Celtic fan groups join forces as 300 shareholders support an AGM challenge.

Celtic Supporters Limited is gearing up for a coordinated campaign ahead of the club’s next Annual General Meeting, with more than 300 shareholders supporting a proposed resolution focused on identifying Celtic shareholdings that have become inactive, lost or difficult to trace.

The supporters’ organisation says the resolution is now being submitted to Celtic and will call on the club’s board to appoint a professional shareholder tracing company. The aim would be to reconnect supporters with shares they may have lost contact with over the years and ensure those shareholders can once again participate in the club’s corporate affairs.

Focus on lost Celtic shareholdings

Speaking exclusively to CeltsAreHere, CSL director Brian McLaughlin explained that the organisation’s own shareholding is not the central issue behind the campaign.

Celtic Supporters Limited

According to McLaughlin, the more important matter concerns the thousands of other Celtic shareholders whose holdings may have become disconnected from them.

Celtic has more than 27,000 ordinary shareholders, with many of those shares having been acquired or registered during the 1990s and 2000s.

Over the years, circumstances can change. Shareholders may have moved to different addresses, misplaced or lost physical share certificates, or passed away without their Celtic investments being properly transferred or dealt with.

CSL believes this has resulted in a significant number of shares becoming effectively inactive.

McLaughlin argued that the problem is not simply about unused voting rights. He pointed out that dividends and the financial value associated with those holdings can also remain unclaimed when shareholders cannot be located.

The proposed resolution would therefore ask Celtic to engage a specialist company capable of tracing those missing shareholders and helping reconnect them with their investments.

No upfront cost for Celtic

CSL says the proposed tracing exercise would not necessarily create a significant immediate financial burden for Celtic.

McLaughlin explained that the service could operate on a contingent-fee basis, meaning the club would not have to make a substantial upfront payment to begin the process.

He also stressed that the resolution should not be interpreted as an attempt to challenge the board’s authority or interfere with football matters.

Instead, CSL views the proposal as a straightforward corporate-governance and administrative exercise.

McLaughlin described it as a request rather than an instruction and insisted that the initiative is not intended to be hostile towards Celtic’s board.

He argued that professional shareholder tracing is something other publicly listed companies routinely undertake and believes Celtic should consider doing the same.

More than 300 shareholders involved

The campaign has already attracted significant support among Celtic shareholders.

CSL says more than 300 supporters have signed the proposed resolution. The organisation has also stated that each signature has been checked against the club’s share register before being included in the total.

Brian McLaughlin (credit A Celtic State of Mind)

That verification process is intended to ensure that the support being presented to Celtic genuinely comes from shareholders with the appropriate status.

The Celtic Trust has also agreed to back the resolution, providing the campaign with additional support from within the wider Celtic shareholder community.

McLaughlin further revealed that CSL has spoken with one of Celtic’s largest institutional shareholders. That investor is currently considering whether to support the proposal.

For CSL, the involvement of both supporters and institutional investors demonstrates that the issue does not have to become a confrontation between different groups.

McLaughlin said the campaign is not about CSL opposing particular individuals. Instead, he believes there is a common interest in locating shareholders whose ownership has effectively disappeared from active participation.

Proxy votes could become important

The next significant stage will come when Celtic officially publishes its AGM notice.

Once that happens, CSL intends to provide shareholders with information explaining how they can support the resolution and participate in the meeting.

The organisation is also encouraging ordinary shareholders to make sure their votes are actually used.

McLaughlin has asked supporters who want to support CSL’s position to appoint him personally as their proxy.

This would allow him to attend the AGM and vote on their behalf.

Importantly, appointing McLaughlin as a proxy would not mean transferring ownership of Celtic shares to CSL. The shareholder would remain the owner of the shares, while McLaughlin would simply receive authority to cast their vote at the AGM according to the proxy arrangement.

CSL intends to publish further guidance after Celtic releases the formal AGM documentation.

That guidance is expected to cover different categories of shareholders, including those who still possess traditional paper share certificates and those whose holdings are managed electronically through investment platforms or nominee accounts.

CSL outlines two key objectives

McLaughlin explained that CSL has two principal objectives through the campaign.

The first is to ensure the tracing proposal reaches Celtic shareholders and to persuade them that the resolution deserves support based on its merits.

The second is to demonstrate the potential influence of organised supporter shareholders when they actively participate in Celtic’s corporate affairs.

CSL believes the campaign can show that Celtic supporters who own shares can play a meaningful role if they coordinate their voting rights.

McLaughlin also stressed that the organisation does not view the initiative as an attack on the Celtic board.

Instead, CSL wants to improve communication between supporters and the club’s leadership and believes shareholder meetings provide an appropriate mechanism for that discussion.

He argued that shareholders should be able to use the formal structures available to them to raise issues and express their views.

Giving supporter shareholders a stronger voice

The wider philosophy behind the campaign is that Celtic supporters already possess considerable ownership of the club.

CSL does not believe supporters necessarily need to acquire additional shares simply to have a voice in Celtic’s affairs.

Instead, the organisation argues that thousands of supporters already own part of the club but that their collective influence has not always been organised effectively.

The proposed tracing initiative is therefore being presented as part of a broader attempt to reconnect those shareholders with their ownership and encourage greater participation.

With more than 300 shareholders already backing the resolution, support from the Celtic Trust and an institutional investor considering the proposal, CSL is now preparing for the next phase.

The formal AGM notice will determine the timetable and provide shareholders with the official details needed to participate.

For CSL, the objective is ultimately straightforward: identify Celtic shareholders who have become disconnected from their holdings, encourage existing shareholders to use their voting rights and create a more organised supporter voice within the club’s shareholder structure.