Has Lawwell performed a u-turn on his need for a cash buffer as Celtic hit the skids?
With Celtic falling to second place in the SPFL Premiership Peter Lawwell seems to have changed his mind on the wisdom of running up a massive bank balance.
As Celtic’s position at the top of Scottish football slips away fans are turning their attention towards finances with the product on the park deteriorating significantly from last season’s Treble winners.
Who exactly is driving policy or the strategy isn’t clear with Chairman Lawwell carrying a higher profile than the club CEO while major decisions such as managerial appointments seem to be the responsibility of Dermot Desmond.
It is a confusing picture, more so by the notable shift in thinking from Lawwell, commenting on the 2023 Annual Report that revealed £72m sitting in the bank account on 30 June, he explained:
It is important to highlight that, given the increasing gap between the sums able to be earned between the Champions League and the Europa League, it is vital that we retain a cash buffer in reserve.
History tells us that we will not always qualify for the Champions League and the benefit of holding cash reserves affords us the optionality of managing through seasons where we participate in the Europa League with the ability to retain our squad as opposed to selling key players to bridge the income shortfall between both competitions.
Five months later after failures in the League Cup and Champions League, within a week of Celtic slipping to second place in a two horse race, Lawwell appears to have changed his mind on ‘the benefits of holding cash reserves’.
In yesterday’s Interim Report the club Chairman stated:
The Board recognises the inherent inefficiencies of holding excess cash, and, in conjunction with other cash commitments, the importance of investing in strengthening the team to deliver football success. The Board shares the frustrations of the supporters regarding the less than anticipated activity in the recent transfer window.
In a business that only has one function Lawwell seems to have changed his mind very rapidly on club policy.
The sales of David Turnbull and Yosuke Ideguchi will almost have covered the fee paid to Rapid Vienna for Nicolas Kuhn.
Whatever the policy/strategy is supporters expect that the priority will always be to put out the best team possible on the park rather than building up a cash buffer.
After four transfer windows that haven’t provided any improvements on the Starting XI Celtic are now left with a number of players sitting on long term contracts with little chance of first team football including summer signings Marco Tilio, Kwon Hyeok Kyu and Gus Lagerbielke.