PETER Lawwell, the Celtic chief executive, last night expressed confidence the Parkhead club will continue to enjoy success in the transfer market after appointing Lee Congerton as their new head of recruitment.
Congerton, a former head of scouting at Chelsea, technical director at Hamburg and sporting director at Sunderland, has been brought in to oversee player acquisitions at the Scottish champions.
The one-time semi-professional footballer from Wales effectively replaces John Park, who left his position as head of football development at the Glasgow club after nine years back in October.
Read more: Patrick Roberts is a favourite of the Celtic fans but they haven't seen enough of him
Park is widely credited as being the man who brought Virgil van Dijk and Victor Wanyama to Scotland – players who Celtic were able to sell for multi-million pound transfer fees after getting years of exceptional service out of.
The substantial profits which Celtic have made on those signings and others in the last 10 years have enabled them to consistently break even while enjoying significant on-field success both domestically and in Europe.
Lawwell believes the addition of Congerton, who will have responsibility for Celtic’s international scouting network, to the football department will ensure that their impressive track record in that important area continues.
“Player recruitment is such a crucial function of the club and we are delighted to welcome Lee to Celtic to oversee this area,” he told the official Celtic website. “We are always looking to develop further, to drive the club forward and ensure that we continue our success in this area and deliver the best players we can to our supporters.
“Given the importance of this appointment we have gone through a thorough process and taken time to identify the right person. Lee was the outstanding candidate for this position and we are sure he will deliver real impact and benefit to the club.”
Read more: Patrick Roberts is a favourite of the Celtic fans but they haven't seen enough of him
Brendan Rodgers, the Celtic manager, welcomed the arrival of Congerton, who is the holder of a UEFA Pro Licence, the highest level of managerial qualification, and has held coaching positions with Liverpool and the Welsh FA in the past, at Parkhead.
“It is great news that we have been able to bring someone of Lee's calibre to Celtic,” he said. “He brings knowledge, experience and excellence to such an important area of our work and I know he will add real value to the club. We will always strive to be the best in everything we do and in Lee, we have brought the best to Celtic."
Congerton believes his experience of working with Rodgers during his time in charge at Anfield will prove beneficial to him in his new position.
"I am delighted to be joining a club of Celtic's stature,” he said. “It is a huge honour and I can't wait to get started in making my contribution to such a fantastic institution.
Read more: Patrick Roberts is a favourite of the Celtic fans but they haven't seen enough of him
“In recent years there has been some great work done at the club in the recruitment and development of some high-quality playing talent. I am really looking forward to adding my experience in this area and ensuring that we continue this high level of achievement.
"I know Brendan well, I know how he works and the quality he aims for. I am really looking forward to working with him again and Peter to ensure that we continue to bring the very best to Celtic and give our fans players and a team they will be proud of.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel