Today is officially Peter Lawwell’s last day the Celtic CEO after over 17 years running the club. The mantle officially passes to his successor Dom McKay tomorrow as a new era at the club gets underway. Celtic Star columnist ‘Celtic Gossip’ asked supporters to sum up Peter Lawwell’s time as the Celtic CEO and here’s a balanced flavour of how that went…
Well today is Peter Lawwell’s last day as CEO, how would you sum up his time at @CelticFC HH pic.twitter.com/fC4OiCYaDM
— Celtic Gossip (@CelticGossip) June 30, 2021
“Had the chance to bury them forever, and did not want to do it as bad for business. He will be remembered for that and blowing the 10..”
“Can’t disagree with that assessment, had a chance to take us to another level above and beyond the other side and chose not to. It happened on his watch and will be on his epitaph.”
“The man who took us to the brink of greatness and then decided the board’s financial constraints were more important than the fans football dreams. Hopefully the next guy is more ambitious but I have my doubt as the board chose him too.”
“Went the way of the pear without Paul McBride’s guidance, not enough has been made of his input.”
“Good point Danny, McBride was a clever man, Peter lost his way but overall done a good job for us, massive mistakes made re McGinn etc”
“Look, when you are dealing with football fans you are never going to agree with everything all the time. Even Bob Kelly had that. Overall his tenure has been hugely successful. Second most successful spell the club has had. He deserves his name to be associated within that.”
“We were successful in spite of him not because of him. He tried to save them then tried to get new club into top flight and before that they had won 3 in a row because of his penny pinching or if cynical deliberately sabotage Celtic to keep them alive.”
“Securing his bonus was his biggest priority. Failure to build on a position of strength and losing the ten because of it, will always be his legacy in my eyes.”
“Look at the state of the club, on and off the pitch, that’s his legacy. Stayed too long.”
“He’s taken us from being a Euro finalist to a team that can barely qualify for Europe.”
“He’s overseen 9-in-a-row, a quadruple treble and an invincible season.”
“Priorities all wrong. Motivation was always the balance sheet, and his ability to earn exuberant bonus. There was no vision or ambition towards our status in Europe. Failure to qualify for Champions League simply offset by selling star players. Rinse and repeat.”
“Left the Club with more money than when he came. Left the Club with many, many, many more trophies than when he came. One bad year and unsubstantiated claims about keeping “them” alive from the same people who revel that “they” died, takes nothing away from those facts.”
“Overpaid accountant with zero ambition for the club. On the bang for buck, a failure.”
“Give him a break guys, he’s going, let’s wish him luck.”
“Unpopular opinion but in 30 years he will be looked upon as the man that delivered 9 in a row for the second time and a quadrupole treble! Nobody will remember the rest! Wee Fergus wasn’t popular before he left and he saved our club!”
“Ups and downs, great deals and great deals that got away. 9 in a row, quadruple treble on his watch. Time will tell (remember wee Fergus wasn’t the most popular until he left and we got time to ponder)…”
“The benchmark for Dom McKay, if he can surpass the trophies and keep us running smoothly then we’ll be in a good place.”
“He’s been fantastic for the club, but completely lost touch with the fans in recent years and unfortunately will be remembered for the negatives now.”
“Were we offered us his record (including last season’s car crash) before he joined, we’d have taken it, particularly with the financial performance. With that said, it can’t be denied he has made some fairly easily avoidable bad decisions. Good but frustrating.”
“Similar to Neil Lennon. Could’ve been a legend with name written into folklore but his own ego didn’t allow him to see his own shortcomings or when to call it a day.”
“Not the last we’ve seen of him at Celtic I don’t think.”
“He’s retired from Celtic. Just seeing out his 2 years on ECA board.”
“As a CEO an absolute success the club is in as strong a financial footing as it could be and we have seen unprecedented success throughout his reign on the football side too.”
“When Lawell started Celtic could match anyone in Europe in a one off game. By the time he left, we can beat virtually nobody.”
“Good luck to Peter I for one am very humble. I have been to so many games over the years and had some of the best memories of my life. wouldn’t have happened with out Peter’s leadership. Yes lost titles and silverware but won more than lost.”
