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
In fairness niall, I can understand the collective looking for some form of victory at the AGM?
But targeting the NEDs?
How do the collective really think that replacement of any nodding dogs with other nodding dogs, is really going to bring any form of changes within the boardroom?
Fair play in effort, but in reality little chance of having any form of impact whatsoever imo?
Wouldn’t say a board is going to back down from a collective demands, especially while our club remains such a cash cow for the likes imo?
Much bigger issues remain upon the field of play for ourselves at present. The strength within a collective will grow, if the downward cycle of results, starts to becoming a bigger factor within our season.
All unknown factors at present, and still say we still are a club who haven’t lost to much to date this season, especially with so much still to play for all the same.
Of course we are in uncertain times within our club at present.
But focus for myself anyway, it’s more important for ourselves to be gaining victories on the pitch, moreso than gaining victories within the boardroom at present imo?
How do you know the noding dogs will be replaced with new noding dogs?
for all you know we might get ned’s with a bit of backbone and modern ideas
The whole board need replaced