Peter Lawwell’s Downsizing Of Celtic Gathers Pace

Controversial subject header, eh? Um , not really unless of course you’ve been brainwashed to such an extent by the Celtic PLC and their lackey’s that you’ve been programmed to no longer think for yourself

Two seasons ago thanks to some outstanding scouting and managerial decisions, Neil Lennon created a team that managed to beat a Barcelona team 2-1 at Celtic Park in the Champions League group stages.

At the time Barca were widely regarded as the best team on the planet and a very good case was being made for them also being the best club side of all time. Aye, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Alexis, Alves, Pedro, Valdes and co were not a bad wee team.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20150451

Lennon used his own knowledge of the English leagues to bring in over a relatively short period of time Joe Ledley, Gary Hooper, Kelvin Wilson, Adam Matthews and Kris Commons. His assistant coach at the time Alan Thompson’s contacts to purchase Fraser Forster and scouting chief John Park to sign Victor Wanyama, Beram Kayal, Mikael Lustig and Efe Ambrose.

On paper Ledley was the pick of the bunch and it was something of a surprise when Lennon managed to convince him to sign on a Bosman for Celtic with Roma among other actively chasing the Welsh midfielder’s signature. One of the keys to signing a player of Ledley’s quality was the club willing to pay the player a reputed £25k per week. A cracking player was signed and Ledley would go on to play a pivotal role in the success of the Celtic team against some top quality European opposition.

Of all the players, Ledley is the one who in my view is the best example to describe why the team has downsized dramatically in front of our eyes particularly over the past few months.

Ronny Deila has now been quoted as saying Celtic can pay a decent transfer fee (it’s all relative I suppose after years of working with buttons to spend in the Norwegian league) but the crux in his eyes is the club cannot pay the wages required to seal the transfer. One of the reasons quoted by Deila is it would cause disharmony with the current group of players. This comment puzzled me. Are Celtic alone in teams with such a large fanbase (and balance sheet) in refusing to upset employees because someone better is getting paid more? Will Jonny Evans be thumping Van Gaal’s door at Man Utd demanding to be paid the same as Di Maria or he’ll go in a cream puff? Did Chris Sutton demand that Martin O’Neill paid him the same as Henrik Larsson or he would refuse to play? Does Charlie Mulgrew demand to be paid the same as Scott Brown or he’ll threaten to cut off his quiff?

Of course not.

It’s nothing more than an excuse. It’s clear Lawwell has set the wage parameters within which the manager will work and has limited this to such an extent it’s proving extremely difficult to purchase any new quality players and proving damn nigh impossible to retain those who are performing exceptionally well.

It’s crazy economics watching a team disintegrate before your eyes while there’s a healthy cash amount residing in the bank not being used due to a wage ceiling or..in some cases being utilised even more crazily by signing players last summer in Balde, Pukki and Boerrigter for circa £5m and combined wages of around £30k per week when we could have signed one quality player with that money!

It bloody defies belief.

You’ll be reassured to know I’m no economist and don’t know my Dow Jones from my Sammy Dows but.common sense tells us the current approach of working around a salary limit but still signing players (even on loan) with the combined wages of one quality player is the cause of most of our problems at present.

Those running Celtic can hide their heads in the sand while transfer fees and wages increase or can take a step back and reflect on the current strategy and think, you know what, we must change our approach for the continued success of Celtic.

Before the tub thumpers contact Anne Robinson at Points of View and demand my head on a plate, I’m not suggesting the crazy economics of Leeds Utd and Rangers (Rest in Peace). What I am suggesting is logic prevails and the club use a great big dollop of common sense when dealing with player salaries. If we sign two or three top class players then pay them £25-30k per week and retain the others within a sensible and manageable pay structure. Don’t buy three average players for a total of £5m and £30k per week. Spend it on one very good player when your return on the football field has a better chance of success than the choice of getting rid of three players without a penny back in return.

Celtic has now missed out on around £20m by not investing a single penny in transfer fees this summer. Having had the greatest slice of luck imaginable this summer when Legia fielder an ineligible player and allowed us two cracks at the Champions League, it’s culpable bad management on Peter Lawwell’s behalf to deny Ronny Deila an opportunity to bring in any quality players to play a style of football that requires pace and movement.

After last night’s game thousands of supporters sang within the stadium; “Lawwell, Lawwell get to fcuk!!” and there was a later protest involving a couple of hundred fans outside the main entrance to Celtic Park also demanding he leave the club. I’m not quite at that stage but if he as Chief Executive doesn’t change the signing/wage strategy and stand up to Dermot Desmond (if that’s the problem) then it won’t be long before me and many other supporters join the throng also wanting Peter Lawwell removed from the club.

– Hector Bandido