Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LAWWELL: I’M SORRY BHOYS
Celts chief’s apology looks too little, too late as CEO finally holds his hands up for club’s Dubai trip fiasco
CONTRITE Peter Lawwell last night apologised to Celtic fans for the Dubai debacle which has plunged their 10-in-a-row campaign further into crisis.
After almost a fortnight of sticking to his guns despite fierce criticism of their winter training camp, the Parkhead chief executive made the U-turn in a video message to fans released through the club’s in-house media team.
Defender Christopher Jullien was diagnosed with Covid-19 after returning from the jaunt to the United Arab Emirates – with manager Neil Lennon and 13 of the Frenchman’s team-mates forced to self isolate.
The champions then dropped two more top flight points at home to Hibs on Monday night to fall 21 points behind Rangers.
Stand-in boss Gavin Strachan (right) looks set to be left in charge of another depleted squad for this weekend’s visit from high flying Livingston.
And Lawwell admitted: “It’s been an extremely difficult few days, and on reflection, looking back with hindsight and at the outcome of the trip – clearly it was a mistake.
“For that, I profoundly apologise to our supporters. We left here and the rationale for the camp was the very ry best intentions.
“Things haven’t gone the way we wanted to and the outcome i s cl early v er y regrettable.”
Asked why the club decided d to press on with the plan despite pite a worsening Covid-19 outlook in Scotland, Lawwell added: “If you look
back on the past four years going to the camp in Dubai has been extremely successful. The decisions we made were entirely for the best interests of the team and the best interests of the club.
“What we planned to do was to take them to these facilities again , which are world class, after a very, very hectic programme for November and December, which has previously been of a huge benefit after January.
“We decided back i n November to go and were p permitted to go, clearly the la landscape has changed signifi nificantly particularly in the run up to us going to Dubai in terms of the infection rate.” Celtic have been
accused of arrogance over their decision to head to the Persian Gulf at the height of a global pandemic and also a stubborn refusal to acknowledge their gross error of judgement.
But Lawwell hit back: “I certainly don’t see that or agree with that and I actually think that’s unfair.
“I do understand people questioning the decision to go, but the values this club operates and standards we have in terms of integrity, respect and humility are there.
“And looking at the pandemic I think it’s fair to say we have done an awful lot as a club – we have really been at the forefront of getting Scottish football back to playing.
“An d of c o u r s e , through our foundation, we have donated over a million pounds to the people who have been worst affected by this horrendous pandemic.”
Lawwell: The trip was clearly a mistake in hindsight and I apologise to our support for that