Chris Sutton has claimed that Peter Lawwell’s transfer policy drove Brendan Rodgers crazy.
Almost without fail Celtic went into Champions League qualifiers under prepared with transfer activity usually concentrated into the final days of the window.
It was a high-risk policy that rarely paid off, for Rodgers it was a two out of three success rate, tellingly he didn’t hang around for another spin of the wheel.
Neil Lennon found himself involved in the same scenario this season as a £30m pay-out was whipped away by Ferencvaros. Vasilis Barkas took over from Fraser Forster but after being involved at West Ham deep into July Albian Ajeti wasn’t fit enough to start against the Hungarian champions with Patryk Klimala already dropping out of contention.
Within a week of missing out on a £30m pay out David Turnbull and Shane Duffy were signed. After losing to Cluj a year earlier Fraser Forster and Moi Elyounoussi came in on loan from Southampton.
Inside Celtic there has been an outpouring of tributes for the departing CEO but having witnessed his transfer dealings over the years Sutton wasn’t afraid to pick out some very costly errors during Lawwell’s reign in charge of the club.
Speaking to the Daily Record the former Celtic striker explained:
Even before this season I have constantly voiced concerns about the lack of forward planning in the January and summer transfer windows.
Too often Celtic have gone in to Champions League qualifying campaigns missing key additions who have either arrived too late or not at all. It’s not just me who said it either. It drove Brendan Rodgers crazy as well.
There was the Ronny Delia experiment, the failing to capitalise fully on the Champions League in the last nine years and that’s before we even get to the mess of this current campaign.
When Rodgers arrived in 2016 he discovered in Gibraltar that Efe Ambrose couldn’t be trusted with Eoghan O’Connell and Kolo Toure brought in as Celtic squeezed through away to Hapoel Beer Sheva.
A year later Nir Bitton and the just-back-from Kilmarnock Kris Ajer were thrown together for the first time as a 5-0 first leg lead over Astana looked vulnerable.
In Athens 12 months later luck ran out when Ajer and Jack Hendry lined up against AEK while Dedryck Boyata stayed at home in dispute with the club over a failed transfer to Fulham. John McGinn was settling in at Aston Villa.
