If Peter Lawwell left the building last year, the final chapter would have been about nine-in-a-row and four consecutive trebles. His legacy (which we will cover at the end of the season) would have been a more straightforward matter to document. Instead, he gets to own a bad season, a cautionary tale to incoming chief executive, Dominic McKay. This job never goes to plan.
He arrived at the club in late 2003 at a time when the lemmings of Scottish football were heading for the cliffs. Celtic had just posted a £11.6m loss despite reaching the Uefa Cup Final, a sum that was dwarfed by Rangers’ £29.6m loss. We lost money every season since Fergus McCann left four years earlier. His first challenge was straightforward, remain competitive and don’t follow Rangers over the edge.
Martin O’Neill was replaced by Gordon Strachan who in his first season had to work with a reduced budget. Revenues grew as the club’s commercial operation matured, so Gordon’s budget soon passed that of Martin’s. Celtic enjoyed a period of financial stability, domestic success and for the first time reached the knock out stages of the Champions League, until then, a fabled nirvana.
If you think this season is the darkest period of Peter’s tenure you have forgotten about 2011. Gordon lost the league for the first time in 2009, Tony Mowbray lost his only title in 2010 and Neil Lennon lost at the first time of asking in 2011. In the autumn of 2011, we dropped 10 points behind Rangers, who were on track for four-in-a-row.
For me, who started writing a blog about the need for financial stability, those years were a real challenge. We were paying our bills but there is no obligation on football fans to take an interest in the club’s accounts, all most want to see is a winning team, and Rangers were winning what mattered. This debate played out for years on CQN. Some of us knew Rangers were going to crash and burn, although it was not until 2011 that I realised how spectacularly that was going to happen. Others on here talked of “Jam tomorrow”.
It was likely but never inevitable that Rangers would become insolvent. Peter chose a path that guaranteed our survival over matching Rangers’ losses. It made him unpopular, but he felt it was the right path to follow. I agreed.
The world changed in season 2011-12. David Murray sold Rangers to Craig Whyte, an experienced insolvency expert. Craig had a plan to liquidate Rangers, phoenix with a Newco and become incarnate as the body and soul of Oldco.
CQN was always active on Rangers finances, they were as pertinent to the success of Celtic as our own, but I went out on a limb in October that year, with what was a prescient blog, The prepack route for Rangers Newco FC. I predicted Rangers liquidation, the consequential space in the SPL, the consequences for the TV deal, sponsorship deals and for other clubs. I explained how Newco would try to join the top flight and finished with a call to arms to stop it, all months before any of it happened.
Celtic said very little during this period but the role Peter Lawwell played in stopping Newco Rangers slipping straight into the top flight was absolute. The prescience and call to arms in that blog and the many that followed in the months to come, were well informed.
The rise of Neil Lennon as manager culminated in that night against Barcelona in November 2012 but the sands were already shifting below our feet. Barcelona was a peak, not a new plateau. Ronny Deila was manager before he was ready. He won leagues but fatefully blew Champions League qualification.
The appointment of Brendan Rodgers was nothing to do with Dermot Desmond watching Newco directors celebrate a semi-final win at Hampden, Dermot was on an aeroplane by then, it was more about chance. Brendan was out of work, a Celtic fan and in need of a place to restore his managerial reputation. Despite the titles, Celtic were flagging. He filled the stands, boosted every revenue stream and won five trophies, before leaving us at the altar of back-to-back trebles.
Few of us were inspired when Neil Lennon was appointed permanent manager after securing that second treble against Hearts. Brendan was sacked by Liverpool, Neil ‘mutual-ed’ by Hibs, by any measure, a downgrade. That night in Rome 14 months ago, when Celtic recorded their first win on Italian soil, the decision look inspired, but not for the first time, the sands were already shifting below our feet.
The collapse this season had been nothing to do with fans not being at games, players isolating or any other nefarious reason. We got our football operations wrong, it is as simple as that. You and I will regret this for a long time, as will Peter Lawwell.
We will lose the league to a Newco Rangers who (pre-crisis) have annual losses approaching Oldco’s when Peter took over. Losing the league hurts, but financial fundamentals ultimately determine the future. This lesson from the Peter Lawwell era will endure. Good luck to Dominic McKay, he has a big sharp suit to fill.
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Lawwell getting lots of credit for league titles won. Can you imagine failing to win the league for the first 8 years after the huns went bust? Aberdeen our biggest challengers with an eighth of our budget, then The Sevco coming in, shambolically under Murty and Caixinha? Which CEO wouldn’t have won those leagues?
The first real challenge was last season, so kudos for that. This season of all season, down with an absolute whimper. To a despised, fraudulent rival he helped re-enable.
But I’ll tell you what takes some doing? A club with our resources getting routinely spanked by dross like Artmedia Bratislava, Utrecht, Sion, Molde, Sparta Prague Youth Team etc, etc.
