With Celtic’s AGM just days away, tensions around the boardroom have reached boiling point.
The Celtic support, led by the fans’ collective, has been releasing a series of statements calling for sweeping change at the top of the club, accusing long-serving directors of being out of touch, unaccountable and unfit to take the club forward.
Brian Wilson, on the board since 2005 and well beyond the recommended nine-year term, has been singled out as someone whose time has passed.
Thomas Allison, in position since 2001, Sharon Brown, who has hit the nine-year mark, and Brian Rose have all been tagged as “expired” by the collective, who argue that Celtic’s boardroom has been allowed to stagnate for far too long.
The most explosive statement so far, however, has been directed at major shareholder Dermot Desmond.
Despite owning less than 35% of the club, supporters have long felt his influence vastly outweighs his shareholding and the collective now claims that Desmond’s power at Celtic has moved “from dominant to out of control.”
They point to his recent public comments, which included using the club website to fire back at criticism of the summer window and launch a swipe at Brendan Rodgers following his resignation, as evidence that the power dynamic has become unhealthy.
The statement reads: “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.”
The timing is deliberate, with the AGM taking place on Friday, and with Desmond expected to skip the meeting and send his son Ross in his place, supporters see this as a critical moment to demand change.
Whether the board chooses to listen is another matter entirely, but the pressure from fans has never been louder heading into what could be one of the most combustible AGMs in years.
The vote results on Friday will certainly make interesting reading.
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I’d like to see Lawwell kicked off the Board and out of the club – I believe he’s not only DD’s right-hand man but is also the manipulator of a lot of devious stuff that’s gone on – possibly the leak to the Sun ‘newspaper’ and possibly even behind DD’s rant about the ex-manager.
His arrogance has cost us good players in the past and it would seem that the rest of the Board members have little or no say – Nicholson, seemingly, being put in place by him as nothing more than his puppet.
We need a proper Board, made up of younger, motivated, members to drive the club forward. The current lot are too old, too comfortable, offer nothing and to me, look like they’re under Lawwell’s thumb.