Last night, VideoCelts posted a major piece casting doubt on the alleged credentials of Mark Lawwell.
I read the piece and thought that it was highly interesting.
I would suggest that everyone read it; they can find it at this link.
I wasn’t surprised to see that there was a backlash against it.
There is a section of our support which is every bit as closed minded and intolerant of questioning and criticism as the Ibrox support is. One idiot on Twitter today demanded that we let him get on with supporting the team … as if any of the bloggers interfered in his ability to do so.
I find that sort of commentary lamentable, ignorant and idiotic.
Address the points or don’t address the points. Suggestions that the questions themselves shouldn’t be asked or that they are damaging or dangerous or disruptive are clownish.
This is what the bloggers are meant to do.
VideoCelts is one of the oldest sites in Celtic cyberspace.
Joe McHugh has spent over a decade fighting for this club, promoting it and supporting it … his desire to explore this issue is a measure of his devotion to Celtic and I wholeheartedly applaud it.
This is one of the ways in which our club is healthy. This is why it is strong.
Celtic fans once saved this club from a previous board.
Had they remained silent, God knows where we would be.
I have serious reservations about the appointment of Mark Lawwell, and I’ve been blunt that the endorsement of the manager does not lessen them in any way, shape or form.
Ange will get things wrong. Ange may even – whisper this – not always tell us the full facts.
There are serious questions to answer about this appointment and how it was made.
Joe has simply posed questions about it.
Those questions have answers; the trouble is that the upper echelon of our club does not communicate its thinking or attempt to answer any of them. Lawwell Jnr has not uttered a single word since taking the job.
Nor has Michael Nicholson since becoming CEO. Not one word. A remarkable fact considering how long he’s in the job.
Everything suggests that our club is incapable of thinking outside the box.
We just appointed a new head of marketing to replace the outstanding Kerry Keenan.
And guess what? The new guy turns out to have worked here before, until 2016, in a different role.
I’m not suggesting he can’t do the job … but really, are these the only people who were available?
How many more hires are we going to make that have the reek of the insider about them?
How many more times must we point out that Celtic is now run according to the whims and personal tastes of a small number of people? How many times would we point out how unhealthy that is?
Serious organisations do not go about their business in this way.
Let me remind you, even the hiring of Ange himself is now accepted to have been the work of the combined “talents” of Lawwell and Lawwell. It has been used to suggest that the CEO has saved his reputation and restored his standing.
His reputation and his standing went down the plughole in the Hampden shower.
That it was a Lawwell-Lawwell suggestion, nodded through by the largest shareholder does not fill me with confidence. The success of that appointment is not all that matters here; the manner in which it was made is terrifying.
And not enough people have thought that through to its conclusion.
Most people won’t care, but the idea that Ange was a happy accident scares the absolute shit out of me because his being here is more to do with luck than good judgement and strategic vision.
I think we should continue to question everything those above the manager do.
No benefit of the doubt at all.
Judge these people on their success, and that comes down to one thing; will they support the manager’s vision?
Joe is fully entitled to pose the questions that he has.
The only way that some of us will be convinced is when these people justify the faith others have placed in them.
It will require those in the upper echelon of the club doing a better job than they’ve done in a long, long time.
The day the blogs stop asking these kinds of question is the day we should all chuck it.
You might not agree with what Joe wrote last night, and you might not agree with anything that I’ve written here, but by God, you should respect and appreciate the reasons why we do what it is that we do.
We love this club. We fight for this club.
All we do, all day long, every day, is fight for this club.
And sometimes that means asking hard questions about it.
We will not apologise for it, nor should we have to defend it.
Hell, we shouldn’t even have to explain it, because it should be a self-evident fact.
Joe was doing the job last night, the way the job is supposed to be done.
I congratulate him for it.
Absolutely. I am not a regular visitor to the Video Celts page but I read the article via the link supplied on here. It’s certainly not backlash-worthy. Although I do wonder, if the same article had appeared in the MSM (I know not likely as it actually involved an investigative process), whether the author of this article would have been as supportive of it. Probably not. But, then again, neither would I have been. As it stands, I think it’s a good idea for the Celtic blogosphere to offer up some constructive criticism on what goes on at Celtic when it applies. Judging by what I am reading in that article, it does apply in this instance.
