Celtic cynically use Ange Postecoglou to justify Lawwell’s return

Celtic have cynically used Ange Postecoglou to endorse the appointment of Peter Lawwell as chairman.

Confirmation that the club simply reshuffles the pack, repaying favours to former Clydeport executives was made at lunchtime today with the former CEO announced for a January 1 start, appropriately his first match will be at Ibrox watching the O** F*** match that was central to his 17 years as CEO.

Announcing Lawwell’s appointment Postecoglou told the Celtic website:

It is fantastic news for the Club that Peter will be taking up the role of Chairman.  

He was instrumental in bringing me to Celtic, I know the love he has for the Club and I know that his wealth of experience and knowledge will be invaluable to us all as we move forward together. I would also like to wish Ian (Bankier) and his family all the very best for the future.

In December 2020 Lawwell announced a managerial review at Celtic, in February it concluded that Neil Lennon was the best man to take the club forward. It took Lawwell 106 days to appoint Postecoglou who went into the 2021 Champions League qualifiers with just Liel Abada, Liam Shaw and Osaze Urhoghide added to the skeleton squad that he had inherited.

With no-one in the UK prepared to work alongside Lawwell a number of mainstream and fan websites were used to string along the near certain appointment of Eddie Howe as manager.

During Lawwell’s 17 years as CEO the hoops won only two UEFA knock out ties, against Teplice and Barcelona in 2004 a couple of months after Lawwell was appointed. In his 12 months in charge at Ibrox Giovanni van Bronckhorst won four knock out ties- against Borussia Dortmund, Red Star Belgrade, Braga and RB Leipzig.

At the 2019 Celtic AGM Lawwell smirked as he told shareholders that he had never seen the Five Way Agreement of 2012, at the 2022 AGM Michael Nicholson said that he had read the document and that a separate set of rules for one club wasn’t a handicap to Celtic

Lawwell is a popular figure in the boardrooms of Malmo, Maribor, AEK Athens, Ferencvaros, Cluj, Molde, Copenhagen and Sparta Prague.

During his last three years as CEO the club signed Vakoun Bayo, Marian Shved, Albian Ajeti, Vasilis Barkas, Hatem El Hamed, Ismaila Soro, Yousuf Mulumbu and Patryk Klimala on permanent deals, his final loan move was to bring Jonjoe Kenny in from Everton to replace Jeremie Frimpong.