Lawwell hopes hotel and museum dreams won’t be hampered by politics

THE message seems perfectly clear. Celtic should not be punished and restricted in ambition simply because they continued to build for the future while Rangers fell apart.

Peter Lawwell, the Parkhead club’s chief executive, holds back from using such forceful language. There are politics at play here, after all. However, he does not stop far short.

With an application for planning permission having been submitted to Glasgow City Council for a hotel and museum complex and a decision expected around September or October, these are interesting times for the infrastructure of Celtic rather than just the elements which contribute directly to the product on the pitch. Celtic Park has already been transformed, largely cosmetically, thanks to the construction of a new walkway leading to the stadium, containing a big statue of Billy McNeill, paving bricks displaying the names of supporters and a large club crest. The project goes far beyond that, though. Lawwell and his board want to create a Sports City in the east end of Glasgow that will take the Emirates Arena across the road under its umbrella. They want a trip to their ground to be an event, a day out, with a game of football serving as its centrepiece.

They also want local politicians, who the club are concerned are not doing enough to promote the game as a whole in Scotland, to get behind them and see this expansion as a force for good, but Glasgow rarely works that way.

Lawwell is aware that some Rangers supporters already believe the City Council go out of their way to help Celtic. A light-hearted quip over the Parkhead club buying nearby land for a song is met with the sharp response: ‘We paid over the odds for it!’

He knows there would be opposition to public money being used to support a project constructed around Celtic’s HQ, but he is calling for consideration of a bigger picture, where local and central government actually promotes and supports professional football clubs and appreciates the role the game plays in the fabric of the nation.

Celtic’s plans hint at a board keen to take the game-day experience to a different level and Lawwell hopes they will not be stymied because their arch-rivals across the city find themselves some way behind in the rebuilding process as a result of the chaos that followed administration and liquidation in 2012.

‘That is the nature of this city,’ he said. ‘If you have Celtic who are progressive, say, and Rangers, over the last five years, have been trying to

re-establish themselves. We have been looking forward and they have been looking at today and tomorrow, trying to keep going.

‘The difficulty for the politicians is to recognise that Celtic is progressive and to help us along the way because someone is going to say: “Well, you are doing that for Celtic. What are you going to do for Rangers?”

‘Clearly, it is politics and there are votes to be had. People are very, very wary of doing that and it is the nature of this city.

‘We have come to a point of coping with that and dealing with that.’

Lawwell believes the construction of Celtic’s Sports City would benefit Glasgow as a whole, building tourism and contributing to the overall economy, and hopes politicians can overcome a general reluctance to get too involved in football.

‘We could have the support to do something special in terms of destination, to create the Glasgow Sports City here — with the Hydro, the entertainment centre and everything else,’ said Lawwell.

‘Understanding that and being a partner with us to do something like that would help Celtic and help the city.

‘In terms of the game, clearly finances are limited in government as elsewhere, but if there is some form of investment and an understanding of what we do culturally and socially rather than just the neutral position they take at the moment, that would help football.

‘It is about finance, really, and recognition. Whether it is in the city or in the country, there is a reticence to support us and support football.

‘There’s negativity. When you hear government talking about football, it is always about strict liability or offensive behaviour. There is never any real positivity and we, as a club, put so much into the economy.

‘Therefore, you need support, you need partnership. There has really been no sense of partnership in terms of taking things forward — from anybody.

‘It has always been mainly negative. So what I think we would like to see is the value of Celtic, the value of football in Scotland recognised in terms of the social, cultural and economic aspects it gives to the country. We keep fighting that.

‘The amount of economic contribution we make — not just in terms of our supporters but the rates, PAYE, the tax bill we pay to the Chancellor. Particularly in terms of Glasgow these days, we are a very important employer and create a lot of economic value.

‘I don’t think there is the appropriate recognition of what we do as an industry by the politicians in terms of support and understanding what we contribute.’

The hotel and museum plan is ambitious, but similar set-ups exist across Europe and turn a trip to the stadium into a day out. It is that all-encompassing experience which Celtic are eager to introduce to the Scottish Premiership.

‘Once we get the planning, we will assess the whole situation,’ said Lawwell. ‘There will be a feasibility study done, then we will see if we can fund it and take it on.’

We are a very important employer and create a lot of economicvalue