Peter Lawell ,Your View.

As we know Peter Lawell is Chief Executive of our club and in quite a short time he turned Celtic around from being quite heavily in debt to having a very manageable debt ,but what are your thoughts of him ,do you regard him as the main man at the club and trust him in his role or have you had enough of him and others with regards to budgets on transfers not been maybe what you expected and maybe other things he does in his role
Discuss.

 

In a nutshell, a Fergus McCann-esque hero although the benefits will be reaped in the future rather than now. Moreso with Rangers/Hearts outrageous debts (30m a piece) and even moreso if the English Sky bubble bursts which I hope it will.

 

I like Peter Lawwell. I think he has done a tremendous job for Celtic. To cut our debt down from over £20million to under £2million in the time he did was a wonderful achievement. Given what's happened to the global economy, and the Scottish Football economy, in the last year or so it's a * good thing he did it too. Anyone who slags Peter Lawwell should take a look at what's going on over in Govan and just be thankful that we have a man who has the intelligence and the strength of character to say 'no' to fans/managers when they ask for more than the club can afford to give.

I do actually get a bit * off with some Celtic fans when they criticise Lawwell. Like it or not, Peter Lawwell's job is to make sure Celtic are a financially stable and sustainable football club and if that means spending less than fans sometimes want then that is what has to be done I'm afraid. He's obviously highly thought of because Arsenal wanted to take him off us not that long ago. So that tells me(not that I didn't already know) that Lawwell is very good at his job.

I also think he comes across very well and sounds very knowledgable when he talks to the press. A definite asset to Celtic Football Club in my opinion.

 

Has done a fantastic job at this club and should be kept for as long as possible. Sensible folk have never neen more important in football and Lawwell is the best.

 

He is a very shrewd person and is working with the long term interest of the club at heart, something a lot of fans don't comprehend.

The financial landscape we are faced with is bleak but we are one of the best run clubs in the UK, possibly even Europe, although the standard of player at the club isn't what most fans want it's not PL's fault, it's the market we are in.

We will not pay more that what Celtic value a player to be worth so we won't be held to ransom which is the right way to go about it.

Football results are all that matter to the supporters, not the financial results, but without financial stability the football would be even worse in these difficult times.

I think he made a mistake by not releasing more funds in January (although at the AGM they stated they tried to get other players in but the wage demands were extortionate) however, I think overall he's done an excellent job and is definitely the right man for the job.

 

Seems to be a very shrewed business man whith an incredible insight into the future if you consider how long he has been in the job and what the financial situation all around is today.
Does anyone else feel that him and Reid had prior knowledge of what lay ahead financialy ? I mean for the world not just Celtic.

 

Spoken like a true accountant

 

Yes it was only a matter of time before the financial markets would suffer as they have, the people in charge of Celtic were smart enough to realise this and work to ensure it would have as little impact as possible on us

I can't help it

 

Best Chief Executive we have had you just have to look at guys like Allan Mcdonald and Ian Mclead who where there before him to realise what a job Lawwell is doing.

The fans that slate him about not spending money are not living in the real world, we can only spend what wee can afford and that wont change if Lawwell is there or not.

Maybe If Rangers had a man as clever as him on board they would not be in the situation they find themselfs today.

 

Thank you for answering the question Danni.not being a financial person I thought it was a secret known to only a few. That makes them even bigger heroes in my book especialy when all around them were ignoring the warnings.
On another note I was told recently by some one in Finance in the City that we haven't seen anything yet, that it will be worse come 2011. Do you know anything of this ?

 

Sorry last question off subject. don't want to get sinn die.

 

well looking at what the man has done with regards to sorting out our finances then he gets the for me ! and yes perhaps he has made a few mistakes along the way? but tell me someone who hasnt. we are working within our financial power and at the same time we are trying hard and are doing so keeping in the black. after all if we didnt have him doing what he has done? then we could be looking at the 90`s all over again! and i for one does not want that EVER! to happen to our club again.

 

He cares too much about the balance sheet imo. Ok he has done well to reduce debt but as a result our squad is full of mediocrity and the "product" on the pitch is certainly not an enjoyable one to watch. What he needs to realise is that you have to speculate to accumulate and I I don't think he realised this last January. If we spent money on a striker in January (lets just say 4 million) then we would have won the league and as a result recouped the money spent.

Being in virtually no debt means nothing to me tbh if the team is full of mediocrity. Now I am not saying we spend £20-25 million on players as that is just ludicrous however money does need to be spent. The guy is also the master of spin and I don't like him at all.

 

You don't know that, it's pure speculation - we could have spent £4 million on a player and he could have been an epic failure, or broke his leg in the first game or whatever.

I agree we should have spent in January but that still would not have guaranteed we would have won the league.

We are restricted by the conditions we have to face, that's just the reality of the situation and imo Peter Lawwell has done a great job at coping with those restrictions and ensuring we still have a successful team despite the difficulties faced - can you imagine the state we would have been in if the Kelly's and Whytes were still in charge?

 

Just my opinion of course

I just think he puts too much emphasis on reducing debt. Money must be spent as well.

 

A very shrewd person when it comes to buisness ie getting the debt to practically zero which in the current economic climate is very good.This is a perfect time for Mr Lawell to get us a few quality players in January and bury the other lot for a good few years to come.With their current economic situation we should be looking to grab this opportunity and use it to our own benefit.Lets show this mob up by parading players all over the paper and rubbing it right in while they are pleading poverty.Whether this happens or not only time will tell

 

Is this going to happen though ,there is no Champs league money this season ,we havent exactly set the heather alight in the UEFA cup and he has got this debt down to 1.9 million i believe ,so will he let TM have 4-5 million pounds or 3-4 million for that matter knowing it will be hard to recoup this season unless they sell Brown or McGeady but thats IF they do that ,will he release money to hammer it home to others that Celtic mean business?

 

if we spend money in january mgeady and possibly brown will be off.

he's not gonna get the debt down 2 million then spend 5-6 million in january blowing the debt back up again, its not his style.

i'm pretty sure mcgeady will be off sooner than later and brown too if a decent offer comes in.

 

i feel mcgeady will be getting a bit fed up just like stan did playing same * 4 times a season especially if champions league becomes a rarity now we have slipped down the rankngs

 

i understand peoples thoughts on lawell however for being so astute finicialy we are not exactly streets ahead of the huns on the park they won the league last year and sit 2 points behind us before this weekends games what * me off about lawell is if we invested in january in a striker we would have won the league but our board were to busy laughing at the huns plight we could have buried they * for years with them not getting any champions league money if we won the league i just feel our board is happy staying 1 step ahead of the huns when we should be streets ahead
all just my opinoin of course