Free from the crap?
Scottish football is the clubs. When people refer to the SFA and SPFL, they often talk of them as some disparate body but they can only act on the instructions of their members and the members are the clubs. Specifically on day to day management affairs, it is the SPFL and the SFA boards that are the real decision makers and Celtic have representations on both, until now. Peter Lawwell is stepping down from the SPFL Board. He may well replaced by someone at Rangers. There will be many who will look at this with a curiosity as to why he would be stepping back from such a position of authority. In reality, Celtic now operate in a different league to the rest of the clubs and being bound by the collective responsibility of the decision making of those clubs no doubt has its frustrations for Celtic and Peter Lawwell.
Collective responsibility can often tie people into decisions that they don’t want to make. Moreover, with Celtic being so prominent in the management of Scottish football, Peter Lawwell on occasions will find himself having to step aside from a conflict of interest on decision-making.
In the coming months Peter Lawwell’s decision to step off the board of the SPFL is likely to be a big positive for Celtic. With current challenges facing Scottish football, the ability of the Celtic executive team to be freed from any requirements of collective responsibility means that our senior people will be making decisions only based upon what is best for Celtic Football Club. It also frees up Celtic to be more forthright on those occasions where the objectives of the other clubs do not meet the objectives of Celtic.
The decision of Peter Lawwell to step down from the SPFL Board is interesting politically and especially interesting with all the current issues affecting our game.
Perhaps it may free up our club to be a bit more forthright in its relationship with the other 12 but with the current legal advice Celtic have been pulling together being completely free for the biggest fight in Scottish football may be just what is required.
