If the fallout from Celtic’s AGM was already severe, the intervention from the Green Brigade has now sharpened the focus even further and placed corporate governance at the very centre of the post AGM debate…
In a statement, the Green Brigade has pulled no punches. They wrote.
“At Friday’s AGM, Peter Lawwell, the Celtic Chairman and Chair of the meeting, acted disgracefully towards Celtic shareholders in the room. Lawwell’s behaviour, language and tone reflected a view that he was of a higher class than the shareholders on the floor.
Lawwell displayed an inability or unwillingness to manage basic grievances and annoyance from the floor, choosing to adjourn the meeting rather than engage with the shareholders and responsibly manage frustrations to allow the meeting to continue.
When a motion was raised from the floor in line with standard practice, Lawwell mocked the shareholder by mimicking the practice of raising the hand to speak. There was no other reason for Lawwell to do this other than to shamefully mock the shareholder in front of the room.
The shareholder in question has been a courageous representative of the Celtic support for over 20 years, regularly facing racism, sectarianism, sexism and misogyny throughout. To be openly mocked by the Chair, while the rest of the board watched on, was shameful.
As well as this, Lawwell repeatedly made disparaging, inaccurate and irrelevant comments towards shareholders. This ranged from questioning their attendance at the meeting to discriminatory remarks.
Lawwell proceeded to disrespect the entire room of shareholders, and all Celtic fans, by demanding they “behave” and obediently and respectfully listen in silence while Ross Desmond delivered a tirade of abuse and insults aimed at them.
Throughout the short meeting, Lawwell’s behaviour lacked class, dignity and respect. He was irresponsible, irrational and most likely breached organisational policy. It was further evidence that his position in Celtic FC is untenable.”
As well as this, Lawwell repeatedly made disparaging, inaccurate and irrelevant comments towards shareholders. This ranged from questioning their attendance at the meeting to discriminatory remarks.
— North Curve Celtic (@NCCeltic) November 24, 2025
Throughout the short meeting, Lawwell’s behaviour lacked class, dignity and respect. He was irresponsible, irrational and most likely breached organisational policy.
It was further evidence that his position in Celtic FC is untenable.
— North Curve Celtic (@NCCeltic) November 24, 2025
The wording is strong, but the core issue they raise is not a stylistic one. It is governance. The AGM did not simply expose tensions between supporters and the board, it revealed cracks in the very structure of how Celtic is run.
Those inside and outside the Celtic tent cannot ignore the basic facts. This was a shambles of an AGM. The CEO and CFO did not speak beyond their pre-recorded contributions. The board allowed no meaningful questions from shareholders. Yet somehow, there was ample space and time for the son of the dominant shareholder, acting as his proxy, to deliver a confrontational speech aimed at Celtic’s own supporters.
The imbalance was clear, and the result was a public relations disaster that now stretches into questions about how this PLC actually operates.
Peter Lawwell, a figure previously regarded as a sharp operator in public, looked tired, out of rhythm and strangely detached. Many supporters left the room saying he appeared to be reading from a pre-arranged script when he abruptly closed the meeting, as though the ending was prepared regardless of how the room reacted.
Given the content of Ross Desmond’s speech, many are now wondering whether worse was still to come, and whether shutting down the AGM early was a defensive manoeuvre rather than a reaction to disruption.
The club’s statement afterwards only deepened the concern. It insisted that Lawwell had “called a poll on the resolutions,” yet some shareholders have already gone public saying they heard no such call. If true, that raises serious procedural questions.
The club also invited shareholders to contact Investor Relations with any questions. After a speech that openly attacked the fanbase, after bans on the Green Brigade, and after shareholders themselves were dismissed as unruly at the AGM, perhaps they should take the club up on that offer.
Celtic Football Club Statement – Read HERE.
They may wish to ask why a non-executive director’s proxy had the floor while shareholders were denied a Q&A. They may wish to request the full text of a speech that did not appear to reach its conclusion.
The dominant shareholder and his proxy now appear to be driving strategy from outside the PLC framework. Shareholders have noticed. If self-respecting members of the board have concerns about this, they should be asking the same questions supporters are asking. Are we comfortable with this? Do we approve of these tactics? Or are we simply powerless as the governance culture shifts around us?
