Peter Lawwell is feeling the heat this morning, and not just from his infamous driveway, paid for by the downsizing of our club and the generosity of our supporters.
Today, virtually every media outlet and every journalist he’s tried to control whether through threats or the promise of Celtic’s own succulent lamb has turned their guns on him.
A mind-bendingly sycophantic “spontaneous” intervention from Stephen McManus aside, who gushed of how “wonderful” Lawwell is, the press is overwhelmingly hostile.
Most of the fans feel exactly the same way.
Last week, one Celtic site made the astonishing suggestion that a story linking Lawwell to Sunderland was an effort to unsettle the team before the Scottish Cup semi-final. Perhaps over the next couple of days that will be used as an excuse for the defeat; you just never know these days. But I’ve looked at Lawwell’s record, and I intend to publish what I’ve found later today. Having done so, I can see no real reason why an ambitious club would want him.
Indeed, it looks more and more to me as if the Sunderland story came from someone close to Lawwell himself, with the objective, perhaps, to spin it as a demonstration of his “loyalty” to Celtic when he “turns it down.”
After all, what better way to neuter criticism of his £1 million plus salary than to have it out there that he’s turned down more money elsewhere?
Oh how lucky we are!
Oh the commitment of the man!
Nobody’s buying it.
He is responsible for the disastrous state we find ourselves in today, and every media outlet who had to sit through one of his sneering, preening, sarcastic press conferences in the past five or so years are having a rare old time at his expense today.
Perhaps the kitchens at Celtic Park have finally run out of succulent lamb.
Or perhaps the old deflection tactics no longer work. Whatever magic there was has faded away to nothing. Lawwell can no longer speak and expect people to listen. Inside Celtic Park his writ might run, but outside of those who do his bidding because they have to the rest of us have seen through the charade. The emperor has no clothes.
His so-called “success” has come by asset-stripping the squad.
It’s a “strategy” that’s had its day.
Celtic is in the midst of a hurricane storm right now, and it’s largely of the CEO’s making.
If he doesn’t follow Deila out the door no halfway decent manager will take the Celtic job, because no-one wants to work within the box he’s built. It means we’ll end up with another punt, another joker, another Deila, and the poor sod will be hamstrung from the start in the eyes of the fans because we’ll know he’s just another Yes man.
Removing Lawwell has become the single most thing for those who want change at Celtic Park.
Our board is filled to the brim with incredibly smart people; it would astound me if many of them believe we can go on like this.
As with Deila, this guy’s reputation is in ruins.
Faith in him is at rock bottom, except for a few holdouts who’ve bought so completely into this “Moneyball” bullshit that nothing short of an SPL flag flying over Ibrox will snap them out of it … and even then I suspect we’d hear nothing from them but a defence of the “cyclic nature of football”.
Something’s got to give here.
Something’s got to change.
Somebody, please, phone him a taxi.