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The Bernabei sale is another step closer to Celtic cleaning up the Mark Lawwell mess.

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Alexandro Bernabei left Celtic last night in a move that allegedly netted us £5.5 million. I’m not sure how accurate that figure is—it sounds like a lot to me—but it marks the latest in a series of departures involving players brought to the club by Mark Lawwell. It’s remarkable how few of these signings have been successful.

So, let’s take a proper look at Mark Lawwell’s record, excluding players signed in his first window who were identified by Ange Postecoglou or already targeted before his arrival.

The list is thus: Benjamin Siegrist, Alexandro Bernabei, Moritz Jenz, Josh Clarke, Sead Hakšabanovi?, Oliver Abildgaard, Justin Osagie, Yuki Kobayashi, Alistair Johnston, Oh Hyeon-gyu, Odin Thiago Holm, Marco Tilio, Yang Hyun-jun, Kwon Hyeok-kyu, Maik Nawrocki, Gustaf Lagerbielke, Luis Palma, Nat Phillips, Paulo Bernardo, Liam Bonetig, and, just as he was leaving, Nicolas Kühn and Adam Idah.

Out of that group, who gets pass marks? If we assume he played a role in securing Kühn and Idah, then those two look promising. Paulo Bernardo has been a success, enough that we’ve signed him permanently. Alistair Johnston has been fantastic—a player we’ll always be glad to have brought in.

But there’s a lot of waste in that list. A lot of money squandered. Worse, it has probably held the team back.

Last night on the podcast, we discussed the transfer window again and pointed out that Brendan Rodgers’ first summer in charge was essentially wasted. That was the summer we should have been laying the foundation to transition the squad from Ange’s team to Brendan’s, but it didn’t happen until this past summer.

We’re still cleaning up the mess from that period.

This coming summer should be far simpler than the last two. Players will leave—that’s inevitable—but I believe the club already knows who those players are. Their replacements have probably already been identified, and any further signings after that should be strengthening in certain areas where Rodgers feels we need some tweaks to maintain balance. A couple should suffice.

But the chaos of the last two summers is undeniable. The last one was particularly bad because so much had been left undone the previous year. The squad and the club required extensive fixes, which speaks to gross mismanagement. Wasting a year like that is inexcusable, although that year did end with a domestic double. Brendan Rodgers deserves immense credit for pulling that off, as does the team.

Last night on the podcast, and in one of the articles today, I said that this January window might signal a new direction. However, I would still prefer some acknowledgment from the club that the hiring of Mark Lawwell was a mistake. It was a baffling decision then, and it’s no less baffling now.

His record speaks for itself, and it’s poor.

And listen; I’m not even saying that every player on that list is a bad player. But there seems to be no joined up thinking on there. A lot of them were brought in and the manager (whether that was Brendan or Ange) took one look at them and decided “not for me.”

Which means the manager’s wishes were barely considered when doing the deals. His needs certainly weren’t, and that’s how these things go so badly wrong.

He left Celtic to explore “new opportunities,” but those opportunities seem to have passed him by. He hasn’t landed another job at a club, and in spite of some predictions that we would soon find himself at a bigger gig even than the one he had here – a laughable assertion considering that list – he is yet to take on a new role.

In the meantime, the mess he made is still being mopped up by others.

Paul Tisdale’s arrival gives me hope that these mistakes won’t be repeated. The structures now in place allow the manager to work with fellow football professionals who know what they’re doing—people who understand that the manager is the most important figure at a football club and that everything involving the first team squad should flow through him, first and foremost.

We are, slowly but surely, fixing the issues left by Mark Lawwell’s tenure and for those who think this is a chapter which is behind us or who don’t think this is significant, think again. UEFA’s financial sustainability rules cap what we can spend on wages, agent fees, and transfer fees. Every player still on the books from that era, even those out on loan, represents a financial and squad-building constraint.

I’m glad Bernabei is gone, and I’m glad we’ve made some money on him. But there are still plenty of players on our books who we need to shift before this mess can truly be put to bed.

Thankfully, it hasn’t disrupted the team enough to cost us sleep. The bean counters—partly responsible for these problems—now have the unenviable job of sorting the numbers. As they do, I hope they reflect on the wasted time and money represented by that list of players.

It’s an expensive lesson, but if there’s one consolation, it’s that lessons learned the hard way often stick. Let’s hope the burnt hand has taught Celtic well this time.

Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images

The latest Trinity Tims podcast is out now! We called this one The Bumps In The Road.

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6 comments

  • fun time frankie says:

    Allegedly atalanta are willing to pay crystal Palace £15 million for odsone edouard don’t know if we are due any wonga if that deal goes through.

    • Brattbakk says:

      I’d be shocked if that was true, he’s not good enough for them and even if it were true, I can’t remember what we sold Edouard for but we’d probably be entitled to a percentage of any profit, I don’t think that is profit.

  • Brattbakk says:

    Who is Justin Osage? I totally missed that one, was that a keeper? Nae memory

  • PortoJoe says:

    I am not giving Lawwell a free pass here, but there are lots of reasons why a transfer doesn’t work out. Question for me is who carries the can? If all transfers are sanctioned by the manager then failures land at his door also. I’m not clear on what Tisdale’s role is on the transfer side of things. Is it his head that’s on the block for transfers that don’t work out?

  • TonyB says:

    Nepotism is the epitome of entitlement.

  • Clachnacuddin and the Hoops says:

    I don’t mind Sonny Lawwell being brought on board by Daddy Lawwell if he was any good…

    But he fuckin wasn’t even in the slightest –

    So Daddy needs to accept the big verbal and keyboard sticks that we beat him with !

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