The sly Peter Lawwell comment that Celtic fans may have missed at chaotic AGM

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There was a lot going on at Celtic’s Annual General Meeting.

Fans all knew that it would be an eventful day, but the meeting was over before chief executive Michael Nicholson had said a word.

Anti-board banners were spotted outside Celtic Park on the day of the meeting, but that was just the beginning of the discontent.

The AGM was adjourned after the board were heckled with ‘sack the board’ chants, having been booed onto the pitch and shown a wave of giant red cards.

And when Dermot Desmond’s son Ross went on an incredible rant about fans ‘dehumanising’ members of the board, things reached a boiling point and Lawwell decided that enough was enough.

Celtic fans may have missed Peter Lawwell at AGM

Those may be all the headlines at the meeting, but other things were said too.

And as the man who was speaking the most, it’s no surprise that Lawwell made sure he got a joke in about the change in atmosphere from past AGMs.

READ MORE: Martin O’Neill says Ross Desmond had ‘every right’ to make explosive statement at Celtic AGM

There was a different atmosphere from the start with many noting that there was a far larger attendance than at previous AGMs.

This wasn’t lost on Lawwell, who joked shortly before Desmond’s statement that “some [fans] don’t usually attend the AGM.”

This, along with his conduct during Desmond’s statement which saw him repeatedly interject to shout “behave” at fans as though they were schoolchildren, doesn’t reflect well on Celtic’s non-executive chairman.

Reaction to the AGM from supporters and the media has shown that less and less people are buying the complaints from the club; that the negativity is being caused by some kind of pesky minority.

In reality, these views are held by a majority of the support, evidenced by the fact that the variety of CSCs, fan media outlets and fan groups that constitute the Celtic Fans Collective.

Unless your surname is Lawwell or Desmond, it’s impossible to fathom the strategy that the board took today – but it’s clear to pretty much anyone that it won’t work.

Where do Celtic go from here?

It feels like today was a new low for relations between the Celtic support and the Celtic board, which is saying something given how this season has gone.

Desmond Jr. made it clear that his father’s family were going nowhere, and that the board’s convictions had only been strengthened by the recent disharmony, which is just a ridiculous statement given the circumstances.

The men’s team still doesn’t have a permanent manager, and Martin O’Neill’s appetite to stay won’t have been strengthened after what he witnessed.

And if a new manager does come in soon, they will face an almighty (some would say impossible) task to unify the club.