Art of the Deal – Celtic’s near-misses with Ivan Toney, John McGinn and Andrej Kramaric

Neil Lennon left Celtic after tendering his resignation on Thursday. The 49-year-old decided to bring his second spell as manager to an end after Celtic faltered in the bid for 10IAR. Lennon made reference to ‘mitigating circumstances’ for the discord around the club despite winning a Quadruple Treble. The club’s lack of a Director of Football has been well documented over the last year but even well into the last decade, there are signs of Peter Lawwell’s influence as de-facto DOF.

One of those such occasions appeared to come to light yesterday as Stephen McGowan revealed that Ivan Toney was in Glasgow but no deal was forthcoming. Toney instead signed for Brentford and has scored 24 goals and assisted 9 times in 35 appearances for the Championship side this season. Not bad for his second choice club with the player allegedly ready to walk to Glasgow to seal a deal. However, the club went for Albian Ajeti from West Ham for £4.5m and despite the Swiss striker showing promising signs, injuries and fitness concerns have stunted his performances since arriving at the club.

(Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

Another issue with Lawwell acting as DOF became one of the catalysts for Brendan Rodgers leaving the club in February 2019. The Irishman had realised that Hibernian’s John McGinn was the heir-apparent for captain Scott Brown, McGinn had helped Lennon’s Hibs dominate the midfield in games against Celtic and Rodgers held him in high esteem. Following the conclusion of the 2017-18 campaign, Rodgers is said to have communicated with McGinn and even visiting his house telling him of his plans in the new Celtic midfield.

However, haggling over the fee of £2.5m from Lawwell allowed Rod Petrie to accept a bid for McGinn to send him to the English Championship. Lawwell would instead sign Mulumbu from Killie, who would underwhelm and end up spending just six months at the club before being loaned out and subsequently released. McGinn, meanwhile, has become a mainstay in the Premier League with Aston Villa – even being linked with moves to Manchester United and other Premier League sides. This failed move would appear to spark the beginning of the end for Rodgers at the club as he left for Leicester months later.

Photo by Tim Keeton – Pool/Getty Images

Back in Ronny Deila’s reign, Stefan Scepovic arrived on deadline day to complete a move to The Scottish Champions. The nomadic striker arrived from Sporting Gijon in September 2014 but the real story that day is that Andrej Kramaric was waiting for the go-ahead to complete a move to the club from Rijeka.

The story goes that Kramaric and his agent were ready to sign before the phone calls stopped from Celtic Park leaving the player in the cold, which meant that no move materialised. Less than a year later, Leicester City paid £9m for him. The striker has become an integral part of Hoffenheim’s side, scoring 88 goals in 178 appearances in the Bundesliga.

Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images

This isn’t intended to be a stick to beat Peter Lawwell with as transfer dealings can often be hit-or-miss in certain markets but a Director of Football allows the footballing experts to use their network, scouts and relationship with a manager to build a cohesive and compact playing XI. Each player represents a wrong decision by the club’s CEO, reinforcing the need for a DOF. The Director of Football role is to be addressed as part of Dominic McKay’s overhaul, along with appointing a new manager may require McKay to bring forward his arrival before the July 1st changing of the guard.

Peter Lawwell deserves an enormous amount of credit for the commercial side of the football club, growing and enhancing the club’s commercial partnerships; however, McKay will need to know that the footballing department should be left to the footballing people, it will be his job to identify, hire and retain the best possible people for these jobs.

Photo: Michael Steele/ALLSPORT

READ THIS…Dominic McKay must deliver instant success says Paul Lambert

About Author

Born just as Celtic were stopping the Ten, Lubo98 follows Celtic home and away and helps run his local Celtic Supporters Club. He goes to all the games and is a Law Graduate. Has a particular fondness for Tom Rogic among the current Celts and both Lubo and Henrik form his earliest Celtic memories.

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