For a while Barton cashed in on the myth that he had turned his life around, that he had been misinterpreted, cynically hitching on to the Hillsborough issues to develop credibility.
Even without the injured Cameron Carter-Vickers, Lawal was left on the bench during the 6-4 defeat from Yokohama F Marinos with Brendan Rodgers starting the match with Carl Starfelt and Yuki Kobayashi then finishing up with Stephen Welsh and Liam Scales in the centre of defence.