Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell is set to retire at the end of the season – and Rangers fans are convinced it’s further evidence of Dave King’s Parkhead prophecy ringing true.
The former Rangers chairman famously said that with one Rangers title Celtic would “fold like a pack of cards” and in a season when the Gers are romping to victory, it’s cropped up time and again.
Perhaps in danger from some quarters of being peddled to death, the line has become part of the Ibrox lexicon as Celtic have collapsed in on themselves this season.
Lawwell, 61, has been the chief executive at Celtic Park for 17 years and this season more than any other has drawn the ire of the Parkhead support.
A strand of thinking within our rival’s following is that Lawwell was tight-fisted during his reign and took more from the club financially that what he put in professionally.
Celtic have always refuted this, and at their 2019 AGM insisted the influential executive was “worth every penny” of his £3.5m pay packet [Scottish Sun].
But this season’s Celtic Park protests – which included calls to “shoot the board” – have been a bridge too far with Lawwell set to hand the reins over to Scottish Rugby chief Dominic McKay [Celtic].
Lawwell is a heavily demonised figure amongst the Rangers support too – and not without good reason.
The outgoing chief was believed to have too much influence at the top of the Scottish game, perhaps summed up best by the events of 2012, the handling of the Covid-19 shutdown and George Peat’s infamous phone call story regarding Rangers’ UEFA Cup Final in 2008 [BBC Sport].
The Ibrox fans certainly won’t miss Lawwell and here’s how they reacted to his departure on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/MrSeventyQuid/status/1355059335529902080
https://twitter.com/flanykpl/status/1355071146786484224
https://twitter.com/dave_daveframe/status/1355067418197057540
https://twitter.com/RangersFACTS/status/1355058995891986433
https://twitter.com/Doobs12/status/1355082662684352515
Rangers fans are getting used to all this change at Celtic Park as they wake up to the realisation the Ibrox club have overtaken them this season.
It’s not the only piece of good off-field news coming out of Scotland this week as Rangers also announce they’ve cut ties with a controversial media group.
