SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

My grateful thanks to JIMBO67 for yesterday’s excellent article,and my apologies to JOBO for postponing his follow-up to last weekend. The final parts of the articles from both JIMBO67 and JOBO will now be published on Friday and Saturday of next week. The reason for changing the schedule with today’s article is that “something came up.”

It sure did,rearing its ugly head like a rat peering out from a drain cover. Nothing,I suppose,can really surprise me these days about those who run our club. But even I was shocked that they had the gall to appoint the disgraced and morally bankrupt Peter Lawwell as the new chairman of Celtic. He left his last role with us as CEO,as a failure,the man who threw away our advantage over our biggest rivals and allowed them to climb to the top of the tree.

He left behind a shambles,with a team that needed rebuilt almost from top to bottom-how many of our regular starters last season were there during Lawwell’s tenure? The answer-two,Taylor and CalMac-tells you all you need to know about his concept of forward planning. He conspired to hamstring possibly our best manager since Jock,eventually making the job untenable for him-though that doesn’t excuse Rodgers leaving mid-season.

He appointed an old pal as the replacement,someone who wouldn’t rock the boat and would do as he was told. He appointed him in the bloody showers,the most scary such scene since Psycho forever burnt into the memory of Celtic supporters everywhere,having refused to even look at the applications from other candidates. Most of whom would have been more welcomed by Celtic fans than Lennon,but not by Lawwell. No,no-they might get ideas above their station,like actually being in charge of football matters.

He saw three  managers-four,if you include Rodgers-resign from their posts with no alternative employment lined up,men who had each led us to three titles in their time with us. Decided to become de facto Director of Football,in charge of sales and signings. As well as every other aspect of the club-try ordering a box of paper clips without his signature on the requisition form.

And worst of all? EVERYTHING about his reaction to the huns going bust,and afterwards. From his mythical loss of £10m pa (approximately how much we were already losing every year anyway through fees and salaries for the duds he regularly signed) to his part in the introduction of Newco to the leagues,his part in the 5WA,etc. Oh,I could go on. But I already have done,and you get the drift anyway. Except…

Worst of all was his abhorrent treatment of the people behind Resolution 12. “Give me the silver bullet and I will fire the gun” he told them,and us. Well,the lads gave him plenty of them-and he tucked them into the desk alongside all those application forms and CVs to be ignored in exactly the same way. He told them to dot every I and cross every t,which they did. Find more information,more detail,which they did. Even at the personal cost to themselves of hiring legal opinion to make sure everything was as it should be.

He calmly and deliberately played along,then dropped the bomb on them when he had had his fun. And this is the guy,the untrustworthy snake of a man,who we have handed the role of chairman to? If it wasn’t for the fact that we know DD et al CGAF about what we think,I would say we were being trolled here. Thankfully,that is not the case.

We are simply being treated with the usual contempt. 

The one good part of this appointment is that it is a non-executive role. Strictly speaking,he does NOT have any role to play in day-to-day operations,his role is simply in organising the board itself. However,the idea of a former CEO taking over as chairman in that company is strictly frowned upon in business circles. The fear being that the new CEO is left constantly looking over his shoulder,and concerned with being undermined. I recall about twenty years ago that the same person held both roles at once for Marks & Spencer-Rose,I think-and the shares tanked while he remained in both positions. This is not quite the same,as Lawwell does not hold both roles-but that might not be how he sees it!

We know from bitter experience that this man is a chronic micromanager. The supposition that he will stick to the narrow confines of his role is for the birds. He will demand that every decision taken by Michael Nicholson be run past him first,with the approval of the board-most of whom he appointed in the first place! Nicholson has quietly been getting on with a thankless task,that of clearing up the mess that Lawwell left behind,and supporting Ange every step. He has surprised many of us since his appointment,so I will view any deterioration in his performance,etc,after this appointment as being down to that fact in the first place.

Meanwhile,let us wonder about the AGM. If ever there was a time to make this announcement,it was a few weeks ago when the last one was held. And it’s not like Celtic were undergoing the proper governance routine of hiring a specialised recruitment consultant to help with the search for a replacement either. THAT simply did not happen,despite all those pieces of advice and more from business leaders and The UK Corporate Governance Guide,for example. No,they snuck it out during our winter shutdown and on a Friday afternoon. I bet they’ll be just as under the radar with their statement that the board-of previous Lawwell appointments,remember-have decided that the role of chairman should be upgraded to an executive role.

That will presumably put Lawwell back into the position of having bonuses applied to his remuneration,and we know how much he loves that.

Welcome back,Peter. I hope you choke on your cornflakes reading this.

PS-the board should read this. It might help them carry out their roles properly in future.

Directors Responsibilities and Remedies – SENTINELCELTS

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Above article by BMCUWP