If they feel powerless, well, welcome to the wider support. Supporters have been warning about the slow drift of Celtic’s governance into an unchallengeable centre of gravity around a single individual. The AGM made that shift undeniable.
That is why some shareholders may now be considering whether the time has come to do more than complain. It requires only 5% of issued share capital to call an EGM. There are more than enough dissatisfied shareholders to reach that threshold if they chose to. The question is not whether they can, but whether they will, because, at this point, shareholder action is no longer unthinkable, it may be the only mechanism left that forces the club to answer questions it has spent months avoiding.
What is striking is that all this arrives after three consecutive internal conflicts, the attack on the manager, the banning of the Green Brigade, and now the public belittling of shareholders at the AGM. Three different groups, three different issues, yet each met with the same approach, dismiss, deflect, divide. That is not a coincidence. It is a pattern. Once a club finds itself at odds with its own investors, something fundamental has broken.
This is why governance matters. When a board allows itself to be overshadowed by one voice, when executives barely speak, when procedural tools are used to cut off scrutiny, when shareholder rights are handled as irritations, when proxy speeches take precedence over genuine engagement, a club stops functioning like a modern football institution and starts functioning like a fiefdom.
The Green Brigade’s statement is only one part of the fallout, but it has forced the core issue into the open. Supporters are asking who is steering the ship, and whether the mechanisms of accountability have been quietly dismantled behind the scenes. And that question is not going away. It cannot be adjourned. It cannot be shut down early. It cannot be managed through a PR statement on a Friday night.
It might sound dry to some, but corporate governance is the heart of how any PLC is run — and Celtic’s is now under real strain.
Supporters often feel powerless, yet shareholders are not, at least not all of them. They have the legal tools to demand answers and force change. The question is whether they will use that power, or whether fear, comfort or self-interest will keep them silent. Celtic’s future direction may depend on which choice they make.
Niall J
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Looks like the beginning of the end for minority Group Green Brigade
The Brigade now a Platoon
This Green Brigade “statement” and supporting article are gross misrepresentation of what took place at the aborted AGM. Specifically “This was a shambles of an AGM.” Yes it was due to the pre planned disruption and loutish behavior of an unruly gang of ignorant people chanting meaningless chants (“sack the board ” ?? – how would you even do that ?), childishly waving pre distributed bits of red paper.
” The CEO and CFO did not speak beyond their pre-recorded contributions.” No one could say anything because of the above noted behavior – including all shareholders present.
” The board allowed no meaningful questions from shareholders.” See above – the Q & A session follows the resolutions but that was impossible due to the rabble in the room.
“!Lawwell displayed an inability or unwillingness to manage basic grievances and annoyance from the floor, choosing to adjourn the meeting rather than engage with the shareholders and responsibly manage frustrations to allow the meeting to continue.”
“Lawell” ?? – surely he is due as more basic respect than that after all he has done for Celtic ?
Anyone present will testify to the fact that he had warned the people disrupting proceedings before and after the adjournment that the meeting would be closed if the agenda could not be fulfilled. The disruptive group and others continued to behave like they were at some street corner rally rather than the AGM of a large company.
I’d be curious to know how many of the group, who flounced out and back in, were legitimate shareholders eager to engage in the process or simply there to bully, name call and disrupt. IMHO their behavior actually legitimized elements of Ross Desmond’s statement.
Ms Findlay, so often a worthwhile thorn in the flesh of many Celtic boards at AGMs over the years, simply marched to the front of the room and requested the Chair completely disregard the published agenda and move straight to open questions – why would any Chair do that ? How do you think that would have gone ?
I do think that the Board needs to be refreshed and those who have been there 10 years or more as non executive directors be replaced – to get fresh ideas and momentum. I’m not sure however who would want the role currently when there is so much negativity at games and official meetings like this AGM,
The shareholders have voted this evening, everyone must abide by the result and get back to normal.
LOOKS LIKE DERMOTS MUPPETS/PUPPETS WILL NOT LISTEN ,LOOKS LIKE NEXT MOVE IS TO CALL AN EGM,ALLWAYS SUPPORT THE TEAM NOT THE DICKTATORS, BREAKS MY HEART[AND THEIR POCKETS] NOT TO BUY ANYCELTIC , XMAS MERCH, HAIL HAIL