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Peter Lawwell Urged To Recuse Himself From King Vote … Why Should He?

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With King now having submitted himself for Fit and Proper Person examination, some of the Sevco sites, as well as some in the press, are howling that Peter Lawwell should recuse himself from the process so that it is “all above board.”

Seriously. They make me laugh.

Their rationale for this appears to be that Lawwell represents their “biggest rival” and that he can’t be expected to make a decision on their future.

Forget for a moment that he’s not being asked to do that at all.

Let’s look at the most ludicrous contradiction inherent in what they are saying.

First, how sick are you of hearing that “Celtic needs a strong Rangers”?

I’m about as fed up with it as I think it’s possible to be, and those who keep on trotting it out, as well as being wilfully ignorant about the club they speak of being dead, are fond of telling us that our board of directors wants them in the SPL as well.

If that’s true, then these people have nothing to worry about, do they?

Because unless they are talking nonsense (which they are) Lawwell is more likely to vote to help them than he is to vote against them.

If the issue here is Celtic needing competition, and these people think Sevco can provide that, then surely that is as good a reason to wonder about his objectivity as him wanting to do them down would be? Why aren’t they calling for him not to take part in it on that basis?

Keith Jackson, in his latest moronic article, which I’ve already blogged about for On Fields of Green, seems determined to push this idea that Celtic needs the Ibrox club.

He’s even said, at the end of the piece, that it might very well be that Dermott Desmond tells Peter Lawwell he has to clear King on the fit and proper person test.

How stupid is Jackson?

Does he not get what he’s saying here? He’s one of the guys who’s pushed this “Peter Lawwell shouldn’t be judging this because he’s not objective” line in the past.

Now he’s holding the same concept up as if it was a virtue.

“Desmond will tell him to vote Yes, he’ll do it and that will be good for Scottish football.”

Oh really?

If Lawwell could be so easily bounced he would have no place on the SPL board.

In truth, the betterment of Scottish football can only be served here by Lawwell and others voting No. I’ll get back to that point in a minute.

First let’s talk about this arrogance that says they will be our biggest challenger.

I watched Queen of the South rout them the other night, and I don’t see any evidence that their present squad is good enough for an SPL top six place.

They won’t offer us a challenge for years, unless King dopes them to the max, which I see no sign he’s willing to do.

Peter Lawwell can neither make Sevco weak or strong; only the people inside Ibrox can do that.

Peter will have no material impact on whether that club can find investment or not; indeed, King has said he’d be willing to invest regardless of the SFA’s decision, and I don’t think it would be wrong to hold him to that, and see if he will.

Lawwell operates for the good of Celtic when he serves on our board, but when he serves on the SFA board he works for the betterment of the game as a whole.

I don’t always like that.

There are times when he might be forced to make, or rubber stamp, decisions which hurt our club, like in some future TV deal agreement where he is on the side of diluting our take.

I will not be happy with it, but I will understand why he’s done it and I won’t really argue with it, as I respect the rest of the Scottish game enough to want to see it thrive. If we run our own house right we have nothing to worry about from potential rivals or challengers.

Whilst at the SFA, Peter Lawwell’s role is relatively simple; to make a decision based on what the rulebook says.

If Jackson or others can’t get behind that concept they have no business writing about it.

The Sevco bloggers can complain all they want, but they’re seeing shadows on the wall.

All Peter and the SFA board have to do is apply the rules as written.

That has nothing to do with bias, and everything to do with promoting respect for the game.

Why should he recuse himself from playing a role in that?

The game in Scotland needs the right decision here, and the Peter Lawwell aspect of it is a smokescreen put up by people trying to bounce the governing bodies into making this go the way they want it to. In truth, Peter can’t affect the future of Sevco at this point and nor would he want to anyway, I reckon.

What’s that old saying?

Never interrupt the enemy when he’s making a mistake.

King is all that and more, as the fans and the media will no doubt discover in time.

To read my piece on On Fields of Green, about the King decision, and how Keith Jackson and others are “Still Not Getting It” click here.

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  • Larsson7 says:

    If the gruesome twosome are given the nod,my visits to Celtic park sorry are finished,and Scottish football is the same H H

  • thomas cochrane says:

    Larsson7…………I agree 100% although, I have to say I have not attended regularly for 3 years (and sorely miss it)Reason being the suites position on cheating/ tax evasion/ Ogilvie.and the perception (my view of said suites) that Celtic need them !

  • The man from DelMonte' says:

    I agree. Why should Lawell not have his say?
    Just a shame you had the ‘green tinted’ specs on when writing this piece.
    Valid points lost in your belittling of ‘Sevco’ as you call them.

  • Lfc says:

    Typically bitter posts

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