Brendan Rodgers has issued a strong defence of Mark Lawwell after the former recruitment chief’s record at Celtic was questioned during Friday’s annual general meeting.
The son of current chairmen Peter, Mark Lawwell spent nine years working with the City Football Group prior to moving to Celtic in May 2022.
Lawwell stepped down from his role at Parkhead last spring, though, in the wake of widespread criticism of the club’s transfer dealings the previous summer.
But Rodgers is adamant that was wide of the mark and made a point of interjecting when a question from the floor when chief executive Michael Nicholson was asked to explain the ‘disaster’ that Lawwell supposedly presided over.
‘Mark did a fantastic job at Celtic,’ Rodgers said.
‘Every player coming in here will not succeed.
Brendan Rodgers rushed to the defence of chairman Peter Lawwell’s son, and former recruitment chief at Parkhead, Mark at the agm on Friday
Celtic boss Rodgers and the Parkhead board faced shareholders at the agm on Friday
‘Look at Mark’s influence in bringing Ange Postecoglou to the club was huge (in his previous role).
‘If that was his only contribution to here, then he’d done a fantastic job.
‘But it wasn’t – he was an influence in bringing in Ali Johnston and other players.
‘All the players won’t work out. I know that as a manager and coach.
‘My experience of working with Mark was second to none.
‘He decided to go down a different route and I respect that.
‘But I sit here in his defence, because he’s a massive Celtic supporter.
‘Like Peter, he comes from a massive Celtic family who want nothing but the best for the club.
‘Sometimes in a recruitment role, like as a manager, you bring in a player and it might not work out.
‘But his intention was for the very best for Celtic and that is why I will defend him.’
Chairman Lawwell defended the record £77.2million the club had in the bank in the last set of accounts, warning that a failure to make the Champions League each year would weaken the club’s financial position.
‘This is an uncertain industry,’ he stressed.
‘When you’re winning the league, it’s fine. But we need to provide for the longer term if things don’t go quite as well as they have gone in the past.
‘We can see – looking elsewhere – what happens if you don’t participate in the Champions League for a year and you replace that with the Europa League.
‘That is the difficult financial challenge we have moving forward.
‘The difference between the Champions League and the Europa League has never been more stark.’