You lucky bhoys! Keith Jackson explains how Chairman Lawwell will again rescue Celtic
Once again Peter Lawwell can take comfort from the Daily Record.
With Celtic fans increasingly concerned over how the club has handled Ange Postecoglou and who on earth might succeed the Australian as manager the recently appointed chairman is painted in a glowing right by veteran Record reporter Keith Jackson.
Better known for his comments on the personal finances of key figures at Ibrox, Jackson and Lawwell have cut an unlikely double act in recent years which has been mutually beneficial as both men struggle to cope with the digital takeover.
Whatever has been going on behind the scenes in recent weeks, especially over the last few days, Record readers can be assured that there is a selfless super-hero putting the club before all else.
Bizarrely there are some ungrateful, self-entitled Celtic fans out there that fail to notice greatness and leadership when it is rolled into one and presented in front of them.
Consoling Celtic fans bothered that Postecoglou is about to leave for Spurs Jackson informs them:
This is precisely where Celtic’s supporters can take some solace in the teary eyed event that Postecoglou does end up breaking their hearts and taking ‘his football’ with him to north London. It was their own chairman, Peter Lawwell, who was smart enough to take a risk on bringing Postecoglou into the UK in the first place, at a time when his own reputation was being trashed by the club’s supporters.
The appointment was one of Lawwell’s last acts as chief executive before he effectively left out of the back door with his head under a blanket after being blamed for the loss of 10 in a row in what was one of the most jaw droopingly appalling displays of entitlement in the history of the game.
That he is back at the helm at this particular moment as the club’s chairman is a blessing for which Celtic’s people ought to be thankful. It’s no coincidence, after all, that their club is currently rewriting all manner of history books.
Yes, Postecoglou may have steamrollered his way to five trophies out of the six that have been available to him since he first agreed to take on the task which made Eddie Howe’s feet turn cold.
But, as perfect as Postecoglou has been, this hasn’t been some freakish sudden spike in Celtic’s success. Rather it has been the continuation of Lawwell’s iron fisted approach to keeping his club at the top of the SPFL’s pile.
Howe’s feet never turned cold, he was never returning to management within a year of leaving Bournemouth but he did provide a useful three month buffer as Celtic flapped around knowing that no-one with any clouot in the UK would be anywhere near the handover from Lawwell and Lennon.
Lawwell is the CEO that banked £9m compensation from Leicester City in February 2019, had his favourite caretaker in the door within 24 hours then, after three months announced that Neil Lennon had the job on a permanent basis because he knew the city. No other applicants had been considered.
When Lennon repeated the defeat from Cluj against Ferencvaros in August 2020 he threw the players under the bus, deflected from himself with CEO Lawwell doing nothing as another £30m Champions League ticket went up in smoke.
After an incredible run of results including four consecutive home defeats in the autumn of 2020 Lawwell decided to hold a Managerial Review, three months later he concluded that Lennon was the best man in the world to manage Celtic. A couple of weeks later the former Hibs boss resigned with Lawwell taking 106 days to come up with a replacement.
Other than Jonjo Kenny there was no squad building in January 2021 ahead of a massive rebuild although Liam Shaw signed a lucrative four year deal shortly before Lennon quit.
With a month to prepare for another Champions League qualifier Postecoglou walked into a shell of a club, Liel Abada was the only addition signed in time to play against Midtjylland. Dane Murray started his only competitive match in the return leg in Denmark, Celtic lost with Murray performing well. Tony Ralston, completely ignored under Lennon was Celtic’s best player that night in Denmark.
Lawwell signed off with three consecutive failures to reach the Champions League costing Celtic £100m in accountancy terms with Albian Ajeti, Vasilis Barkas, Ismaila Soro and Boli Bolingoli all on long term contracts.
Keeping the star writer at the Daily Record onside to project his legacy was however a success, back in June 2020 Lawwell gave his last newspaper interview as CEO, explaining to Jackson why fans would be able to attend Test Matches in July ahead of the SPFL season starting in August.
Lawwell was only 12 months out with his forecast. The last time that Celtic were looking for a manager there was only one Lawwell on the payroll, now there are two with no sign of Lawwell Mini being head-hunted to move to Spurs.
Will Lawwell and Nicholson recruit a replacement of the same calibre as Ange Postecoglou?
Yes, they have learned from past mistakes, Ange sets a standard
No, they got lucky with Ange, we can't forget Lennon's 2019
