After Celtic’s Champions League win over Feyenoord on December 7, Peter Lawwell took a week’s holiday in Portugal, conveniently side-stepping the defeat and protests that followed the 2-0 home defeat from Hearts.
These days there are two Lawwell’s in the building with Mark in his fourth transfer window heading up Celtic’s First Team Scouting and Recruitment.
Now into the ninth day of the January 2024 window it is clear that Peter’s boy has been unable to line up any players of the standard required by Brendan Rodgers.
Foolishly Rodgers sang the praises last June about the brilliant work being carried out by Lawwell Mini on recruitment, an obvious problem area during his first spell in charge.
For whatever reasons the manager kept fairly quiet as his request for four quality summer signings was ignored while Mark presented him with seven project signings to add to a bloated squad that had won the domestic treble on the back of 13 players. The XI that started the League Cup Final in February plus Matt O’Riley and Liel Abada who came off the bench at Hampden.
Rodgers watched from afar andknew that the squad was thinly stretched, when Mooy, Jota and Carl Starfelt left the core group was badly reduced, this season’s Champions League campaign was a write off except for the finance department as they neared having £100m earning interest while HMRC took chunks out of that sum as the first team quality declined.
After losing to Lazio Rodgers made his wishes clear, since June he had wanted four quality, first team ready players. Mark wasn’t listening or isn’t capable of delivering.
A week ago the manager spoke to the media after the win at St Mirren, there was one passage that stood out for supporters in the Daily Record report:
We’ll hopefully have some of the injured players back and maybe one or two in the door. Then we push on for the second half of the season.
? LISTEN: “I felt when I came in the summer that we probably needed four quality players.”
? Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers says the club are working hard to add top level players to their squad. pic.twitter.com/1xwfCY5Zab
— Clyde 1 Superscoreboard (@ClydeSSB) December 1, 2023
Rodgers has already downgraded his expectations, he hasn’t repeated his claims about the brilliant work of Mini as he waits on new recruits. When the SPFL resumes on January 27 he’ll be without Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate, Oh Hyeon-gyu and Yang Hyun-jun.
All the more reason for the club to bring in new first team starters you would have thought.
Despite the claims put out from Celtic the peak of Lawwell Mini’s powers was being ‘information and content manager’ at the City Football Group. He never headed up Scouting and Recruitment for a worldwide empire of players.
Working on a 2021 spreadsheet of Yokohama F Marinos prospects and projects isn’t much use to Rodgers. If Mark borrows Dad’s contact book he’ll find it as thin as his own with a concentration on the letters D and R.
Clubs are resuming light training this week, there is a match in 12 days time which would be the ideal time to introduce a couple of players to the team. Fans can remember the boost provided by the January 2022 intake, the last window that had no Lawwell involvement.
There is barely a scrap of transfer speculation around, Mark can’t even move on the deadwood that he has brought in since his low key arrival.
Some cheerleaders think that the club is working away quietly in the background to finalise some arrivals, others have a more realistic take on (non) events, with two Lawwell’s in the driving seat it looks like Celtic are again sleeping at the wheel.
Who is doing most damage to Celtic?
He just can't help himself
Performances are on him
Incredibly underqualified
It’s bit different from last couple of Jan windows, I’d like to think there will be players brought in(not loans) or scrambling about last few days of window…I shall hold council at the moment to see if it resembles the the some of the farces from 3 or 4yrs ago,,,
They won’t sign any first team starters, I’m quite convinced of it. They’ll sign some 5’2” winger from Latvia who cannae run and a fullback of indeterminate age from a Scandinavian country who is knackered after playing a full season and will get injured in his first training session at Lennoxtown. That’ll be it – Jan Amnogudanov and Lars Penguinfurmadinna.
Tellingly, BRodge will not attend the press conference. Neither signing will ever play a first-team game. Jan will be loaned back permanently to his previous club and get fat on Celtic’s wages, Lars will be loaned to East Stirling of the Lowland League where he will get injured after two minutes of his first match and then go on to regularly attack the club in the press for not giving him any game time with increasing viciousness until they eventually pay him off.
Lars will be 6’8” but weigh slightly under seven stone and thus generally resemble Hen Broon or Peter Crouch, really fitting the criteria for ‘pace and power’ BRodge is seeking…. Mark Lawwell will receive a promotion and a salary boost for his magnificent efforts at the next AGM. Celtic will win the title by 1 point.
You read it here first.
You forgot to mention his annual salary exceeding bonus. !!
#pissedofwaetheseassholeparasites
Damn! I forgot about the Bonus! You can tell I ain’t some Patrick Bateman type dwelling in the corporate world of Murders and Executions…. sorry, I mean Mergers and Acquisitions!
Brilliant, comment Captain swing, very funny ???
What can I tell you? I grew up reading ‘Not The View’ and ‘Viz’!!!
It’s the same situation every window where, IMO, Lawwell leaks stories to his pals in the SMSM about Celtic looking at good player after great player, and when the window, that always slams on Celtic, closes, we get fck all of those rumoured players but end up with eg Willo Flood etc.
To all those who think things will get better in the next three weeks, I have a bridge from London up for sale!
Things NEVER change whilst Lawwell Snr and Jnr are in situ
Be lucky if we sign Lars Thedrummerfaemetallica mate
Well said captain swing ,very funny, tragically not too far from the truth, with this board.
Joe he has 4/5 MONTHS between windows yet there’s not been a peep regarding the 2 first team ready players requested by BR.
Months to prepare, months.
I’m predicting a totally underwhelming transfer window, worse yet; I’d bet on that outcome.
Then again, I’ve never been the best gamble either… tbc
Editor: Deja Vu CSC
‘Jas’ above beat me to it!
In the absence of quality players – as requested by the manager –
the risk is that Lawwell senior ‘pulls a rabbit out of his @rse’,
on the last day of the window,
by unveiling a ‘Willo Flood’-type signing:
bought for buttons, just to claim we signed somebody during the window.
And then the anti-Board / anti-PL chants will fill the stadium again. 🙁
But, this window has already failed:
targets should have been signed
and then unveiled BEFORE the derby game.
Even sevco managed to do that with their loan signing.
Get they 2 fat PONCES out the club,bleeding it dry and laughing all the way to the bank.
“Information And Content Manager”
is a Secretary, right?
A
“Gofur”
in another Indusrty!
It’s at times like this when things repeatedly happen I like to look in the mirror. What can I do to stop this reoccurring? The Celtic support have lots of intelligence in their ranks but have very little influence and no voice. Was the same at the time of EBTs the Celtic support were found wanting.
Power is in numbers and a platform to express disillusion with the powers in place. A minimum of 80% want change yet nothing changes, season ticket renewal is the opportunity for change.
If a Celtic for change group was formed they could warn the directors that should the club lose out in 60 M they pay with their jobs. A blind man can see that recruitment and referees are the threat yet nothing is done on either front. One then must believe that the board would be satisfied for Sevco to obtain the 60M.