There’s never a quiet day at Celtic Football Club at the moment.
But even by this season’s standards, today’s Annual General Meeting was explosive.
Peter Lawwell called the meeting off after fans lost their temper at an astonishing statement being read by Dermot Desmond’s son Ross. Like father, like son.
This was after it had initially been adjourned by Lawwell just minutes after it commenced, after the club’s board had been booed onto the stage and met with a wave of giant red cards.
It was unsavoury, but unsurprising given the backdrop of fan unrest that has lasted for months – Martin O’Neill witnessed it all.
Martin O’Neill on Ross Desmond’s comments at Celtic AGM
Desmond’s incredible statement was the straw that broke the camel’s back in a room filled with tension.
He accused fans of ‘bullying’ on multiple occasions, defended the club’s European record and restated that his dad and the board were going nowhere.
READ MORE: Martin O’Neill reflects on ‘sad morning’ at Celtic AGM in first address since chaotic events
O’Neill was pushed on the statement in his press conference ahead of Saturday’s trip to St Mirren, asked if he felt that Desmond had the right to say what he said.
The Hoops boss said: “He has every right to say what he said. Absolutely.
“And again, this is the point. I got this job 25 years ago, because of one man. He brought me in when he had bigger names to choose from – people with bigger names, bigger CVs, that type of stuff.
“I came in, and I must admit, for the next couple of years I’ve had the time of my life, which was fantastic.
“He brought me back here again, and he didn’t say to me ‘your job is to quell the discontent’, or anything. It was to try and just hold the fort until they get, as he said, a ‘proper manager’ in.
“Although I wasn’t wholly convinced about that one! But yeah, I have the utmost regard for him at the end of it all, and I think that what he has done at the football club, and the money that he has put in himself…
“Sometimes those things are forgotten.”
It’s not a surprise to see O’Neill so loyal to Desmond, given their decades-long friendship – but many Celtic fans won’t change their mind on his son’s words at Celtic Park today.
What else happened at Celtic’s AGM?
Something was off at the AGM, right from the start. The attendance was much higher than in previous years, and shareholders were seated across two separate rooms.
O’Neill described Michael Nicholson as ‘shocked’ after the meeting, during which the Celtic CEO did not say a single word.
Lawwell acknowledged that there were many Celtic fans there that didn’t usually attend, and this rubbed many fans up the wrong way.
It was a crazy day – but Desmond’s comments were the moment that sent the most shockwaves through the club.
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