Top internet Celtic supporters site Cybertims.Com has conducted a snap poll amongst It's members and a whacking 80% of the members have voted Lawwell the best chief executive the club has ever had.
Lawwell, who had previously held the position of financial controller at Parkhead from 1990 to 1991 after being a senior executive with International and World renown companies ICI and Hoffman-La-Roche and Scottish Coal, returned to Celtic Park in November 2003 as Chief Executive from ports and property company Clydeport where he was Commercial Director.
A spokesman for Cybertims said "We were surprised at the outcome of this poll, knowing that Celtic supporters have long memories in regard to previous senior executives. And it does appear that Peter Lawwell has pushed all the right buttons with them"
This comment would be a direct reference to past Chief Executives such as Ian McLeod, Allan McDonald, and Terry Cassidy, who never at any point in their tenure became close to the supporters.
Lawwell's five year financial plan is beginning to bare fruit in so much as the clubs financial position has never been better, despite the lack of revenue from last year's European disaster and the thread bare funds from the SPL TV pot, he has tirelessly worked to expand, and market, the Celtic image in Japan and Poland as well as the USA. His dynamic style of doing business on a 24 hour, seven day a week schedule has endeared him to the club manager Gordon Strachan, and the bound between them is clearly seen. So far this pre-season Lawwell has secured the services of his managers targets namely Gary Calddwell, Kenny Miller, Derek Riordan, and the highly rated youngster Evander Sno, from Feyenoord, along with Jiri Jarosik, which some say is the smartest piece of business done by Celtic in many years, added to this is the new contract signed by Shunsuke Nakamura, Neil Lennon, who had turned down an lucrative offer from Crystal Palace as player / coach to finish his career at Celtic. Also on the Lawwell agenda of unfinished business is the ongoing talks with Michal Kadlec who is expected to sign this week for the club, and a new and better contract for Shaun Malony, and the persuasion of Stan Petrov to withdraw his transfer request which is widely believed he will do so before the start of the season, there is also a widely held belief in football circles that the Chief Executive has secured the services of definitely one and possibly two top players that will stun the Celtic support.
The Cybertims poll suggests that the chief executive is not only doing his job in a thoroughly professional business like manor, but with some aplomb also.
Some of the comments made by the members of Cybertims.com
PatGMcHUGH
I've been very impressed with Lawell.
-His handling of the media has been superb and has taken some of this burden away from Strachan
-He has kept up a constant line of communication with the fans, this has made the behind the scenes decisions far more transparent than in previous years
-He has been honest about the budget constraints and the reason for these, that the club should be debt free within the next couple of years
-He has been very astute when it comes to negotiating with other clubs, he's made it quite clear that celtic won't be messed around and that they will walk away if clubs attempt to do this
Keltic
like him. He's a good guy who, being first and foremost, a real Celtic supporter - puts the club, the team and fans' interests before anything else.
Contrast his style to that of the obnoxious Terry Cassidy (remember him?) or Jock Brown for example.
Bhoy4Life
definetly think hes doing a gd job, we'd all like to see big players signed with high transfer fees but it aint gonna happen, we are going about buisness very astutely and im happy, rather this than being million sin debt selling out top players
chugmclean1888
Was extremly impressed with the way he handled the nakamura deal especially. He seems to be able to say the right things and give celtic a head start to all other clubs IMO.
Discuss this and more at http://www.cybertims.com