PETER LAWWELL is the subject of a ludicrous accusation by former Ibrox owner David Murray of trying to “bury Rangers.”
The Celtic chairman was the club’s chief executive at the time of the financial collapse at the Govan outfit in 2012.
Murray believes Lawwell wanted the team’s old rivals to suffer and he was “positively revelling in the demise” of the stricken Ibrox club following his sale to Craig Whyte.
In an extract from his autobiography which will be published next week, the one-time supremo wrote: “Peter Lawwell was someone I knew previously.
PARKHEAD POWERBROKERS…Peter Lawwell, in his chief executive role, and Dermot Desmond, the club’s majority shareholder, oversaw remarkable success for Celtic in the 21st Century.
“One of my companies GM Mining did business with Scottish Coal where Peter worked and I once invited him and his wife to Ibrox for a game.
“He was delighted to accept and back then was good company, but by the time he rose to become chief executive of Celtic he was on a completely different trajectory.
“For nearly two decades he tried to build up a seat of power and I honestly believe that by the end of his time at the club he was wielding far too much influence in Scottish football.
“At one point, after I sold Rangers, it seemed he was positively revelling in the demise of the club.”
Murray, in the extract published in the Daily Record, continued: “He held sway on committees through friends and always used the strength of his power base when he thought it was necessary.
“Of course, he had a job to do for his club – and no one could argue he did it well for much of his tenure – but with very few influential or credible figures working to Rangers’ benefit, he became a pivotal figure in trying to grind them down and make them suffer.”
SIGNING OFF…David Murray sells Rangers to Craig Whyte for £1 in May 2011.
Murray added: “To me, it seemed the mantra was always, ‘Let’s bury Rangers’.”
These words are being delivered by the individual who once infamously announced that “for every fiver Celtic spend, Rangers will spend £10.”
Crass comments like that tend to have a way of coming back to bite the originator of the remarks.
Lawwell – and the Celtic hierarchy – kept a steady course through murky financial waters at the time and refused to get involved in dodgy EBT contract schemes.
As history shows, fiscal jiggery pokery brought the downfall of Rangers.
I sincerely doubt Peter Lawwell had anything to do with that particular economic disintegration.
