Very pleased Peter Lawwell has opened up a bit today (in The Sun, I know…) on the workings of the club, I hope this is the start of a trend in more regular communication. If there’s logical explanations for Celtic’s actions, inactions, views and general strategy, we should be giving them far more often than we have.
On the club’s financial strategy, his comments were not far removed from yesterday’s blog, “if we take the club into £20m worth of debt, and [Champions League qualification] doesn’t happen, where does that leave us?
“For a Scottish club to owe that kind of money leads to trouble. You don’t have to look very far [Govan] to see the consequences [administration and/or liquidation]of people trying things which ‘might’ happen.”
We’re only a few years from that touchstone but the point still needs to be made.
On one point, there’s probably a bit of work to do: “You’ve got social media and the bloggers, posters and trolls who think they know what’s going on at the club. They don’t.
“They don’t have all the information. The reality is different from their perception and I need to deal with reality every day.”
Social media will never have all the information, but football clubs need to find out ways to harness what is still a new and emerging phenomenon. At the very least, they need to find ways to head off wildly inaccurate and damaging fantasies.
Everyone believes they deal with reality, not perception. I laugh when I see new posters here saying “I’ve no axe to grind, but…….” None of us believe we have an axe to grind, we all believe we bring reality to the debate.
Self-awareness in this respect is not part of the human condition. If people experience, see and read certain realities, perceptions consistent with those realities are perceived as reality.
The only way around this for the club is to ensure Celtic fans have access to sufficient verifiable realities to offset perceived realities. Let’s keep the verifiable realities coming, soon if possible.
Really hope Leigh is playing tonight, and he gets his 40th goal. It would be a fitting achievement for a thorough professional – who never lets an opportunity to show Celtic fans how genuine his delight to be here is.
There’s a Football Forum at The Iron Horse pub, West Nile St, tomorrow [Thursday] from 18:30 until 21:00. Three authors will talk about football within Scottish society.
Our own Alex Gordon, author or Winds of Change, Caesar & the Assassin, A Bhoy called Bertie, Celtic the Awakening and more, “will provide stories of and insights into the integrity of the Scottish football press and media”. Alex is a former editor of the Sunday Mail, so this one should be interesting.
Sandy Jamieson, author of Celtic Submari: a new model for football relationships, among others, will also be speaking. The third panelist is Alan Ness, author of the football novel, A Man’s Game.
There’s a £5 (to Dogs Trust charity or discount off a book) charge at the door, no tickets in advance. Introduce yourself to Alex, if you’re there.
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Really!
Lol
SOT…Mike Jackson, Alec Byrne, John Colrain, John Divers…yes, it was a really hard time to be a young Tim…but we were mostly patient and it all came right in the end…
Good Afternoon.
New piece here about a VERY quiet day in the Scottish sports media…
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2016/05/10/the-no-news-day/
PAUL67
The first sentence in your second paragraph?
Hmmm…
… “(In The Sun, I know …)” …
… As though that is irrelevant? Are you taking the p*ss, mate?
All I can say to you it … “Jesus wept!”
Grow a pair, man!! Feckin’ disgrace talking to that rag and well you know it :(
It was tough being a Tim back in Bobby days, but it all worked out, although this generation are a Wee bit spoiled IMO.
Paul67
I’m not convinced he has opened up about anything..new!
HH
“Self-awareness in this respect is not part of the human condition. If people experience, see and read certain realities, perceptions consistent with those realities are perceived as reality.”
My head hurts.
http://www.celticfc.net/news/10492
TONYDONNELLY67 on 11TH MAY 2016 11:50 AM
Aye sure Tony Donnelly! ‘… every individual is allowed his/her opinion’. Aye right! The only thing is, as soon as they express it and it runs contrary to yours,mthey become Huns or dafties.
TDCMAD
Thing is some don’t express it, they post it as fact, like you just did, IMO.
…………………………..
Er……….. eh?????????
Bobby Carroll R.I.P
The Sun………………..Really!!!
We are waiting for statements Paul, not condescending platitudes, and certainly not ANYTHING via the Sun.
In his latest interview, PL had a perect opportunity to rally the support with his vision of the future. That opportunity was missed. Instead, and more to the point he was mildly goading his detractors and managed to snare a few of us in the attempt!
Why?
There is no doubt in my mind he is a Celtic fan, like the rest of us has his own perspective on what can and cannot be be achieved.
Today PL reminds us about how much we don’t know… However, he does! Get it!!
Covey talks about ‘The Speed of Trust’: my own take has always been to focus on ‘intention’ then make my mind up about ‘capability’.
PL is just another ‘bhoy who’s intentions are good…’ you all know the rest.
Some Covey:
“The first job of a leader—at work or at home—is to inspire trust. It’s to bring out the best in people by entrusting them with meaningful stewardships, and to create an environment in which high-trust interaction inspires creativity and possibility.”
“Trust is equal parts character and competence… You can look at any leadership failure, and it’s always a failure of one or the other.”
“Above all, success in business requires two things: a winning competitive strategy, and superb organizational execution. Distrust is the enemy of both. I submit that while high trust won’t necessarily rescue a poor strategy, low trust will almost always derail a good one. ”
“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is today.”
― Stephen M.R. Covey, The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything
MisunderstoodCSC
So it would appear that in was indeed an exclusive interview that PL gave to The Sun.
I don’t, in all honesty, think I need to say anything else.
