Celtic chairman Ian Bankier is set to step down from his role next year. The Parkhead club have announced that the 70-year-old will leave his position as both chairman and as a company director in January 2023.
Bankier replaced John Reid at the top table in October 2011 and has overseen a period of huge success for the club across the past decade, one that included nine consecutive Premiership titles and a Quadruple Treble. But his time at Celtic Park will come to a conclusion at the end of the year as the club announced his planned retirement in a statement to the London Stock Exchange on Friday afternoon.
The statement said: "The directors of the company wish to announce that Ian Bankier, chairman of the company, will retire from his role as director and chairman of the company with effect from 1 January 2023. The company will make further announcements regarding a successor in due course."
And Bankier said: “It has been an honour and a privilege to serve the club I will always love, as chairman, for more than ten years. Our aim was always to deliver success on and off the pitch and, above all, to give Celtic fans a club they could be proud of.
"During this time, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with so many fantastic people who have had Celtic in their hearts and worked so hard for our club.
“I know the rest of the board will continue to seek the very best for Celtic at all times and will seek to ensure that Celtic maintains its position as the biggest and best club in Scottish football, as well as progressing as a force in European football.
“I wish the board, our fantastic manager Ange Postecoglou, our players and staff, and, of course, all our supporters' much-continued success as our great club continues to move forward.”
Celtic's majority shareholder Dermot Desmond paid a warm tribute to Bankier in light of the news and assured fans the club would deliver a smooth succession. Desmond said: "I would like to thank Ian sincerely for his contribution to Celtic across the past decade.
"Ian has provided great counsel and stability across a sustained period of growth and success for the club and I wish Ian and his family well for the future. We will ensure that we work very closely with Ian over the next few months to deliver a smooth and effective transition prior to announcing his successor."
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