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Watch Kris Commons deliver incredible Lawwell attack over transfer failings

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Kris Commons has delivered an incredible, detailed criticism of Peter Lawwell.

The Celtic Chief Executive has been in place for 17 years, growing his own power-base with the former midfielder claiming that Lawwell has the ultimate say in every transfer.

With the club out of three competitions before December and trailing by 13 points in the SPFL every aspect has come under criticism from fans looking for answers.

Since retiring from playing in 2017 Commons has appeared more and more distant from Celtic as he developed a media career alongside Kris Boyd on Sky Sports and with a column in the Daily Mail. In the podcast below however he sounds very much like just another frustrated fan.

Lawwell made it very clear that Neil Lennon was his appointment in May 2019 but the signs suggest that the CEO is the person with the major/final say at the club with Lennon handed a 12-month contract and no say in who his assistants are.

Commons was called into the Huddle Podcast and didn’t hold back with his criticism of the CEO.

Asked by Mark Wilson if he felt that the current transfer and development strategy was right for the club or had gone stale Commons replied:

21 minutes

K C: I think that is still a good strategy for Celtic but with the money at their disposal then they can try and do what they have done very well in the past and that’s like a van Dijk, a Wanyama, Fraser Forster, Gary Hooper, the list goes on of players that we’ve been able to recruit for low transfer fees then sell them on for more.

But the problem comes, and it has been since the day that I walked through the door and it is the dilly-dallying from the board and I would say especially Peter Lawwell in trying to get players on the cheap. Trying to drag out a deal until they feel that they’ve got a bargain.

They made massive failings with trying to sign Fraser Forster. Dragging it over months and months and months then he’s sat on the bench at Southampton doing nothing. Craig Gordon left for nothing and Mikel Lustig, I still think he’d be playing today and be vice-captain at right-back.

I think that Dedryck Boyata is another major mess up from the board in letting him go for nothing. The list goes on of players who’ve been in that ground and in that squad that would have made a massive difference to this squad right now and it is all down to delay tactics.

You only have to look at the likes of John McGinn. A couple of million pounds would have sealed the deal, he would arguably have been taking over Scott Brown’s position and been Celtic captain. Celtic supporter and he came out and said that it was delay tactics, being silly, trying to get the extra buck, trying to get it on the cheap and I think that it’s bit them on the backside.

M W: Would it have been better if Peter had left at the end of last season, someone new. Scrap that (the strategy), 10-in-a-row season, lets not bargain or try to get people on the cheap.

K C: It will cost an astronomical level of money to get this squad competing on four levels. He is the guy that you go and speak to as an agent, as a player, again getting the deal done. He’s the one that gets the deal done. You’ve got your Chief Scout, your Recruitment Officer your manager but he (Lawwell) is the one that gets the deal done. Now he has failed on numerous occasions to get deals done and the deals that he has got done he’s got massively wrong.

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