Peter Lawwell has been championed by the Daily Record as the defender of the smaller nations during Champions League reform.
The Celtic chief has been one of 24 members of the Executive Committee of the European Club Association that came up with plans that would have created 14 group stage fixtures with 24 places in the competition going to the top six from the four groups- minimising the places available through domestic competitions.
Almost every league in Europe denounced those proposals with the ECA forced to ditch that plan which was due to kick in from the 2024/25 season and new broadcasting contracts.
According to Keith Jackson in the Daily Record:
It’s believed Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell – a key member of the ECA board – has been lobbying hard to keep a door open for Scotland’s clubs but it remains unclear at this stage if any of the SPFL’s other top-flight teams would pass the criteria test which Agnelli is set to endorse.
But the 43-year-old is also throwing his weight behind a proposal to create a new third tier competition which would be staged in conjunction with the Champions League and Europa League and lead to massive hike in the numbers of clubs competing in European football.
Currently only 80 clubs across the Continent can qualify for the group stages of UEFA’s two major tournaments. But Agnelli hopes to increase that number to 126 clubs by introducing a new competition which could potentially see millions of extra revenue flood into the Scottish game.
A source said: “There seems to be a misconception that Agnelli is trying to shut the door on Scottish participation in the new-look Champions League. That is simply not the case.
“In fact, on the contrary, he has been very supportive of the arguments which have been put forward from clubs representing Europe’s so called smaller nations and he understands and accepts the principle of safeguarding access to the elite event for historic European clubs such as Celtic, Rangers, Ajax and Anderlecht.
“He doesn’t support a closed shop Champions League and he does not want to challenge the domestic league structure. Instead, he wants to find a way of allowing more clubs from more countries to compete in Europe and access that revenue.
“The creation of a new third tier competition would mean the likes of Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs and other Scottish clubs could compete far more regularly in Europe and that would provide the Scottish game in general with a massive financial shot in the arm.”
Despite having his reform plans abandoned Agnelli was re-elected as chairman on the ECA earlier this week as they attempt to come up with a Plan B that isn’t seen as a direct threat to domestic leagues.
Lawwell joined the ECA executive in 2014 when the Scottish champions faced three qualifying rounds to reach the group stage, last season that was increased to four as additional group stage places were given to clubs from England, Italy, Germany and Spain.
Of more interest to Celtic fans would be using the club co-efficient rather than national co-efficient to decide which stage a club enters the qualification process. Under Lawwell Celtic have played in the group stage of the Champions League four times in the last 10 years.
