The Lawwell Legacy

Celtic operate in a sustainable and progressive manner, which is why we win more trophies than anyone else in the world.  It is the reason the 21^st century belongs to Celtic.

Get your brain around this point.  We are in this position of dominance for the long-term.  Fans in Glasgow know how Feast and Famine Football plays out. One bad season and the House of Cards can collapse.  Dave King hoped this would happen to Celtic, because it is how his football clubs operated.

Celtic, on the other hand, are 25% into this century and are planning at a multi-generational level.  Five trebles and two doubles in eight years is the new standard.  Today, five games into the season, even fans of our biggest rivals think we are at least 50/50 for another treble.

Do not think this happens by accident.  It is not a fluke, it takes insight, planning and balls of steel.  Despite all this success, there was a toxicity showered on the club over the transfer window, and the chairman in particular, which bordered on ridiculous.

For reasons which defy logic, people wanted players in early, while refusing to understand the consequences of this.  Celtic could have signed players early; Newco signed Vaclav Cerny in July, we could have done that.  However, no one signed Arne Engels until the last week of August, because Arne was cherished by Augsburg, who were intent on holding him until the last minute to extract as much money as possible.

Who would you rather, eighth choice in early, or first choice on deadline day?  This is how the system works, it is not new, we all know this.  Sometimes we’ll get lucky, or when we have qualifiers, we might need to take whoever is available to fill an important gap, but it is right to pursue your top targets until the end of the window.

Milking false grievances online is as much a part of 21st century life as Celic winning trophies.  A pack assembles, identifies a target and don’t let up until they taste blood, or in this instance, were proven to be irredeemably myopic.

Celtic were apparently one of the worst run football clubs in the world, that peak on the Dunning Kruger chart (look it up) was busy.  In the middle of all of this, sat Peter Lawwell, a man so powerful he occupies the fantasies of countless grown men, who spend weeks writing about him.  In clinical terms, this is diagnostic behaviour.

When he was getting grief last month, I could have written, “He’s not the man anymore, it’s Michael now”, but is it morally right to tell an abusive pack to pick on the person with responsibility for the work, rather than who previously held that role?  Instead, I hedged and wrote that Peter was no longer in the saddle, without throwing Michael to the wolves.

Our chairman grew up in a working-class Glasgow scheme.  Unlike many of his generation who reached the same heights, he was state schooled throughout and followed Celtic home and away.  This ‘Tory board’ nonsense, could not be further from the truth and is a projection from those who would rather people stayed in their lane.  How dare anyone break out?

Peter Lawwell’s biggest influence on today’s Celtic is as the architect of Uefa’s Financial Sustainability Regulations (FSR).  FSR and a well-run Celtic is devastating to any Scottish club – any support – incapable of living within their means.  It is a gift to us.  That multi-generational domination we talked about earlier, is his legacy.

This is Glasgow.  Our football will always have an edge to it.  This will either draw you in or repel you.  You and I are in the former category, it is no longer our choice to campaign for what we think is right for Celtic – which is also probably diagnostic behaviour.  It would be a good thing, though, that we all understand how hard this game is and on what level Celtic operate.

Dunning Kruger, look it up, it explains everything!

Click Here for Comments >