Celtic Fans Will Judge Mark Lawwell By One Criteria Only: His Results.

If Mark Lawwell is distrusted by some of our fans, well there are plenty of reasons why. Football is a big business, in a big world, and there were other people who could have come in and did this job.

The temptation to suggest that it’s his name more than anything else which factored into his hiring is hard to shake off.

We have two Strachan’s on the books too.

Real doubts remain about those at the top of our club.

This is still the same board that hired Lennon, that screwed up the Howe pursuit and then hired Ange on what some of us still believe was a whim. A whim at the behest of Lawwell and Lawwell.

It worked out, sure. But it was a high-risk move, one that could have backfired in any number of ways. Their judgement is not sound. They work within a very small part of the bigger footballing universe.

They lack imagination and the ability to think outside the box.

But although this is all true, there are signs at this club that lessons, real lessons, hard lessons, have been learned and learned well. The club has moved on from the model which was in place under Lennon.

So much, in fact, has changed that I wonder.

The football department has been prised loose from interference at the hands of those who count the coffee beans. The CEO has been stripped of other powers as we now have what is, in effect, is a chief financial officer. Scouting has been rebuilt, but the manager is the guy whose judgement is trusted and valued above all else.

That is all to the good. That hints at better times ahead, and changes behind the scenes which are permanent. If things continue running as they are we’ll all be happy.

And in those circumstances, Mark Lawwell deserves the opportunity to show us what he can do.

He will be judged, therefore, on what he achieves in the job. Not on his name, and not – and this is important – not on any endorsement he has from Ange or from anyone else. People simply assuming that he’s going to be brilliant because Ange is comfortable working with him, I get it but that’s giving him credit before he’s earned it.

Ange might well built a good working relationship with him. All parties might well be happy with how it progresses. But ultimately, all these people will be judged on their successes. For the first time in a long time in the transfer market we’re hitting the bullseye with nearly every throw. If Lawwell coming in knocks us off course, we’ll know it quickly.

Right now, the mantra around Celtic should be “we’re moving forward. Let’s not do anything to screw that up.” All we have to do is keep on doing what we’re doing.

If Lawwell continues us down that path he’ll get all the plaudits that he deserves.