The fallout from Celtic’s abandoned AGM will continue for weeks, and that’s hardly surprising.
The Herald’s Stephen McGowan – one of the most respected reporters on the Celtic beat – has delivered a blunt assessment of what went wrong inside the Kerrydale Suite.
The AGM, which lasted barely four minutes before being halted due to protests, was supposed to be the one guaranteed annual opportunity for supporters to question the board directly.
Instead, the meeting descended into confrontation, with chants, red cards and walkouts dominating proceedings before Peter Lawwell cancelled the event.
Supporters were outraged by what was happening in front of them, labelled bullies and treated like dirt on the bottom of the board’s shoe.
Speaking on the Press Box podcast, McGowan understood the frustration among supporters following a turbulent period for the club but he believes the mood in the room ultimately backfired.
He said:
“That’s a regret for me. I mean, for me, it was a day.
“I totally respect the desire and the right of supporters to protest after what has been seen as a dysfunctional period for the club. I get that. And you’re very, very loath to criticise at all.
“But equally, I thought it was a day for calm heads and forensic interrogation. It wasn’t a day for kind of self-righteous posturing, because what that meant was that the answers that needed and the questions that needed answered were not answered. There were all sorts of things that kind of sober, sensible people really wanted to ask.
“You know, they wanted to know why a club with 77 million pounds in the bank were trailing a hearts team assembled in a fraction of that money. They wanted to know why a non-executive controlling shareholder appears to be making executive decisions and then going on the club website and trashing one or two of the managers he’s appointed when he owns 34% of the club and so on. You know, they wanted to know what was behind that slightly shambolic transfer window, which we saw the effects of that when Celtic went to Paisley and took something like 90 odd minutes to get a shot on target.
“And they wanted to know who’s going to be the new Celtic manager, and they’re none the wiser in that either, because I think on the day the kind of performative amateur dramatics, if you like, I think they backfired because it denied the silent rank and file of the Celtic support a chance to ask the questions which they only get the chance to ask once a year, and that was a shame.”
Friday was a good opportunity for the board to show they “bleed Celtic”. They should’ve come out, been honest with the fans, and explained how they were going to do better if they were to stay in their positions.
Instead, they came out with a pre-prepared statement attacking the fans and gaslighting the supporters.
Despite Ross Desmond’s frankly laughable statement, the worst thing he did was praise Celtic’s “excellent” European record since 2003. Are we supposed to agree with that!?
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One Response
No we don’t have to agree with Desmond’s remarks about euro performance. But we could have listened and responded as Stephen McGowan comments.
Instead we were treated to loud jeers, as people shouted him down. Sadly if Lawwell hadn’t called a halt the rest of the meeting would have been the same. The behaviour began long before Desmond Jnr opened his mouth.
Please stop claiming the mob speak for all fans. Instead they have seized on fans genuine concerns so that they can defend the GB and its behaviour. The fan survey tells us a few things about what many people actually think about that.