Celtic have announced Mark Keane and Raymond Buchanan as new non-executive directors, filling the boardroom vacancies left by Peter Lawwell and Tom Allison – but the announcement itself won’t settle whether anything has genuinely changed at Celtic Park.
Interim chairman Brian Wilson described the appointments as part of a continuing “board refreshment” process, saying both men would bring new ideas and insights to the club, as reported by ReadCeltic. Good words. Familiar words, too.
What A Non-Executive Director Actually Does
There’s a lazy assumption among some supporters that a non-executive director is simply a name added to the letterhead. That’s not how the role is supposed to function. Non-executive directors don’t run Lennoxtown or pick the team – they exist to scrutinise the executives who do, to challenge strategy and to bring independent judgement to the table.
Celtic’s own annual reports set out a Nomination Committee process that recommends candidates possessing the experience, skills and knowledge to further the interests of the club and its shareholders. On paper, Keane and Buchanan can absolutely wield influence. The question, as ever, is whether they’re being brought in to challenge Celtic’s direction or simply to sit around the same table saying the same things.
Wilson has now been interim chairman for close to nine months, having taken over after Lawwell’s departure was announced on 17 December 2025. That’s a long time for “interim” to remain the operative word, and it sharpens the obvious follow-up: who is actually driving this refreshment, and when does Celtic get a permanent chairman? Supporters who lived through Dominic McKay’s 71-day tenure in 2021 – a chief executive who arrived talking about modernisation and evolution before vanishing within weeks – will recognise the pattern of promise without follow-through, even if there’s no definitive evidence his departure came from Celtic rejecting his ideas.
Familiar Names, Familiar Questions
Mark Keane isn’t arriving as a blank slate. He’s a lifelong Celtic supporter and, per Celtic’s 2023 annual report, held 5,909,847 ordinary shares – 6.25% of issued ordinary share capital at that time – with a family connection to John Keane, who served as a non-director for more than two decades and was named honorary chairman in 2013. Raymond Buchanan brings senior corporate-affairs experience that Celtic believes can strengthen relationships across the Celtic Family, which given the state of that relationship right now is no small task.
Dermot Desmond has himself been a Celtic non-executive director since May 1995, a reminder that the title carries real weight when the right person holds it. There’s no evidence he personally selected these appointments, and it would be wrong to pretend otherwise – but the governance structure around Celtic’s largest individual shareholder remains a fair subject for supporters to keep asking about, as does the wider unease captured in the ongoing supporter pressure on the board and continued scrutiny of decision-making at senior club level.
Waiting For The Evidence
Wilson has signalled further board refreshment will follow. Until supporters see a permanent chairman appointed, a clear account of what’s changing beyond personnel, and directors willing to genuinely challenge the existing direction, this remains an announcement rather than a transformation. Mon The Hoops – but we’re not hanging out the bunting yet.
