Neil Lennon has told disgruntled Celtic fans that Peter Lawwell puts the club first at all times.
Successive failures, against unseeded opponents, to reach the Play Off stage of the Champions League has brought attention on the Chief Executive who has been in that position for 15 years.
Fans are questioning whether the balance sheet is more important than the team on the park. In their preliminary accounts to 31 December Celtic reported £38m sitting in the bank which was boosted by £9m compensation from Leicester for Brendan Rodgers while trading in the transfer window has so far generated a £12m surplus.
Despite those impressive figures, and a drastically reduced wage bill, Celtic have lost out to the champions of Greece and Romania in the last two seasons with just two appearances in the group phase of the Champions League over the last six seasons.
Covering yesterday’s media conference The Sun reports:
Some hoops fans accused Lawwell of penny-pinching in the transfer market when the club is cash-rich with millions in the bank.
Ahead of Thursday’s Europa League play-off clash with AIK Stockholm, Lennon added: “I can’t comment on that. I’m not aware of how much money there I but Peter does what’s best for Celtic, and he always has done, maybe to the detriment of himself sometimes. I know he puts the club first at all times.”
In Celtic’s last set of audited accounts, for the year ending 30 June 2018 Lawwell was awarded a £2.3m bonus by the club’s Remuneration Committee.
Surely our Chief Executive can come out and speak directly to Celtic supporters?https://t.co/Bk13HujaTj
— Joe McHugh (@videocelts) August 22, 2019