“Nose in the trough. Made more money from Celtic than possibly any player or manager and never backed the fans when we needed most, Res 12, OBA, etc..A penny pinching accountant enriching himself and who limited our ambition to be the best in Scotland and not Europe. Good riddance.”
“Squandered a huge opportunity sadly.”
“Stayed too long. Became too controlling.”
“Control freak that cost the club on and off the field. Co-dependent on them, couldn’t see us live without them and gave up a once in a lifetime opportunity to forever ditch them and the Old Firm tag. A reign that ended in glorious failure.”
“Too long.”
He had a great tenure and then snatched defeat from the jaws of the ultimate victory. Overall he was successful despite the criticism. I wish him and his family well.”
“Done a lot of good for the club and brought success until he became too big for his boots and cared more about the business side (and his bonus) than the football side.”
“Too long the job went to his head 4/5 big decisions utterly disgraceful! Toney, McGinn, Rodgers all decisions have cost the club in total easily £100m – thats just 3, definitely without question.”
“The biggest underachieving club in Europe.”
“The man who saved Rangers and restored the Old Firm. The man who ignored 10 years of EBT cheating and did not insist on title stripping. The man who again ignored cheating regarding the Res12 issue. The man who ignored a corrupt SFA and a corrupt referring association. Etc Etc..”
“Domestically successful. Disappointing in Europe.”
“It is inevitable his reign will be judged on last season.”
“I think he’s been great for us, he made 1 crucial mistake though and that was not replacing Rodgers with someone of similar calibre and because of that 10IAR was gone. Still best wishes to the man.”
“We’ve had some amazing times with Peter Lawwell as CEO. Dominated for years. Unfortunately I think his legacy will be his complicity in 5WA, Failing 10IAR, Forcing one of our greatest managers in years (BR) out the door and basically for having too much input in football affairs and failing.”
“Brought some fantastic times, huge record of success. Stayed too long and allowed an unacceptable decline in standards at the end. Bit like Game of Thrones: fantastic for many seasons, catastrophic ending.”
“Downsized the club dramatically. He took over just after Seville, at a time we could compete at the highest level….and look where we are now.”
“If you use a player comparison, history will see him as a Johann Mjallby (great player, good servant of the club) but had opportunity to be Henrik Larsson (A true legend).”
“Did well overall but stayed way too long, allowed the club to become stale and cost us more than a few really good transfers.”
And on it goes. That’s a balanced summary and from these comments it’s fair to say that Peter Lawwell has been successful in many areas during his time at the club, and that these positives are appreciated by huge numbers of supporters. However the criticism is equally as valid, his handling of the events surrounding the liquidation of Rangers FC and the way into football for the new club, his refusal to engage with valid supporter concerns, for instance over the Res 12 issue, what a few described as him being control freak, maybe fairer to say his hands on approach across all areas of the club, various transfer decisions and perhaps staying on for too long.
Many point to the incredible domestic trophy haul under Lawwell’s tenure while others note the regression as a European power during his time as the Celtic CEO. There were clearly outside factors in both that really need to be considered. The liquidation of Rangers and the new club starting in the old third Division perhaps made Celtic’s task easier for a few years, although strangely the run of four consecutive trebles didn’t begin until they had made their way through the lower leagues to join the Scottish Premiership. The imbalanced financial landscape of European football favouring the so-called five big leagues has also made it tougher for clubs like Celtic to maintain the status of past decades, and the blame for that can’t simply be placed at Lawwell’s door.
What is clear though is that most if not all supporters reckon that it’s better to have a new CEO coming in and that Peter Lawwell can get some well earned rest away from the Celtic goldfish bowl. And everyone will surely wish him well for his retirement.
An inmittigated disaster in every department, except the shareholders….
Watch the door doesnt hit you on the errse on the way out Lawell.
Run a proper P&L analysis over your entire tenure and you were nothing special.
You left CFC in a shambles because Desmond allowed you to.
Any other LSE listed 100+M T/O PLC would have chased you out of said door years ago.
His last year was disappointing, but not even his biggest detractors can take away the nine-in-a-row and the quadruple treble! He must be given some credit for that, surely!
Having said all that, his time has come, and we wish him well in the future, in the same way as we wish every success on the new set-up. I hope to see him back at Celtic Park to watch the games. He is a Celtic supporter! Thank you, Peter Lawwell!