“Peter Lawwell is a nice man, he’s an accountant,” Lee Congerton

The Celtic Star

·18 April 2024

“Peter Lawwell is a nice man, he’s an accountant,” Lee Congerton

Celtic’s former Head of Recruitment, Lee Congerton, has savaged the club’s signing policy in the years gone by and insisted he could have signed more stars of the future had they loosened the reins slightly when he worked in Scotland.

Lee Congerton

OneFootball Videos

Congerton was of course drafted in by Brendan Rodgers during his first stint in the Parkhead hotseat and managed to snare Moussa Demeble and Odsonne Edouard amongst others.

However, the longer into Rodgers’ tenure at that time, the clearer it was for Lee that he couldn’t work under the restraints imposed by the bean counters at Celtic Park. Peter Lawwell was CEO for a number of years at Paradise and one of the major gripes with the club under his tutelage was the lack of imagination and clear strategy in the transfer market when it came to signing players.

Cetlic Chief Exectutive Peter Lawwell looks on during the Scottish Cup Final between Celtic and Aberdeen at Hampden Park on May 27, 2017. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Its been a consistent theme of modern Celtic and Rodgers fell foul of the frugal ways impacted on he footballing department by the man upstairs. Looking back on his time at the club a few years back, our former employee said: “At Celtic we had no money. Peter Lawwell is a nice man, he’s an accountant.

“Brendan spoke to me and said we needed pace and power, speed. We all know PSG has an amazing youth programme with players at the time who were never going to play for PSG,” he said to The Telegraph.

The Chief Scout even revealed that two prominent superstars in world football were on the radar, but reading between the lines, the club wouldn’t support the moves. Likewise, there were players brought into the Champions that Congerton wouldn’t touch with a barge pole.

Moussa Diaby of Aston Villa controls the ball whilst under pressure from Alexsandro of Lille during the UEFA Europa Conference League 2023/24 Quarter-final first leg match between Aston Villa and Lille OSC at Villa Park on April 11, 2024 (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

He added: “Two of the other players we tried to sign during my time were [Moussa] Diaby, who is now at Aston Villa, and [Christopher] Nkunku who is now at Chelsea.

Christopher Nkunku of Chelsea in action during the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Stamford Bridge on February 04, 2024 (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

“But there were several players I didn’t want to be anywhere near them and that is why I left. Peter knows that and so did Brendan. Atalanta is very different.

Wiener Sportclub vs Celtic – Maryan Shved (Celtic) and Philip Dimov (Sportklub).Photo ChristianOrt

Congerton of course is is telling his side of the story and we can post to the likes of Marvin Compper to counter his own argument that presumably Maryan Shved, who presumably was a Peter Lawwell signing because he clearly was not a Rodgers/ Congerton selection.

Marvin Compper’s one and only game against Morton

Lee Congerton, perhaps misunderstood the market Celtic were operating in and while Celtic did not have the money to match the English Premier league sides , the club were able to sign players of sufficient quality before and after he had a go at it – Virgil van Dijk anyone?

James Forrest is congratulated by teammate Virgil van Dijk after scoring the opening goal during the UEFA Champions League Group match between Celtic and Ajax at Celtic Park on October 22, 2013 (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Paul Gillespie

Mentioned in this article

Celtic

“Peter Lawwell is a nice man, he’s an accountant,” Lee Congerton | OneFootball

“Peter Lawwell is a nice man, he’s an accountant,” Lee Congerton

OneFootball Videos

Celtic

MORE STORIES