GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - MAY 17: Celtic Chairman Peter Lawwell, Majority Shareholder Dermot Desmond, and Chief Executive Officer Michael Nicholson (L-R) during a William Hill Premiership match between Celtic and St Mirren at Celtic Park, on May 17, 2025, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Alan Harvey/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Following a third big match defeat in eight days the Celtic Supporters Limited have issued a statement.
It mainly relates to Friday’s announcement of Mark Keane and Raymond Buchanan being appointed as Non Executive Directors.
Clearly they are nodding dogs.
No-one with clarity of thought or a hint of ambition would put their reputation on the line by joining the free loaders on the Board at Celtic
It is barely an attempt at reshuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. Earlier this year Brian Wilson promised a boardroom refresh.
Keane and Buchanan have nothing fresh to offer, which is why they have been appointed.
To retain the status quo with the bonus that Keane brings a significant shareholding to bolster the existing controlling interest.
Reacting to recent events CSL tweeted:
@CelticFC calls this board refreshment.
Here is what the filings show.
Peter Lawwell left the board on 31 December 2025. It took 261 days to fill his seat. Tom Allison left in April. His seat is still empty, because the director announced on Friday cannot start until he leaves…
— Celtic Supporters Ltd (@celticCSL) September 20, 2026
Here is what the filings show. Peter Lawwell left the board on 31 December 2025.
It took 261 days to fill his seat. Tom Allison left in April. His seat is still empty, because the director announced on Friday cannot start until he leaves his current job, and no date has been given.
Brian Wilson has been interim chairman for nine months. Celtic has not appointed a permanent one. That is not refreshment. That is a board that cannot make a decision. Look at who made this one.
Celtic’s 2025 annual report says the Nomination Committee was Peter Lawwell as chair, Dermot Desmond, and Tom Allison. Two of those three have since left. So either one man selected both new directors, or the committee was rebuilt and Celtic has not told its shareholders how.
No external search has been disclosed. No skills gap analysis. No candidate pool. Nothing about how either name was found.
The interim chairman introduced the two appointees “both as lifelong Celtic supporters and highly successful individuals in their professional careers”. Supporter first. For a plc board, the order tells you what the criterion was.
One of the two holds 6,525,847 ordinary shares, 6.9% of the class. Together with Dermot Desmond, two directors now hold around 41% of the ordinary shares.
Desmond has been on this board for 31 years. Brian Wilson for 21. The governance codes treat 9 years as the point at which independence stops being assumed.
The CSL scored Celtic 1.2 out of 5 on governance. The peer group averages 4.1. Friday changed two names. It did not change the process, the committee, or the pool. Four questions for the board, and they are answerable in a paragraph:
Who chaired the Nomination Committee for these appointments? Was an external search adviser engaged? Is Mark Keane classified as an independent non-executive director? and on what basis.
When does the interim chairmanship end? Shareholders are entitled to an answer before the AGM.
CELTIC- SELF DESTRUCTION GOES INTO OVERDRIVE
The cronyism as spirit of self congratulations that haunts the club is now evident on the pitch.
Four successive poor transfer windows has left the playing squad as stale as the boardroom.
Celtic are currently sitting on their Annual Report for 2026.
Another year of massive profits, a soaring bank balance and decline on the pitch.
Michael Nicholson will add some bland comments about how hard everyone is working and the ambitions that they have.
Over the last 13 months Kairat Almaty, Sporting Braga, Roma, Stuttgart and Ferencvaros have held post match parties in the away dressing room at Celtic Park.
Today’s visitors were celebrating back-to-back wins over the club that pays Michael Nicholson £17,000 a week.
Friday evening looks the likely time to publish the 2026 Annual Report.
The criticism will start almost as soon as it is published to cheers from the Celtic Board of Directors.
The 2026 AGM is expected to be held in late November, last year Chairman Lawwell closed it down after less than an hour as Ross Desmond criticised anti-establishment fans.
Nicholson is by far the biggest imposter ever to steal a wage. I am now calling this wage thief out you are robbing the ordinary working class fan there I have made my point
Modus operandi, this will not stop or change till the fans decide enough is enough and to force change means stop going to games stop giving them your money, start protesting , if the fans let this go on any longer there will be nothing g left to save from Desmond and his malignant cabal of corporate greed and austerity fc destruction
Until we stop going we’ll never get rid of them.