I’m not going to read the Sun, so I’m not going to judge Peter Lawwell’s interview or his words.
HT
It defies belief
Btw – just discovered your own good news, best to you and Minx.
HH
I’m not privy to the horse-trading that goes on between football club PRs and newspapers in Scotland, although there is a lifetime of published work by Ed Herman on the wider topic news management for anyone interested in the context.
I do though think that Peter Lawwell has exhibited a remarkable lack of self-awareness in giving an interview with the Sun this week.
It also hasn’t escaped my notice that he is, in the interview, telling me that I am under/ill-informed of the reality at Celtic while at the same time electing not to tell me (a shareholder in the company, season ticket holder at the club, on umpteen mailing lists, and regular reader of the Club’s website) what the reality is.
You can’t criticise me Peter for relying on inference when you elect not to share the relevant information.
The combination of the lack of self-awareness and the inconguity of the message engenders little goodwill, at a time when the leadership of the club needs all the goodwill it can get.
Some might call it being ‘out of touch’.
Ell bhoy, Gerry bhoy, Damo Lennon and others, thanks for the balance and decency displayed earlier. What a welcome contrast to the usual hatred and bile.
HAMILTONTIM on 11TH MAY 2016 12:38 PM
Must have just been for the TRFC fans, because no proper Celtic fan would read that filth. Right?
HAMILTONTIM on 11TH MAY 2016 12:38 PM
So it would appear that in was indeed an exclusive interview that PL gave to The Sun.
I don’t, in all honesty, think I need to say anything
Oh dear,the predictable CT grabbing the moral high ground, never saw that comin, lol, they’ll milk this one dry, so it’s not an SNP paper today then? Phhffftttttt hypocrites .
Why now, why The Sun?
Hmmmmm as they used to say on here…
HAMILTONTIM on 11TH MAY 2016 12:38 PM
I really don’t understand his thinking on this at all.
HT
Our CEO giving an interview to that scum rag, truly disgusts me. Three days after the Hillsborough 96 tribute in Paradise, makes it much worse to me.
Freedom for 96 souls
YNWA
I’ve no axe to grind, but…….in reality our PR is pish and whoever told Mr. Lawwel that using the Sun was a good idea needs fired.
Saltires
I’m absolutely disgusted. The content is almost, though not quite immaterial, in light of the particular publication used to present it.
Ps thank you :-)
CMG. Could I ask you please to refrain from taking the Lords name in vain I find it offensive and I am sure many others feel the same way. Thank you. H.H.
Tony, ever thought of a career in diplomacy?
JFH,
Can you tell me where I did take ‘your’ Lord’s name in vain!
Thank you
CMG
Weeminger
I simply can’t believe he’s done it, though not surprised.
TonyD
I’ve no idea on a collective Trust view on this. I will say however, if they’re not critical of Lawwel’s decision to give an interview to the Sun then they’re not something I want to be part.
I seriously doubt the motives of anyone supporting the CEO on this.
dr ramesh and the love potion on 11th May 2016 12:49 pm
Our head of PR is a Hearts fan. That in itself doesn’t have to be a problem but if he is so out of touch with the Celtic support then there clearly is a problem.
Ironically his own club, who had a lunatic owner for years and almost went out of existence, and sported Wonga on their jerseys until relatively recently, can now do no wrong.
Why do we make it so hard for ourselves?
We can blame the MSM all we like but we don’t half make things harder for ourselves.
HH
There are other, creative ways to run a business, if the desire, and the people in charge have the necessary skill and courage to do so ….
https://medium.com/newco/kickstarters-mission-is-non-negotiable-41520e7a5931#.w96m46qmi
On that note… PL’s interview was something of a disappointment. A bit of Marie Antoinette about our PL.
The stock answer for questions on Celtic underperforming is ‘look at Sevco’ or as it is sometimes described on CQN ‘look, a squirrel’. That is not an answer. Simply because Sevco did worse, does not mean we are doing well. And, frankly, PL’s repeated reference to them, only increases my concern that his whole frame of reference is the OF. Most Celtic fans have moved on from the OF (or at least are trying to)…. it is time that those running our club did the same.
He seems completely divorced from the feelings of most Celtic fans I know. It comes across as either he doesn’t get it, or just doesn’t care … I have to think he is too smart for it to be the former, so sadly it seems it is the latter.
Perhaps PL should have gone to the Rutherglen Reformer or Greenock Telegraph or the Thurso Tittle Tattler…
…or even the Beano…anyone but that lot…a wee bit insensitive methinks!
That’s all very good but…… when are we going to see the Seville money?
The Sun is cheap and nasty but many Celtic supporters read it.
Cluj fan courier man has just delivered an LP –
Still Cool -Still Cool (Uprising /Digikiller ) .
From the same bag as The Abyssinians and The Mighty Diamonds .
Asked him how Cluj were doing and got this in reply —
” They are stinking like a syphilitic whore “.
Mineshafter !
DD
He’s not a stupid man. So why choose the Sun and why now?
Why did he feel the need to give that powder puff rubbish to the Sun?
That kind of stuff should be released on a monthly basis through our own media, Celtiv TVS.
I feel ashamed to be associated with the newspaper that vilified the dead and survivors of Hillsbourgh, especially just days after Sunday’s events.
Peter Lawell you are a disgrace to my club, you have been blinded by power and are as currupt as those we would hold to account.