proof that attempts to fracture the fanbase would no longer succeed.

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)

From that point, scrutiny intensified. Dermot Desmond, traditionally untouchable, was challenged openly and publicly. And today, the Collective escalated further, directing its attention to Peter Lawwell and Michael Nicholson.

This is the atmosphere in which the AGM arrives.

Across the support, two visions of Friday have taken shape. The optimists see the possibility of change. They imagine a board that finally listens, accepts the need for reform, replaces long-serving Non-Executive Directors, and outlines a modern football structure. They hope for transparency instead of secrecy, humility instead of defensiveness, and leadership grounded in credibility rather than legacy.

The realists anticipate the opposite. They expect defensiveness and bunker tactics. They fear the meeting will be dominated by the Green Brigade ban, a convenient diversion from deeper governance failings.

Green Brigade banner

Their concern only grew when the club released a strongly worded statement about the ultras just days before the AGM, a statement the Celtic Trust condemned as “divisive” and “dishonest”, accusing the club of levelling criminal allegations “without any investigation”. It appeared conspicuously timed, an attempt to provoke internal conflict on the eve of shareholder scrutiny.

Meanwhile, the Collective’s governance campaign intensified. Every Non-Executive Director has faced examination. Desmond has been confronted directly. And today the chairman and the CEO have come under the Collective’s spotlight.

This escalation is not reckless. It is deliberate, researched and widely supported. It reflects the growing belief that Celtic’s problems are structural and cultural, embedded in a governance system resistant to change and dominated by a single unaccountable figure.

Tomorrow’s AGM is therefore no mere formality. It is a referendum on governance, expressed not in votes, but in tone, questions, reactions and pressure.

Peter Lawwell, Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay during the Premier Sports Cup Semi Final match between Celtic and Rangers at Hampden Park on November 02, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

The board faces a choice. It can acknowledge reality and begin renewal, refreshing Non-Executive Directors, allowing the chairman to step aside, outlining a CEO succession plan and addressing the structural issues within the football department. Or it can retreat, deflect and attempt to ride out the storm, framing the meeting around a dispute in the standing section rather than years of mismanagement.

Common sense says Celtic must act. History says it probably will not.

But, the Celtic Fans Collective has changed the landscape. The support is more organised, more unified and more determined than it has been since Fergus McCann demanded modernisation. The old playbook of silence, delay and strategic ambiguity will no longer work.

Tomorrow, the board will speak. But tomorrow, the support will be heard. And for the first time in a long time, the board has no choice but to listen.

Niall J