Celtic Recruitment: Disastrous Mark Lawwell

All that it required was two goals for Yang Hyun-jun against Motherwell and Celtic Quick News was triggered.

Not only was it an opportunity to praise the South Korean winger but also to indulge in two favoured topics.

Brendan Rodgers is slaughtered at least once a fortnight, praise for Mark Lawwell and his brilliant recruitment at Celtic is less common place.

Most cheerleaders would realise that there are some issues that are best left alone. Not Paul Brennan, any mention of the name Lawwell seems to bring out a fresh lease of life in his tired CQN blog.

Peter is up there as the greatest ever Celt. Putting Jock Stein, Willie Maley, Brother Walfrid and Fergus McCann in his chubby shadow.

From launch time Celtic Quick News rapidly developed into a Lawwell fanzone.

At one stage there may have been a weekly email, a throw away, trivial news line but soon the blog was able to write for itself.

In 2012 CQN turned to the phrase Newco for comfort.

CELTIC QUICK NEWS DUMPS RESOLUTION 12

For a while it championed the cause of Resolution 12 and the demand for proper scrutiny of events inside the SFA and SPL.

In 2015 CQN helped fund raise for legacy media advertising about the status of Newco.

The something strange happened.

CQN dropped Resolution 12 as if it never existed.

A campaign that they had been in the driving force for fell completely from their news agenda.

At the 2019 Celtic AGM big Peter told shareholders that not only were Celtic not involved in the Five Way Agreement of 2012 but he had never read the document.

How remiss of a CEO that was paid £3.5m on turnover of £83m in the year to June 2019.

APPOINTING THE HEAD OF CONTENT FROM MANCHESTER CITY

Dramatically in July 2022 Mark Lawwell was appointed as Head of Scouting and Recruitment at Celtic. An incredible leap for the Head of Content on the Manchester City website.

Recruitment under Lawwell Junior was horrific.

In the summer of 2023 the Jota transfer fee was frittered away on a job lot of projects. None of them improved the treble winning team put together by Ange Postecoglou and his agent Frank Trimboli.

All of those signings are under contract until June 2028.

Three years into his Celtic career Yang is making a minor impact. Nothing like that of Jota or Liel Abada.

Those goals against Motherwell triggered an epic yarn on CQN with Brennan in full flow, unable to hold back with a classic on SQUAD VANDELISM

Yang’s call up to the South Korea national team squad is recognition of his current form. The player arrived in Glasgow as a raw 20-year-old in 2023, shortly after compatriot Oh (then aged 21) became a Celtic player. A week later, Kwon (then 22) made it three came in from Korea that year.

Kwon achieved nothing at St Mirren or Hibs, he was out of his depth at both clubs. With St Mirren in season 23/24 he played 552 minutes over 8 SPFL Premiership appearances.

The following season he went on loan to Hibs. There he played in 21 SPFL matches amounting to 1095 minutes, averaging 52 minutes per appearance. Once Hibs struck form in December Kwon dropped out the picture.

Next stop? Nantes- 12 Ligue 1 appearances totalling 758 minutes. They dumped him in January to Karlsruher in Bundesliga 2. There is one thing going for Kwon, he has an exceptional agent. Up there at Oli Burke levels.

Kwon never played a minute for Celtic. He was left to wither on the vine for two years, with short loan spells at St Mirren and Hibs, before Nantes took him to Ligue 1 last summer. He moved to Germany in the winter transfer window and is now a regular in Bundesliga 2 for Karlsruher. Kwon (25) is a 6’ 4” No. 6 who was brought in to shadow Callum McGregor. He joins Yang in the Korea squad this month, and had the profile of recruit we were looking for in 2023. If we’d developed him correctly, he would own the No. 6 role in Callum’s absence.

And how was he to develop properly? Use the links developed with clubs across Europe? Kwon was never a contender to become a Celtic player. Since he signed in July 2023 he has played at four other clubs making no impact. His last goal was scored in the Korean Second Division in 2023.

Oh left Celtic for Genk for £2m in 2024 and has not looked back. A medical denied him a €20m move to Stuttgart a year later, but Besiktas paid €14m for him in January. At 24-years-old, he is a hot talent who is now miles out of our reach. He makes it three players Celtic signed in 2023 who are in the South Korea squad this month. The Koreans rank 22 in the world; Scotland are 38th.

CELTIC EXPLORE THE ‘PROJECT’ MARKET

Oh was a decent player/prospect. But a clear downgrade on Giorgos Giakoumakis. At a time when Celtic should have been raising standards the Lawwell and Lawwell combo decided to overdose in the project market.

None of the 2023 signings were Champions League ready.

Almost all of the Postecoglou/Trimboli signings of 2021/22 were at that level. Not superstars but capable. Postecoglou set Celtic on the right course, the Lawwell’s performed a180 degree turn to the cheap and hopeful market that they know and love.

Others who arrived in 2023 were Tomoki Iwata, who starts every week for Birmingham while Kyogo watches from the bench. Gus Lagerbiekle (25), who is ripping it up for Braga in Portugal. Maik Nawrocki (25) came in that summer and is currently on loan at Hannover – he scored against Schalke on Sunday. Hannover will exercise their option to buy if they gain promotion from Bundesliga 2.
Luis Palma got 18 months and more game time than the others before being shipped out. He is a big favourite at Lech Poznan, where he is on loan. Marco Tilio is a player who signed that summer, picked up an injury almost immediately and was then ignored. He rescued his career with a move to Rapid Vienna last summer after a productive loan spell back in Australia.

Rescued his career? Playing 303 minutes across 10 appearances in the Austrian League isn’t much of a rescue act for Tilio. It is more than the 28 minutes he managed at Celtic before two loan spells back with Melbourne City.

Lagerbielke is doing well, he is playing at a decent level in Portugal, a good quality league.

Nawrocki has played 916 minutes over 12 matches for Hannover 96. If they gain promotion they won’t match Nawrocki’s Celtic salary, not for an injury prone central defender.

Brennan concluded with:

It is almost vandalism that talent like Oh, Kwon, Lagerbielke, Narwocki and others, recruited in one calendar year, were left to wither on the vine at Celtic, only to prove their worth elsewhere. Why did Honda Civic Man take the job if he didn’t want to do the work? No wonder the squad has a hollowed out feel to it.

Absolutely. With Lawwell Mini and Paul Tisdale taking a wrecking ball to the club the biggest rebuild in history is required this summer.

WRECKING BALL AND REBUILD

Masterminded by Nicholson. During a World Cup summer. What could possibly go right although no doubt Rodgers will still be copping the blame.

Out of 13 competitions entered the Irishman won 11 trophies. His successor won two matches out of eight over 33 horrific days. Chosen by big Peter’s clone who hasn’t muttered a word in 2026 as a 77-year-old politician fronts up the deflection exercise.

Since stepping down from Celtic in March 2024 nothing has been heard of Mark Lawwell’s career in football.

CQN tipped him to go on to work for Spurs, Manchester United or Liverpool.

At Spurs Ange Postecoglou added former Hibs coach Nick Montgomerie to his coaching staff. Lawwell Junior didn’t get a phone call.

In 2023 Celtic needed players to compliment and improve on Carl Starfelt, Josip Juranovic, Aaron Mooy, Kyogo Furuhashi, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Jota and Giorgos Giakoumakis.

Lawwell Junior presented the club with players who found their level in Poland, Austria, Bundesliga 2 and the English Championship.

While Bodo Glimt recover from their last 16 Champions League exit it is more than 16 years since Celtic won a UEFA knock out tie. So much for the Generation of Domination!