Daily Record reporter tries to trash Ange by crediting Mark Lawwell with spotting Kyogo!

Michael Gannon of the Daily Record has attempted to credit Mark Lawwell in the signing of Kyogo Furuhashi while questioning whether Ange Postecoglou was the driving force during two seasons of outstanding recruitment. And trophy winning

It is an incredible claim by the Record reporter who on Friday night flagged up Lyanco as a potential Celtic signing with the defender about to join Qatari side Al Gharafa.

Celtic’s Recruitment is a major issue at the moment with Brendan Rodgers making it very clear that he works with the players provided by the club.

Mark Lawwell is now the Head of Recruitment at Celtic, moving from a similar job at the City Football Group if his Linkedin profile is to be believed. Apparently Lawwell held that job for nine years and nine months despite no known previous job in football,

To most fans the signings between the summer of 2021 and January 2023 were driven by Postecoglou who worked very closely with Frank Trimboli and the CAA Base Agency.

Technically Osaze Urhoghide was Postecoglou’s first signing but it is quite a stretch to think that the former Yokohama F Marinos boss spent much time studying Sheffield Wednesday matches as they were relegated during the Lockdown season. Likewise the 12 month contract for Leigh Griffiths.

Liel Abada would have been brought to Celtic’s attention by a well used agent in Israel but Kyogo Furuhashi was most definitely the signing that Postecoglou identified with while Carl Starfelt was a client of CAA Base when he moved from Rubin Kazan to Celtic just as Kris Ajer was joining Brentford.

Giving his take on Celtic’s issues in the Daily Record Gannon claimed:

The problem Celtic fans have right now is the uncertainty. They are having to trust the process but some of them still have trust issues with the manager.

Many seem to think the transfer policy has changed and Rodgers is just being given players and the board are being too slow. In reality nothing has changed. The majority of Postecoglou signings were not guys the manager pulled out of his magic hat.

Sure, Maeda and Hatate were guys he was desperate to bring in. But the likes of Carter-Vickers, Jota, Abada, Carl Starfelt, Matt O’Riley, Joe Hart, Josip Juranovic, Giakoumakis, were all in the system and even Kyogo was on Mark Lawwell’s watchlist from before Ange was on the radar, along with the Korean contingent.

When Kyogo joined Celtic in July 2021 Mark Lawwell was an employee of the City Football Group.

Every player in the world is on a list somewhere at every top flight club but it is a massive judgement call for a newly appointed manager to decide to hang his hat on a 25-year-old from another continent to replace the goals of top scorer Odsonne Edouard.

As a bonus for the Balance Sheet there was a £10m profit in trading Edouard for Kyogo.

There is a world of a difference between knowing of someone or being in the system and putting your neck on the line to actually buy someone. Alex McLeish still bleats on about nearly signing Leo Messi on loan but keeps quiet about switching from the teenage Argentinian to Steven Thompson and Gavin Rae.

If the likes of ‘Carter-Vickers, Jota, Abada, Carl Starfelt, Matt O’Riley, Joe Hart, Josip Juranovic, Giakoumakis’ were all on the system and known to Lawwell Junior why has he handed Rodgers a batch of projects from Australia, South Korea and Norway including an £800,000 midfielder from the South Korean Second Division?

Starfelt, Hart, Juranovic and Giakoumakis are the type of signings that Rodgers is currently screaming out for, over 25, time served pros and in the case of Hart over 30 and ready to come in and do a job straight away.

Injuries kept Giakoumakis out of action for four months, when Kyogo was injured the formed VVV Venlo stepped in and powered Celtic to the title, finishing up as joint top scorer in the SPFL Premiership with 13 goals from 11 starts and 10 substitute appearances.

Others can try to trash Postecoglou if they like but he inherited a car crash, delivered five trophies out of six, two Champions League campaigns with the books balanced by the sales of Ajer, Edouard, Juranovic, Giakoumakis and Jota.

Hopefully Lawwell Junior can rediscover his fabled list before the weekend. Hopefully Celtic’s Recruitment Team can continue that sort of success rate.