Lennon's defiant defence of Peter Lawwell misses the point

By John McGinley

August 22, 2019

Celtic manager Neil Lennon has come to the defence of Chief Executive Peter Lawwell, The Scottish Sun report.

Lawwell has been one of the primary figures at the Hoops criticised in the wake of last week’s dreadful European defeat to CFR Cluj.

Many have pointed to the club’s feeble recruitment this summer as a reason why we were ill-prepared for that clash.

Having raked in a lot of money for the sale of Kieran Tierney, there are concerns we aren’t fully utilising our resources. No first-team quality signings have been made for close to a month.

Lennon refused to be drawn on budgets or monetary concerns when asked, but did defend his boss robustly this week.

As quoted by The Scottish Sun, he said: “I can’t comment on that. I’m not aware of how much money there is.

“But Peter does what’s best for Celtic, and he always has done, maybe to the detriment of himself sometimes.

“I know he puts the club first at all times.”

(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Lennon is missing the point

Questioning Lawwell’s desire for Celtic to do well would be bizarre. The long-serving Hoops man has an undeniable passion and love for the club. He clearly has Celtic’s interests at heart.

However, that’s not been the basis of our criticism as fans.

What many have a problem with is a lack of forward planning and a stilted transition between seasons over the last six months.

A number of key players including Mikael Lustig and Dedryck Boyata left the club on free transfers at the end of last season.

With less than two weeks left of the transfer window, we only have one left-back available too. That’s despite raking in a record fee Tierney.

The defence lacks adequate depth. Lawwell should have ensured we had a structure in place to deliver a squad suitable for summer challenges.

(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

None of the issues currently facing the team have come as a surprise and the buck stops with the Chief Exec.

The manager admitted this week there’s a ‘void’ in the recruitment system.

It’s not good enough regardless of our domestic dominance.

We aren’t reaching our full potential and Lennon must accept that much of the criticism aimed at him, the team and Lawwell is deserved right now.