There has a lot been said about retiring Celtic CEO Peter Lawwell these past few months. Ever since announcing his retirement there has been numerous pundits, players and current members of staff lauding his achievements over the last 18 years.
The record books will always show that during his tenure, Celtic hauled 29 domestic trophies and qualified to the last 16 in the Champions League on three separate occasions but it should have been so much more. With the resources Celtic had and still have at their disposal, there were plenty of missed opportunities to increase the number of trophies that should have adorned the Parkhead trophy room.
Ex Celtic striker Frank McAvennie writing for Football Insider, has said after all the errors of the last 18 years, the BIGGEST mistake Lawwell made was not allowing current manager, Neil Lennon, the opportunity to bring in his own backroom team to chase the clubs tenth title in a row.
McAvennie said, “Listen, Peter Lawwell is a strong character.
“The biggest mistake he made for me was not giving Lenny his own backroom staff. That has been a huge problem this year.
“If he had his own backroom staff in there I think they could have sorted it out. They were talking about John Hartson going in and he could have spoke with the players. He could have got the boys on their side.
“If he had done that and we went on to win the 10, Peter would have been lauded as one of the best chief executives ever.
“It is a strange one though because they have faired so badly this year, I think Peter will get slaughtered.”
Many will argue that the biggest mistake Lawwell made was not opening up the job to other candidate’s the minute the Treble Treble was secured. But then, looking at Lennon’s achievements when he had Johan Myällby and Alan Thompson in his backroom team in his first stint as Celtic boss, maybe McAvennie has a point?
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