Peter Lawwell

Walter Mitty probably thought he would win Lawwell round when he took us on and especially after the domestic success he brought us! Could have told him at the time that wasn't going to happen. However, he did fork out for Eddy admittedly after raking in from Armstrong and the Moose!! A lot of financial gurus probably think he's doing a brilliant job but that flies in the face of the ambition the fans have for the club!!

I personally blame Lawwell for a lot since the start of his tenure!! I get we're a business, the limitations within our model blah de blah!! However, for me he's just been too tight!! I think most of us would have been happy with just a wee bit more speculation over the years. I think this has actually held us back. Off the top of my head, Fletcher that January under WGS was a right * up!!!

Having said that, and this is just my opinion, i don't blame him for recent events and to be quite honest looking at it now i'm quite glad he's stood his ground!!!

He's nobody's mug and will already have quite a few scenarios in his head!!! However, neither is Lenny and i hope if he gets the gig he stands his ground with him!! This actually might go against him but Lawwell is skating on very thin ice then with us!!!

 

Bingo..

 

The only non-selfish reason Lawwell could theoretically have for minimal spending is Brexit. Has anyone done calculations on what happens to Scottish football with a hard Brexit?

 

I would argue, very little.

Mainly due to how much money is involved, even at our level not even the top european leagues, since we as a club will probably average paying someone upwards of £10k a week, bringing in Europeans shouldn't really change much I would think.

Although that is also still up in the air as it could easily flip around and make bringing in Europeans nigh impossible if they end up having to go through the same visa process as ROW players we've brought like Wanyama, Bayo, Eboue, Izzy etc... as they are given their visa's (usually on appeal) as they are involved in their senior international team. Most Europeans we buy might not be.

It's hard to say really. I don't know anymore.

 

Peter Lawwell has been at a fault for many a thing over his tenure - no doubt, however I genuinely don’t think there’s been any penny pinching under Rodgers. Our wage bill is £59m - compare that to Ajax and their £45m wage bill in a bigger and better league.

When Rodgers wanted a player, we committed and bought them and or paid the wages needed: Sinclair, Toure, Gamboa, Kouassi, Morgan, Hendry, Ntcham and Edouard etc.

If what’s coming out is to be believed, we bid for players and were stretching the budget but they just weren’t interested in coming to Scotland. Rodgers and his calamitous scouting staff didn’t prepare otherwise - and why would they, he was obviously thinking he was off? That’s not Lawwells fault.

These things happen when managers are given so much power and exclusivity; id hope we could move towards a DoF model and keep continuity in future.

 

It's wrong to rewrite previous history because Brendan Rodgers left us at a disgraceful time and in a despicable manner.

Rodgers wished to change the model to the model Ajax are operating -spending more on fewer players and having a smaller squad. He had some support within the board but Lawwell was opposed.

What we have witnessed is the culmination of that battle. You just have to remember Rodgers' public comments about wanting quality over quantity and not relying on loans. Those comments were not directed at the fans, they were directed at Peter Lawwell. Rodgers didn't want short term loans and £1 million players from the SPFL. That approach was forced on him.

There is an argument to be had about whether Rodgers' approach was the right one, or whether Peter Lawwell has been right to restrict his spending and hoard £40 million in the bank. Personally, I think we should have supported a manager who won every single domestic trophy available to him. But if we weren't going to do that we should have sacked him rather than refusing to invest in the squad and causing the chaos we saw at the start of the season.

 

For me neither Rodgers or Lawwell come out smelling of roses. It's undeniable that Rodgers frittered away a * of a lot of cash on guys we haven't had a return from. You mention that he wanted to implement a 'quality over quantity' approach but that is debunked by the fact he chased the likes of De Vries, Compper & Hendry who were nowhere near to the required standard. He also gave De Vries a contact extension when it was as clear as day he wasn't up to it.

The fact that he saw a centre back in Hendry but didn't see one in Virgil Van Dijk when he was Liverpool manager and reportedly offered him for £13 million is probably the best example of how flawed his judgement is.

It's true that we increased the wage budget and allowed Rodgers to spend more on transfer fees than previous managers however our net spend during his reign was still in the negative. We took in more than we provided to him. If - as has been reported - Lawwell knew that Rodgers was engineering his exit and that's the reason why he refused to fund any more signings, I don't think that's great management. We crashed out of the Champions League because of it, we had squad unrest, disinterested players, public spats and were toiling in the league because of it.

By good fortune we have managed to go on a run since the winter break while the huns have dropped points. As a result we now have a reasonable gap in the league and look set to clinch 8 in a row. Had we not been as fortunate we could still feasibly be in a title race that was going to the wire. It feels like we've rolled the dice and won but in my opinion a competent CEO would not have left it to chance.

