PETER Lawwell, the Celtic chief executive, last night insisted the Parkhead club will be well placed to strengthen their squad in the transfer market this summer with Neil Lennon as their new manager.
Lawwell stressed Lennon, who has been helping the treble treble winners’ recruitment team to scout players since he took over from Brendan Rodgers on an interim basis in February, understands their long-standing business model.
Relations between the Glasgow outfit’s hierarchy and Rodgers appeared decidedly strained towards the end of the Northern Irishman’s two-and-three-quarter year reign.
He called for an inquest into their transfer activity last summer despite breaking the Celtic transfer record and signing French striker Odsonne Edouard from Paris Saint-Germain for £9 million.
The Scottish champions have banked huge profits buying raw young talents for affordable fees, developing them over time and then selling them on to clubs in wealthier leagues in the past decade.
Lawwell stressed that Lennon, who was in charge when Celtic signed Fraser Forster, Virgil van Dijk and Victor Wanyama, appreciated the environment he would have to work in at the new manager’s official unveiling at Parkhead.
“We see Neil as a man who knows Celtic inside out,” he said. “In a season where we are going to have to bring in some new players and strengthen, he has demonstrated in the past that he has a fantastic eye for a player.
“Every transfer window we want to come out stronger. We will do all we can within our financial constraints. We realise the squad needs freshened, it probably needs strengthened.
“We have actually been working on it since February in terms of options, in terms of enquiries for players. So we have been planning ahead for that period of time and we know the direction we want to go in in particular positions.
“Our objective is to continue to dominate in Scotland, to get back into the Champions League and go as far as we possibly can, and for that we need the right people, the right management and the right players.”
Lawwell added: “This is a very, very demanding job and there’s not many people that can do it. Having Neil from February has meant he has had time to assess the squad, time to look at where he wants to strengthen.
“It (a good working relationship) is key, and of course we can hit the ground running. We know each other well, there’s mutual respect. Neil’s a strong character, he understands the strategy of the club, he buys into that and I’m sure we will get on great.
“The continuity of Damien (first team coach Duff) and John (assistant manager Kennedy) is very important. In football stability is everything and in the circumstances that we had in February, we have re-established stability and continuity pretty well.”
Lee Congerton, Celtic’s head of recruitment, joined Rodgers at Leicester City last month and Lawwell admitted he the club are currently looking at bring in a replacement. He declined to comment on reports that John Park, who held the position before Congerton arrived, was being lined up to return.
“We are working on that,” he said. “We want to keep calm and don’t rush and make the wrong appointment too quickly. We will sit down, look at the structure of the football side of the club, which will include head of recruitment, and then go out to the market and possibly do that. We will set about that task now.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here