Peter Lawwell books in for ECA gravy train appointment

Peter Lawwell has booked in to Budapest for a couple of days hot air as the European Club Association get together for an exchange of ideas.

Now clocking in as the Chairman of the Celtic the 63-year-old has been on the Executive Board of the ECA while Scottish football is continually marginalised.

On the park Celtic haven’t won a knock out tie in a UEFA competition since Lawwell was settling into the CEO role in March 2004. Business is business however with Lawwell taking home £3.5m in salary and bonus in 2019 following Celtic’s Champions League exit to AEK Athens.

Lawwell’s profile on the ECA website seems a little out of date but describes him as:

Peter Lawwell is CEO of Celtic plc, having joined the company in October 2003 from his position as Commercial Director with Clydeport plc.  Previously, he held senior positions with ICI, Hoffman-La-Roche and Mining Scotland.

Lawwell has served on the Board of Directors of the SPFL, the Scottish FA and the Scottish FA Professional Game Board, representing professional clubs.

During Lawwell’s tenure, the Club has won 20 major trophies (10 League Championships, 6 Scottish Cups, 4 League Cups), qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League on 9 occasions and qualified for the last 16 on 3 occasions. 

He is also a Trustee of Celtic FC Foundation, the Club’s charitable arm, upholding the strong charitable principles and proud heritage of Celtic Football Club.

Lawwell has served as an Executive Board Member of ECA since March 2014, has been a member of the UEFA Club Competitions Committee since 2015 and was elected as one of ECA’s four representatives on UEFA’s Professional Football Strategy Council (PFSC) in August 2017.

Say what you will about Peter Lawwell but his stats don’t lie. In his 17 years at the club he managed to increase Celtic’s revenue by 19.1%, and his own salary by 1750%

— The Bhoys Broadcast (@CSC_podcast) January 29, 2021

While the ECA meets and talks UEFA gets on with the business of running football with lip service given to the talking shop gathering in Budapest this week.

In season 2012/13 the champions of Scotland faced two qualifying rounds to reach the group stage of the Champions League. Despite the ‘influence’ of Lawwell on the ECA Executive board within five years that route was expanded to four qualifying rounds with the matches played over eight consecutive midweeks.

Scottish football is unique within UEFA in that one member club has their own special set of rules, at the 2019 Celtic AGM Lawwell laughed to shareholders that he had never seen the Five (Six) Way Agreement of 2012 signed off by the SFA and SPL to assist the Ibrox Tribute Act formed by Charles Green.

We’re almost ready to kick-off here in Budapest for this week’s #ECA29GA. Our host @reshmintv takes us through what’s on the agenda for today ? #WeAreECA #HeartofFootball pic.twitter.com/795r1wuEZT

— ECA (@ECAEurope) March 27, 2023

In the last 10 years, Peter Lawwell has received £14,934,979 in salary and bonus from Celtic. £9,383,706 in the last 5 years alone.

A Chief Executive earning such obscene amounts of money should know when to change manager after humiliating results at home and in Europe. pic.twitter.com/3zSdkJv8ha

— T H E ~ S H A M R O C K ?? (@TheShamrock1888) November 30, 2020

Thanks to @Napoleon_Celtic for sharing this. Peter Lawwell’s salary + Bonus v club revenue. No downsizing for Pete! pic.twitter.com/1hvuB0NQWd

— E-Tims (@ETimsNet) February 4, 2016

An observation without comment:
Between Salary (£1.15M) and Bonus (£2.296M) Peter Lawwell earned £3,446,000 last year.
The price of Gold is £979 per ounce.
If Peter weighs 15 stones, he was actually* worth more than his weight in gold.

— Tony McKelvie (@TonyMcKelvie) March 16, 2019

Celtic chief Peter Lawwell pockets £400k bonus on top of £520k salary. http://t.co/mC0hDdWPKA pic.twitter.com/xhRTNSBHLd –

— Liam McLoughlin (@LiamMcLoughlin_) October 16, 2014