Success brings its own responsibilities.
Celtic are in the midst of a period of dominance of Scottish football, and that brings with it a series of issues to address. The obligations will feel stimulating to Peter Lawwell, since they are a measure of the progress his club, is making. There are commonplace decisions to make, and others that will come along once during his spell as chief executive, but none will be a burden to him.
During the course of half-an-hour, Lawwell was in ebullient mood at Celtic Park yesterday. William Hill, the sponsors of the Scottish Cup, had just announced that the stadium would host the tournament's final in May, which Lawwell described as "a great choice, the right choice. We feel that our ground is the biggest and the best, and hopefully, we can put on a show".
The opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games is also being held at the stadium next summer, while the prospect of development work being carried out on the land surrounding it is still being pursued. The former means that Celtic will need to find an alternative venue for next season's Champions League qualifiers should Neil Lennon's side retain the title, for which they are heavy favourites.
Lawwell wants the decision made early in the new year, and will take into consideration how best to serve the fans who normally attend games at Celtic Park, but also how UEFA will react to a team seeking to play competitive home games at a different venue, perhaps even in a different country. Murrayfield is the only likely alternative venue in Scotland, but Celtic will also consider other options, such Croke Park or the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, St James's Park and Anfield.
"We are currently in discussion with UEFA in terms of what options we have," Lawwell said. "Once they are happy we will speak to the relevant owners of the stadia. There are other options to Murrayfield, probably less likely, but there are other options we can't let you know about yet. Possibly outside Scotland. The Aviva in Dublin or Croke Park or maybe even down south at a northern [Premier League] club. We have a big support in Dublin and the stadium was full when we played Liverpool in the summer there, so that would be great.
"We are developing a few options then we will take those to UEFA and see what they think, but remember there is a precedent from when we played at Old Trafford against Rapid Vienna [in 1985]. It's a list of three or four, maybe five. Murrayfield is a big attraction clearly because it is near for the supporters, it's a fantastic stadium and that would be a high contender. Neil would have an impact on the decision. And we would need to look at ways of making sure the atmosphere was there and it was well attended."
As well as managing the business of Celtic, Lawwell must steward the football operation. As well as ensuring that transfer targets are being identified and monitored, the chief executive must plan for the departures of key individuals. While he wants and expects Lennon to continue managing the team for "years and years", Lawwell is always aware of the need to be ready to seek replacements, since success brings interest from other clubs for coaching and playing staff. This does not faze him.
"Being realistic, that is one of the by-products of success," Lawwell said. "Your people are courted and the most high-profile guy, the most prominent in that success, has been Neil. He's done a fantastic job and if he continues to progress - he's still a young manager - I'm sure he will be courted at some point. I don't think fearful is the right word but we need to be realistic and accept that - and I take a lot of pleasure in that, for him and for us - and plan for the succession.
"Generally, no matter who you are talking about - commercial director or marketing director or finance director - as chief executive you have to be looking within the organisation for people to take over. So there is nothing specific. We're not looking for a manager. It's just in a general sense you have to think about it. You can't bury your head in the sand. Hopefully he's here for the rest of his career."
No club has spoken to Celtic about Lennon, and the likelihood is that Lawwell's immediate priority will be to deal with interest in some of the players. He intends to continue talks with the agents of Georgios Samaras and Joe Ledley, who are out of contract at the end of the season, but clubs in England are monitoring the form of Fraser Forster, the goalkeeper who could find himself replacing Joe Hart as the first-choice for his country ahead of next summer's World Cup.
"These things sort themselves out," Lawwell said. "If we're bringing players here to develop them and get in the Champions League and they do well . . . England is just down the road. And if we are offered the right fee, we will take it and reinvest it in another goalkeeper or another centre forward or another midfielder.
"But also within that equation, if a player is trebling or quadrupling his wages then it's an easy decision for him. So there's no real friction preventing that happen. The player is happy, the club - for the right fee - is happy and the buying club are happy. No matter what we do there is a realisation that in a very short period of time, the next door market can pay huge amounts of money that we could never compete with."
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