The tenure of Mark Lawwell at Celtic is one that will always be viewed by the fans as one of the strangest appointments at the club.
Mooted as a man wanted by Ange Postecoglou, Lawwell oversaw some of the worst transfer windows of recent times during his spell as Celtic’s Head of Recruitment.
Lawwell’s time at Celtic came to an end after scrutiny was placed on the summer and January transfer windows when Brendan Rodgers bemoaned the quality of players brought in before the beginning of the season and, seemingly, not getting the players he wanted in the winter window.
But can all the blame be laid at Lawwell Jr’s door? Are there other reasons outwith his control that contributed to his downfall at Celtic? And that is what is being discussed here by James and the team at The Celtic Exchange podcast this week.
Mark Lawwell was set up for failure at Celtic
Discussing Lawwell’s time at the club, James believes that the recruitment man was set up to fail with the restrictions he had to work under.
James said, “It’s a funny one. He’s obviously not delivered on the job that he was he was there to do. That’s plain for all to see. The stats are all there in terms of the number of players that are playing in the side.
“James Forrest has played more games than most of the new signings from the summer for example this season.
“So that’s not been a performance that should sustain any role. But my overall feeling on it is what was the restrictions put on Mark Lawwell in terms of doing his role?
“If he was sent out to find guys between three grand and five grand a week for less than £3m that we can hopefully develop and sell on for £10-£15m, you’re looking at Liel Abada going for £10m this week and he was signed for £2m or £3m.
“That’s the Celtic model and when it works, it’s great. But it’s a numbers game. A lot of those development players won’t work out.
“And that criteria will hamstring you if that’s your only criteria. If you say, ‘Go and get me four of those and give me three of those, which is senior, experienced £10m or £7m players whatever it may be, I don’t think he was given that criteria.
“So he was set up to fail. I know this is very soft compared to other fans’ views and a lot of things that have been seen said all season in terms of criticism.
“But if you actually look beyond his role, he’s been dealt a bad hand.” (The Celtic Exchange)
This coming summer window will be massive for Celtic. As will the decision on who they will appoint to lead the recruitment for it.
If Rangers win the league this season and Celtic gets the summer window wrong again, it will give the Ibrox club the upper hand and the fans will be seriously unhappy and the anger they felt at the end of the COVID season would, in my opinion, be eclipsed by this.
Over to you Celtic…
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