Keith Jackson: Celtic chief Peter Lawwell to forever carry the can for failing to kill off Rangers
Reducing Rangers to “almost an irrelevance” in terms of domestic football has not been quite enough for Peter Lawwell, according to Keith Jackson.
Writing on the Daily Record website on Thursday (23 November), the journalist said the Celtic chairman and his board will forever carry the can for “failing to make sure” the Gers were “dead” following their previous struggles.
It comes after the 64-year-old was asked at the Parkhead side’s annual general meeting on Wednesday (22 November) how they could justify bumper pay rises for their executive team and fees of around £40,000 a year for non-execs attending six board meetings a year, where he replied that the Hoops are viewed as “one of the best-run football clubs in Europe”.
“It seems reducing Rangers to almost an irrelevance in terms of the domestic scene has not been quite enough,” said Jackson. “In some eyes, Lawwell and his board will forever carry the can for failing to make sure they were dead.
“And, amidst this uneasiness, Lawwell was asked by another shareholder how the club could justify bumper pay rises for their executive team and fees of around £40,000 a year for non-execs attending six board meetings a year.”
Not what anyone would want
The previous struggles of Rangers were clearly well received by all those associated with Celtic, but in reality, the last thing they would have wanted was to kill off their arch-rivals.
Without the Old Firm being the ferocious battle that it is, Scottish football itself would largely become irrelevant to anyone outside of the country.
The biggest issue Hoops fans will probably hold against Lawwell is that he wasn’t able to steer the club towards their 10th SPFL title in a row when Steven Gerrard’s side managed to prevent that from happening.
While the Gers are certainly not back to their best just yet, there is nothing to suggest that won’t be the case in the near future as they look to challenge the Parkhead club for trophies regularly again.
The new Light Blues boss Philippe Clement will be hoping he is the man to ensure that happens and he’ll be desperate to kickstart that process when they face Aberdeen in the Viaplay Cup final on 17 December.
In other Rangers news, a former Celtic man has downplayed the impact of Clement at Ibrox.