 

Those are examples of players in the £1-2 million bracket; the very type of player Rodgers wanted to stop signing (other than as projects).

We all know Rodgers is not a great talent spotter -particularly in defence. All the more reason to either back him with higher quality players -Benkovic shows you what you get for your money- or sack him and bring in a manager who is good at spotting very low-priced gems in the dirt.

 

Rodgers didn’t want anything like the Ajax model. If he did he’d have actually given youth players chances instead of giving them a game then bombing them out for 6 months.

To say the board never supported Rodgers is just a blatant lie. We nearly doubled our wage bill, we broke our transfer record by 50%. Refused £9m for the a player who was refusing to play so he could run his contract down.

All for a manager who is absolutely clueless in Europe and tactically inept.

 

I was reading just last night that Ajax's yearly wage budget is £28m, Salzburg's is £31m and Celtic's is £59m

So Celtic spend the equivalent of Ajax and Salzburg combined. Bang goes the theory that Celtic dont spend.

Celtic have a very very bloated squad though, I imagine Rodgers/Toure and the rest that have moved to Leicester will be about £5m a year saved if not more. We could trim 10 players in the summer and still have a bloated squad.

We need to start raiding the Dutch leagues for more Virgil's.

 

The run isn’t good fortune, it’s about having a far superior squad than anyone else in Scotland. Nothing to do with luck the players deserve a lot of credit for their form after the break.

 

Could a hard Brexit cripple the EPL clubs, and thus level the playing field for us a bit?

 

Ajax spent £45 million in the summer on transfers.

 

He knew the model of the club when he accepted the job. While I'm an advocate of us loosening the purse strings a wee bit more, it's simply not sustainable for us to spend £4 million+ on every player we bring in.

Taking punts at £1-2 million mark is always going to result in a few that have to be written off as a waste of money. Rodgers success rate was outrageously low though. Let's not forget that he spent £3 million on Kouassi who he then didn't play as Broony was playing so well. At what point do you say, "Hold on here Brendan, we're spending millions of £s on guys that are making absolutely no impact...this can't go on"

Benkovic is a £13 million player who is likely on £50k+ per week. There needs to be a dose of reality here, we're not operating in that market. We could and should be doing better in the market that we do operate in. Hopefully Bayo and Shved can be the start of that.

 

Nope.

 

The Ajax model would never work here if Rodgers wanted it or not. For that to work the SFA have to include colt teams in the regular league set up.

 

Wages aren't everything, They still spend more and earn more in transfers then we do. Now if needs be, they are clubs that operate at level that perhaps makes it easier to keep hold of their talent, we can't and probably end up paying higher wages just to keep them a little longer.

Let's be honest, no one knows Ajax wage bill as I'm sure I read they don't release such figures but regardless, whether we think he's quality now compared to the his past, but show me how and when we'd ever sign * like Klaas-Jan Huntelaar on a perm deal? He'd * murder this league but we stand zero chance of getting a guy like that in.

 

I agree that we have the best players and that their performance levels and application have been exemplary since the turn of the year but I meant good fortune on part of Lawwell and the board.

Bringing in 3 short-term loans and expecting them to hit the ground running isn't the way a competently run football club should be ran. We've been fortunate all of them have came in and made a difference instantly and won us games. In the past we've brought in loan players with a decent CV that haven't done the business: Kamara, Braafheid, Wright, Camara etc.

Some might see it as a case of all's well that ends well but I think lessons need to be learned from the way we've conducted our business this season.

 

PL & BR, two massive egos doing battle which came to a head last summer, PL was always going to be the one who prevailed or remained.

The manner of the departure of Rodgers has been a gift for PL, and the fact Lenny was available has been a stroke of luck too, for him and us.

What I liked about having someone with the stature of Rodgers is that it forced PL to back him, and aye mistakes were made in recruitment but we as brand and the domestic success on the park soared with having Rodgers at the club.

For Revenues in the two years prior to Rodgers arriving at Celtic the club’s revenues were £51.08million to 30 June 2015 followed by £52.01 in the year to 30 June 2016.

The next two years saw a dramatic increase in Celtic’s revenue with the figures to 30 June 2017 reaching £90.64million and in the following year to 30 June 2018 that increased to £101.57million.

So it did work, if only he had been able to spot a defender..

My fear is Lenny won’t demand as much from the board and that’s my only concern in appointing him longterm..

 

Or we could just actually blood youth regularly and let them get runs in the team.

When we have players like Izzy and Hayes floating about getting game time ahead of Daniel Church then there needs to be a rethink.

Another one is do we even need Weah when we’ve got Johnston?

As long as we keep making excuses for why young players can’t get chances then they won’t get them.