PETER LAWWELL reckons we’ll believe him when he says he doesn’t pay any attention to social media, or what is being said online by the Celtic Supporters of by the hacks in the press.
What he thinks of the latter group is one thing, perhaps from another day, but it is worth pointing out that the he the club has a partnership with the publishers of the Daily Record on The Celtic View and one of The Celtic directors came to the club from that very same newspaper.
As far as online goes, Lawwell has considerable influence on one or two of the older Celtic sites, he even has Non Disclosure Agreements in place with some of them. There will probably be an end of season podcast out shortly with one of them – that’s what happened at the end of May last year if you remember correctly when Peter told us that everything in the garden was rosy.
On another site at the weekend there was a poster congratulating the host for telling him in confidence a few weeks ago that Lenny would be getting the job and then proceeded to list a number of prominent posters who were also in on that particular secret.
The most fiercest of critics that Neil Lennon had in getting the job came from another Celtic site, and the blogger there has confirmed that he had a sit down with Lawwell last year to talk through various matters. So spare us Peter, the spin about the collective voice of The Celtic support being unimportant.
The Celtic sites and the support, for the good of our club, need to hold the Board to account – particularly after the narrow escape we had this season when things could really have got horribly wrong due to the dispute between Rodgers and Lawwell.
And if you need another example, we’d refer you to the way that The Celtic Board have failed to deal with the Res 12 issue. Let’s have a look at what the CEO has been saying, to the Daily Record.
“I’m not online, I don’t go on it. But honestly, I’ve said hundreds of times, you need blinkers in this job. And if you react to online, or social media, or media, then you’re dead.
“You just need to keep on doing the right things and believe in yourself and making the right decisions. That’s what we’ve done – without any outside influences.
“It’s a fantastic job and I’m sure there would be people looking from afar who had an idea of coming here. We had approaches from many, many agents, many representatives of managers across the board.
“We put them in the file, just left it and kept our word to Neil, really. We had a mini board meeting right after the game. Dermot’s here. Dermot, myself, the chairman (Ian Bankier) and Tom Allison decided what to do.
“We knew that Lenny was getting the job. We decided that we should kill the speculation on a high, get it out and let our supporters know and the media know.”
Having been the man who led Celtic to the first three titles towards the eight already won Lawwell accepts that Neil Lennon has the experience and the know how to drive Celtic on to Nine then Ten in a Row.
“I think that’s the point. He knows the club inside out, he knows the city, he knows what’s required,” Lawwell said, as reported in Daily Record.
“He’s a great coach. He’s got the strength of character to take it through. He’s a great coach, has a great eye for a player. We’re delighted to have him.
“Brendan Rodgers clearly had a lot of the tools and experience, he was from a Celtic background and he understood the club. But there’s probably nobody better at the moment, I would think, made for Celtic than Neil. He’s made for this club.
“He’s more experienced, he’s a little more calmer, less emotional. That’s a great sign that he’s a learner and developer.”
Lawwell also defended the logic in resisting the opportunity to appoint Lenny before the season ended, perhaps after the title was won up at Aberdeen, believing that it risked being counter-productive. Perhaps he was thinking about the similar scenario that unfolded at Old Trafford when
Manchester United decided to give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the manager’s job during his caretaker run towards the end of the season, rather than waiting until the season was over.
“I think there have been other teams recently who have made appointments sooner than they should have. There was no purpose, no reason for us to do anything quicker.
“We knew Neil would be here at the end of the season. We just felt we’d take our time, get to know each other again and then make the right decision.
“What we’ve decided is he’s been offered the job. Our intention and belief is that Neil will take it and become the Celtic manager.
“That’s our real desire. We just need to clarify the details. The choice we had was – do we leave it until Thursday or Friday and let the speculation roll or do we just kill it and then do the detail next?
“We decided to just kill it.”
Lawwell seemed so pleased that the Treble Treble had been won that he even promised to get the cheque book out and sign some players, although that might have been the drink talking. It was that kind of weekend all round and many Celtic Supporters will be glad of their Bank Holiday today to recover!
“We still have a core of a lot of good players,” Lawwell said. “I think people are maybe over- estimating what we need to do or overstating it. But we understand that we need to be better, we need to be stronger and that will be our intention in the summer.
“I’ve been a supporter for all my days, you’d never have believed a Treble Treble could be done.
“It’s such an amazing achievement, you’d probably never have imagined it. I love it. I just want to keep going. I’m fresh, I’ve got passion, I’ve got desire and I look forward to the new chapter with Neil.
“We won’t stand still. We want to make Celtic the best that it possibly can be. That’s our desire, it’s our need and that’s what we’re going to do.”
It’s what you NEED to do Peter. It’s what you are PAID handsomely to do too.
