Celtic AGM: VAR concerns, next chairman, IRA chants, and the £100m stadium upgrade

Celtic head coach Ange Postecoglou, chief executive Michael Nicholson and outgoing chairman Ian Bankier during the 2022 Celtic AGM at Celtic Park. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Celtic’s AGM went without much ado on Friday morning as Ange Postecoglou reaped the rewards of a successful opening campaign in Glasgow. In what was essentially a long line of supporters waiting to offer adulation to the Greek-Australian, the only deviations were along traditional lines.

Quizzed by one shareholder on just what exactly the club had done to address the recent decision at Tynecastle when Celtic were aggrieved at a decision not to award a penalty in their favour, there was an instruction to seek clarification on VAR official Steven McLean’s role.

“It’s easy to get caught up in individual decisions one way or the other,” said chief executive Michael Nicholson. “It seems that handball is applied in different ways in varying countries. What we have as a club – and all clubs in Scotland have it – is an interest in having the best possible match officials and regulation of matches so we can focus on football.

“As we mentioned last year – and as Ian Bankier almost got into trouble with – we have for many years lobbied the SFA and the SPFL to make sure we got the best match officials possible. The first step with that was pushing for VAR – which worked out well! The second stage was to raise our concerns about VAR with the SFA.

“In relation to the specific incident (at Hearts) we did ask questions about how the rules had been applied. I think it is inevitable that with the early stages of VAR there are going to be some teething issues. But you can rest assured that we do continue to press that issue with the SFA and the SPFL.

“There is a working group that the SPFL have brought together of all the clubs. We are not the only club who hold that view.”

Meanwhile, there was no indication – despite some fairly pressing questions – about who exiting chairman Ian Bankier will be assumed by. There have been suggestions that Peter Lawwell could make a return to the boardroom with the AGM refusing to yield on any matters regarding who will take over. Lawwell’s name was never mentioned but loomed large over two shareholders who queried the board on the same matter.

“The decision to step down was my personal decision and I took it in the second half of July,” said Bankier. “It wasn’t something that had been on the agenda for the board. I communicated it to my fellow directors and pretty quickly after that – on August 1 – we announced it to the stock exchange and the markets.

“Today is November 4, so we are just over halfway between that announcement and my retirement. As soon as the board has made a decision it will do exactly the same thing, it will announce it to the Stock Exchange and markets.

“I can tell you that there is a search agency on the books of the company right now and beyond that I think it is inappropriate for us to go into the ins and outs and details of who we are speaking to and who we might not be speaking to.”

Questions on IRA chants and the club facilitating and indulging a small matter of supporters there was an invite to one shareholder to discuss his seating arrangements behind closed doors but there was a fudging of an issue that has been despairingly more apparent in recent seasons.

“We are aware of issues that have occurred at matches at home and away,” said Nicholson. “I think if you look at context first it’s not unique to Celtic. There are some societal issues that are being experienced by many clubs around the world. It’s also we believe a small minority of the support, far from the wider Celtic support.

“We have all supported Celtic for a long time and have all met lots of people and faces and one thing that unites all of us is support for the club. That’s why the club’s long-standing position has been that politics and offensive language and offensive chanting and gestures should be left outside Celtic Park.

“It’s obvious that some of the behaviours experienced don’t represent the views of people in here or the views of the club. But I don’t think it adds anything to public opinion for us to comment on that here.”

It has been a perennial line of questions at Celtic AGMs to query about an extension above the main stand. The figure to do so would cost around £100m.

"Unfortunately the South Stand is a historic asset and having looked at feasability studies in the past it would cost up to £100m to redevelop it in its entirety, which is money that we don’t have at the moment," said Nicholson.