So give it a rest with the paeans to Peter.
Delighted to see the back of the sheyster in a sharp suit. “He always did things in the best interests of the club”….discuss….
Happy retirement to the old bloke, welcome to the new bloke.
The two lines I’ll remember from these twenty years are Stewart Gilmour-we’re not here to roll over and do what Celtic want, and Peter Lawwell-there are things we can say in public and things we can’t.
I couldn’t care less about the interdependent nature of Scottish football. Too many times for me, the best interests of the company meant SPFL, not Celtic. Lying loses you friends and allies.
There were great times. I’ll be satisfied for the new CEO to work only for Celtic.
no, dont discuss.
Ernie
Just my take on it , the clubs were totally obliged to screw original Rangers due to horrendous catalogue of cheating …. asking them a follow-up question on whether Sevco were a new club , perhaps they could have asked the SFA , Mr Regan needed his nappy changed when confronted with that one …. on balance they would have rowed behind the big lie nothing in it for them to support Celtic…
I think you underestimate the hostile football admin environment Celtic face … Peter published the letters to the SFA on all the big lie and to sum up the SFA would argue today is next Tuesday … they do it because they know we have no support , literally
So who picks the new manager? Lawwell shouldn’t be anywhere near it…..
Bada
Would hope a DOF first
A right good blog the day
St.Marys hall 1887 and the craic goes on since.
HH
Gene- same question, who appoints him? The new CEO will need to work together with him.
och man, my earlier picture of “its going to get worse” guy was knawing away in my brain, on how come that is familiar.
https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/19027898.watford-born-character-speakers-corner-hyde-park-london-dies/
PARKHEADCUMSALFORD on 29TH JANUARY 2021 6:21 PM
STV quoting a John Paul Dykes, who never ever seems to have anything good to say about Celtic..
#########
Noticed that too parkhead , maybe practicing for a stint on BBC .
Bada
Suppose so but time isn’t on our side
Just to be clear, I have no knowledge of our new CEO. However, I have mates whose views I respect and who are rugby players and followers. Here are comments from two of them, for what they are worth.
“Dominic McKay is deeply unpopular, has made a complete arse of Scottish rugby and is only interested in personal gain! Should be a seamless transition then!”
“Aye, pretty much. Jacked up ticket prices to screw over the average fan, sold off all the games to pay tv, and was part of an executive level dictatorship that’s been running the SRU. The national team haven’t exactly been setting the heather alight, despite their obvious talent. They also just extended Townsend’s contract off the back of our worst ever world cup. Plus, Glasgow and Edinburgh are on a downward spiral, with any decent players leaving for England or France at the first opportunity. So, all in all, a guy who can squeeze out more money, despite the on field product constantly underachieving and regressing. Should fit right in.”
My own view of Lawwell is that I cannot stand to be lied to. Lawwell blatantly lied to shareholders after reneging on his fiduciary responsibilities. He cynically led along the Res 12 lads for years, including the inestimable and completely ethical Auldheid. That was unforgivable. His grossly uniformed interference in football matters and dilatory ineptitude in the transfer market has led directly to Celtic underachieving in Europe on numerous occasions. Appointing Neil Lennon a second time was unfathomable. With the recent CST decision to monitor Res 11, Lawwell saw the writing on the wall for the next Celtic AGM. For nine years, he has wriggled by Machiavellian machinations to avoid the spotlight shining on his corrupt participation in the ‘secret’ 5 way agreement, a base formula which is the very antithesis of sport, reducing what we watch to the stature of professional wrestling. Today’s decision on the petulant Colombian illustrates how the cheating is institutionalized, and how the game is rigged, while the silence of the Celtic lambs is deafening.
:)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Ernie
You said: The revisionism only started later. Celtic could have crushed all that with a simple statement and the smaller clubs would have held their nerve.
In fact, several wee clubs did speak out IIRC. Many match programs welcomed the new club as such. No less than Donald “The Sash” Findlay QC insisted that the new club had to create its own history.
Raith Rovers had their stadium set on fire and their Chairman sent explosive packages in the mail.
The outgoing Celtic PLC CEO restricted our response to a wee Rory Bremner quip at a Press Conference.
That’s how I’ll remember him.
Uninformed, not uniformed! Doh!
EKBHOY on 29TH JANUARY 2021 7:27 PM
Celtic should have stated their position and stood their ground if challenged.
You seem to forget that they are in fact a new club. It isn’t a matter of opinion or preference, but of fact.
And this nonsense about ‘painting a target on their back’. Who was ever going to do anything and what exactly were they going to do?
Who picks the new Manager is an easy one. Desmond, only question will it be Dermot or Ross.
