IAN BANKIER will stand down as Celtic chairman in the New Year.

However, the outgoing chair has revealed that there is no further update to provide fans in regards to his successor at this point. 

The club chief spoke at their AGM today at Celtic Park.

He answered questions from shareholders from 11.30am this morning, as a variety of topics were raised. 

The National:

Towards the end of the Q&A section after numerous formalities had been concluded, one supporter asked about an update on the recruitment process for a new chair. 

But Nicholson was unable to provide any further details. 

He said: "The decision to step down was my personal decision and I took it in the second half of July. 

"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."