Our fundamentals are so strong- Lawwell’s shallow Champions League boast turns Celtic into a laughing stock

As Celtic fans indulge in that familiar feeling of ‘what is the point’ they can look towards one man for the trashing of any reputation that the club once had.

Now sitting on the pointless board of the European Club Association, the legacy of Peter Lawwell’s leadership is there to see in the group standings of the Champions League.

Last season Ange Postecoglou gave supporters a little hope that the club was changing direction, that he would do things differently to make Celtic competitive again in the Champions League.

This morning the facts are brutal for the support who watched last night’s 6-0 drubbing from Atletico Madrid. Was it worse than the 6-1 to Barcelona in 2013, the 5-0 and 7-1 defeats to PSG, 7-0 in Barcelona in 2016 or the qualifying defeats to minnows like Malmo, Maribor, AEK Athens, Ferencvaros, Cluj or Midtjylland.

Managers and players change but the name of Lawwell remains, not doubled up with Mark on the payroll as Celtic plunge further and further away from respectability.

One Champions League group stage victory in 10 years is matched by no knock-out victories in 19 years over three different competitions.

Last night wasn’t a shock or unexpected, it was part of a pattern, the consequences of having an accountant calling the shots that has no idea of footballing ability but is an expert on ego and self projection. A man who sanctioned the signings of Ismaila Soro, Patryk Klimala, Marion Shved, Vakoun Bayo, Albian Ajeti, Vasilas Barkas and others as part of an apparent strategy.

Now seated in the comfy seat as Chairman Brendan Rodgers has to work with the players recruited by Lawwell’s equally talentless boy.

At least the pomp and bragging from Lawwell is rarely heard in public these days, back in 2016 he was still dishing out his moonbeams of delusion with Eurosport publishing the usual tripe from Celtic’s CEO:

IF WE PLAYED IN A FOOTBALL LEAGUE LIKE THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE, I THINK WE COULD BE THE BIGGEST.

Because there is no barrier then; we have the whole bit so there would be no barrier to where we could go

WE HAVE THE HISTORY, WE HAVE THE STORY TO TELL, WE HAVE A GLOBAL FANBASE AND WE HAVE THE FACILITIES.

We have got the profile of a big European club but we don’t have domestic TV revenues. Our fundamentals are so strong.

Celtic’s fundamentals are almost non-existent. Scouting is poor, player development is poorer, the Academy is a footballing graveyard with the strength of the supporter base the only asset.

Lawwell has his place on the ECA gravy train, enjoying the trimmings of a pointless role at football’s ‘big table’.

There are two more embarrassments waiting for Celtic this year in Europe before Lawwell and his clone Michael Nicholson sell off the better players next summer with Mark scouring Korea and Australia for next season’s doomed projects.