NEWSFLASH : MORE SHENANIGANS AT THE SHENANIGANS BC

Typically it is the club chairman, Bigot-Johnson , who  calls all the shots at committee meetings, but for once he was kowtowing to a higher authority within the ranks of the membership.  
Fearful of upsetting the club's star players he felt compelled to respond.  With their threats to leave the club ringing in his ears,  the beleaguered chairman had to take the bull by the horns. Bigot had to meet all their demands and steer the committee towards endorsing some unpalatable decisions , which in the normal course of events would have been rejected out of hand. 
Bigot had to box clever. There were going to one or two dissenting committee members who might well challenge these decisions and ask awkward questions. He needed to nail them down straightaway,  by hammering home the message " needs must when the devil drives ". So five minutes into the meeting, Bigot declared in no uncertain terms that any opposing points of view would cruelly undermine all the predetermined outcomes he, and his close confidantes ,  had previously worked so hard to engineer. The chairman also informed the group that any dissent would be treated as " acts of betrayal ,  injurious to the best interests of the club " . This would result in objectors facing disciplinary hearings with serious consequences. A super fast schedule for the meeting had also been drawn up , in order to reduce both the time and opportunity for objections to be lodged. Furthermore, the decisions that had already been made were all based on sound evidence and argument, which the chairman is his infinitive wisdom had prejudged as the only " credible and permissible " kind. Finally , in a bold attempt to let everyone know he meant business , Bigot handed out voting papers with pre-ticked  " yes " boxes, which was just as well as no-one had access to any pens , which happened to be safely locked away inside a stationery cupboard with no one being allowed to look for the keys. 
All in all then,  a thoroughly well executed exercise in getting one's way.