“All I wanted was to play for Celtic and be Jimmy Johnstone. Back then, I still thought I had a chance! I was there when they brought the European Cup back to Celtic Park and that was my dream, that one day I would go out there and play.”

Today as Peter Lawwell, Celtic’s chief executive, sneaks a glance from the window of his office to take in the colour of the Celtic Way the men he revered are there forever in front of him. The bronze statues of Billy McNeill and Jock Stein have their hands on the European Cup, Johnstone is poised with ball and world at his feet. Lawwell, though, does not need to go further than the riches of his own memory to see it all in real time, drawing on indelible images through the prism of eight-year-old eyes. May 25th, 1967 is the seismic moment in Celtic’s history; Celtic before Lisbon, Celtic after Lisbon.

“I watched the game on TV but I spent the eve of my 8th birthday here at Celtic Park seeing the Lions bring back the European Cup. I was here when they brought in the European Cup. We watched the team come up Kerrydale Street and then rushed in and watched them come around the stadium in the coal lorry. That stays with you forever. It is a moment that will never fade.

“They are all heroes, every one of them, but wee Jimmy would have been mine – and every other 8-year-old’s. That experience forms you not only as a supporter but as a person too. The underdog, winning the way they did, everyone coming from Glasgow and watching your team become the best in the world. And what we have today is the modern day foundation that was started all the way back in Lisbon.”

Those formative years shaped Lawwell the supporter, but it is his acumen in the boardroom that has moulded the current face of a club he once peered in at with boyish optimism. Under Lawwell’s stewardship the Parkhead side have adopted a successful blueprint of identifying young, raw talent, nurturing them and then selling on for a profit that is then re-invested back into the club. Given the financial disparity that has created such a chasm between the top five European leagues and the rest, it is a sensible approach that has underpinned a solid foundation which enables the moments that subsequently unfold on a football pitch. It is a strategy he believes would have pleased Jock Stein, the man responsible for the richest, most decorated period in Celtic’s history.

“I think he would have been really proud of us,” said Lawwell. “In terms of the club and where we are now, a lot of work has gone into establishing the organisation and the structure over the years, whether that is the Academy or the commercial side or the Foundation, but the club has certainly become a top class European club in everything we do.

“We have had everything in place but Brendan [Rodgers] has been the spark. I think Jock Stein and others like Brother Walfrid who form the core of this club, including the Lions, would all be proud of what we have here in front of us today. It is different days, different circumstances, commercially and financially, but we have never given up driving this club to be the best it can possibly be. I think they would be proud of where we are at the moment, of how we play football and I think they would enjoy the ambition that we have to take the club forward.”

In the day-to-day business of running the club, Lawwell has been an ever-present at the table of the Lions. There was once a suspicion among the men who delivered the European Cup that they were not afforded the respect they deserved at times, with the achievement diluted through the passage of time. In some ways Martin O’Neill, the former Celtic manager, was the first to turn that tide with one of the opening acts of his time at the club being to take them out to dinner.

“One of the perks of my job is that you get to meet your heroes and I have,” said Lawwell. “I met every one of the Lisbon Lions and was never let down in terms of who they are and what they represent. Humility is one of the first things that ever hits you about the Lions. It is extraordinary to consider what they achieved and the authority which they commanded across Europe and yet they remain ordinary, hard-working good men. It was a privilege and an honour for me to do my job in terms of my background but also to meet men who were heroes.”

The Celtic chief executive points to two seminal moments in Celtic’s history; the formation of the club and the triumph in Lisbon. If the spirit of ’67 has been recreated in the way that Celtic have swashbuckled their way through this season, Lawwell attributes the Celtic Foundation and the work going on behind the scenes in the daily heartbeat of the East End community as representative of the spirit in which the very creation of Celtic came about.

“Where we are today in how we see ourselves and the way we want to play football has its foundation in the team who won the European Cup in Lisbon,” said Lawwell. “But the core values we established at the formation of the club of inclusion, diversity and being open to all have never been more valid than they are today. Through our Foundation which is doing more today than it has ever done for our community, we are opening the doors to people and everyone is welcome. We have always had the right values and this is an exciting time. Our door is always open. We positively welcome diversity.” Meanwhile, Rodgers’ appointment just over a year ago was seen as a coup by Lawwell and majority shareholder Dermot Desmond at the time, but few would have anticipated the full magnitude of the impact that he has had in his inaugural season. “It would be fair to say that Brendan has surpassed the expectations we had,” he said. “To be in the door and take us into the Champions League group stages at the first time of asking was fantastic and he has followed that up with an extraordinary maiden domestic season.” Rodgers signed a four-year deal in April but so long as he in Glasgow there will be a perennial suspicion of an alternative suitor luring him back to the riches of the English Premier League or, indeed, further afield. There is an acknowledgement that may happen at some point but for now there is contentment with both parties.

“I don’t know if you would call it fear or not but you have to be a realist,” said Lawwell. “If you have a manager or a player who is doing a great job then they will attract attention but I don’t have any fears about Brendan. He is committed to us, he loves his job, he has said that he has never been happier so I don’t sit and worry about it.”