Keep up the good work but disagree with,
“ I think we should continue to question everything those above the manager do.”
even Ange should be questioned with our support, no one is above being questioned on what they say or do, yours in Celtic
Joe may of fought for celtic over the last decade or so, but he’s been over negative on what has been a brilliant bounce back season,, for me he’s wrote an article worthy of keevins, ignoring the fact Ange has said himself he had a good working relationship with Mark lawwell in the past, or dose he maybe think Ange is at it,
Both fantastic features based on reality. Our leadership needs to be challenged and held to account. The club is being run no differently than when the Kelly’s, McGinn’s et al ran the club. Embarrassed by our leadership and lack of strategic thinking. Our fans are polarised on this. Too many happy with #justenough as our plan.
With a better functioning board we would be so far ahead of sevco we would be on 11 going for 12. We should have been so far ahead of them , we should never be getting caught by them.
If anyone think Lawwell’s boy git the job for any other reason than being Lawwell’s boy, they are deluded. Celtic seems to be a place for nepotism
The questions raised are legitimate and require honest answers.
We also have to watch our step regarding the connection with that club. It mustn’t get too close.
They are into buying up clubs all over the world.
Definitely, Joes’ site; VideoCelts, is a constant and I’m a regular reader of his fine work,
Lang mae his lum reek, and yours too James.
The VC article is far from conclusive though it does point to some apparent discrepancies. I say apparent because the information source (a lighthearted article about “rivalry” between père and fils Lawyell) was not more than superficial reporting and we don’t know where the writer got the information from or how strong it was or even its time frame. By all means ask questions but don’t let biases get in the way of the facts. The facts are harder to come by than speculation – as the MSM shows everyday in Scotland.
In recent years the Celtic seems to have been morphing into a version of the SFA management: tone deaf and disconnected from its paying customers!
As you alluded to above, this smacks of repetition of the ludicrous ‘showers’ appointment of Lennon.
A professionally run organisation should have a rigorous, transparent recruitment process.
The son of Lawwell’s appointment has the smell of Lawwell senior all over it.
…and which begs the question: does Lawwell senior still have an [undeclared] operational role at the club? 🙁
[typo] In recent years the Celtic Board…
Great piece James succinct and to the point and I read Joe’s piece with interest too. Our board are dinosaurs and we deserve better as a support, we put millions into the club’s coffers every year through season tickets and merchandise and we’re being shortchanged at every turn. You rightly said that they got lucky with Ange and that he has brought success to the club because it was a panic appointment no doubt about it. It remains to be seen if they’ll back Ange’s ambition especially in Europe, we’ve underachieved in that sphere of the game for far too long because of this boards parochial outlook. They’re happy to do well domestically but aren’t willing to at least attempt to make an assault in European competitions. I know our budget is finite but it doesn’t mean you can’t at the very least compete, how often have they waited to see if we make group stage football before giving managers money to spend instead of giving them the cash to make sure we get there? There must’ve been better people we could’ve appointed as CEO than Nicholson a man who’s yet to put his head above the parapet and engage with the smsm much less the supporters blogs, I sometimes wonder if his family have heard him speak. The appointment of Mark Lawell and Kevin McQuillan, no relation I must point out, are proof that there’s no fresh outlook or ideas coming into the club, it’s the same old insular thinking and nepotism that we all know is holding the club back. I might not always agree with everything the blogs put out but I’m cognisant of the fact that you, Joe and all the other great Celtic sites do it for the greater good of Celtic, if that means asking difficult questions or challenging the board or even someone’s credentials then it’s the fit and proper thing to do. There’s an element of our support who think that we shouldn’t be challenging the board because we won a second nine in a row and a quadruple treble but they’re burying their heads in the sand as our board complicit in the five way agreement, the blocking of resolution twelve and wanting an entity of Rangers in the league whatever form that may be. This board have got a lot to answer for and hopefully it’ll all come out one day and when it does it will be through the tenacity of the blogs asking the pertinent questions at the right times. So keep up the good work mate as it’s vital that people are held accountable for cover ups and withholding information to the detriment of not just Celtic but the Scottish game as a whole.
Maybe it would be better to make statements (even false accusations) against the board that for their own benefit they have to answer.