EKBHOY on 29TH JANUARY 2021 7:05 PM
Chaps
If Celtic said Rangers were a new club then for the hard of thinking all the other clubs …. wait drumroll … would have said ‘ oh no their not ‘. we would have painted a target on our back …. don’t you follow Scottish football
…. sweet Jesus H Christ …. big Peter’s inevitably dropped the ball a few times in a long career but if he’d listened to the trumpets on here it’s likely we’d have gone bust
Good luck Peter , welcome new chap
=================================
Sound post.mate.
:-)
HH
Paul67…
A very good and balanced article. There are almost two sides to Pedro’s era – the financial control amd football operations. Despite us always wanting big signings, I think his custodianship of the financial side has been, largely, positive. The initial mission statement of CQN wrt amortisation was a vital one – especially amongst a support envious of Rangers seemingly bottomless cash reserves. Lawwel held fast and that is to his credit.
As you rightly point out, the football side of the business has been largely either missteps or lack of poor judgement and a failure to learn.
It’s hard to reconcile the two – a laser focus on doing the right thing financially combined with a seeming inability to recognise failures in our ability to employ the right people in football ops. Disclaimer: I was hugely in favour of Neil’s second stint as manager, so what do I know?
What’s also changed in the last couple of years, is our vulnerability and inability in governance at the highest level – I can’t imagine Fergus letting go of Res12 go for example.
What would make for an interesting article is a breakdown of Dominic McKay’s record and your take on the quality of his appointment.
/p
GARCIA LORCA
I agree re the cleansing of the old guard who supported the team who died in 2012
What we have managed to do by our inaction is allow their anger to grow and their hatred to become more and more dangerous to Scotland as a whole
I can’t look on Twitter without reading their bike and hatred ..
That will be PL legacy
Bike 🤷♂️
wee tune.Beatles i feel fine
https://youtu.be/8Goxw7VgxfA
HH
PETERLATCHFORDSBELLY on 29TH JANUARY 2021 12:56 PM
Well said and spot on !!!!
Just heard from my elder brother – he’s got an appointment for his jag (jab in England) on 14 Feb at the Alastair McCoist centre, Greenhills – as he said they’re taking the piss.
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 29TH JANUARY 2021 7:13 PM
Caption contest re – opens
I can tell that’s photoshopped – Lenny’s drinking water .
nae fooling me CSC
an hour of cilla black on bbc4
she was some chanter
Caption
PL ” they won’t find anyone to fill these clothes in a hurry”
DD “I wouldn’t bet on it”
EKBHOY on 29TH JANUARY 2021 7:05 PM
Chaps
…. sweet Jesus H Christ …. big Peter’s inevitably dropped the ball a few times in a long career but if he’d listened to the trumpets on here it’s likely we’d have gon
Can you not just FFS ………………..that is shocking way to talk or write.
Good start IN
Guy hasn’t even started yet and I know a guy that says this and that.
Maybe rugby is a very poorly supported sport in Scotland and he made the best of a bad lot
Give the guy a chance but we all know that the rugby supporters in Glasgow are the one with the dough anyway, so why shouldn’t they pay the same price as football fans.
I hate rugby as its run fair and supporters can stand beside each out and enjoy a sporting event.
It’s what sport should be, but the tribalism in football is the selling point.
Let’s all
Memories
Other even
So when’s a border not a border – international treaties my ass
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55864442
Only one question needing answered on Question of Sport tonight…
What is an unreconstructed bigot like Charlie Adam doing on it?
thingsrgettingworseonthebbccsc
ERNIE LYNCH…
Of course they’re not tainted.
The huns have no God given right to exist.
They overspent and went out of existence.
That was their doing and their problem.
Absolutely agree – I cannot abide the ‘tainted title’ thing. For two reasons – Firstly, No team has a right to be a league. Celtic won fair and square, the only people who tainted titles were Rangers, all we could do was beat what was in front of us. Rangers were the architects of their own downfall.
Secondly – the inference that Rangers were unfairly ‘punished’ for cheating. Ultimately, there was an easy way to avoid any penalty – and that was not to become insolvent. Their fault, their choice, their history. The made the conditions they found themselves in. Second to that however – Rangers weren’t punished! The Newco was granted access to the league in the same way Airdrie was. No punishment, simply a football club buying their way into a professional league. Take Rangers’ name out of it, and it was a simple transaction. Rangers were *not* relegated. It’s a nonsense. I’m glad to see you calling it out in the manner I do also – too many of us play into the huns hands when this stuff is debated.
As for us having a target on our backs of we pushed the ‘Newco’ angle? There were a load of Scottish professional clubs conned out of cash by Rangers financial doping, so I doubt we would have found ourselves resented. I know we’re in full agreement on this, but it’s worth pointing out that other clubs were bilked by Rangers.
/p
” ah heard he hud a specially heatit seat at the wugby….”
Newclub not Newco
BANKIEBHOY1 on 29TH JANUARY 2021 8:27 PM
A superyacht with a heated deck