Celtic chief set to replace Rangers rep on SPFL board

Peter Lawwell expected to be voted on to key role, with Ibrox MD Stewart Robertson stepping down

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell. Picture: SNS

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell is poised for a return to the SPFL board.

The Parkhead supremo is expected to be voted on in place of Rangers’ managing director Stewart Robertson at Monday’s AGM, while St Johnstone chairman Steve Brown is set to replace Motherwell chief executive Alan Burrows, who has already announced that he is standing down. It has been a contentious and damaging few months for the league’s governing body, with an arbitration panel still dealing with the fall-out from its handling of the difficulties thrown up by the Covid-19 pandemic.

That hearing, which will decide whether to ratify or rebuff the decision to relegate Hearts and Partick Thistle and is time sensitive due to the imminent return of Premiership football, could be disrupted, with key witnesses unavailable while the AGM is conducted.

But while members will vote on their divisional representatives, two of the most controversial figures of the past few months, SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster and chairman Murdoch MacLennan, as well as independent non-executive director Karyn McCluskey, will automatically continue in their roles unless they chose to relinquish their position.

It is customary for the two Glasgow giants to swap places on the board on a biennial basis, and after a torrid few months, where Robertson has not always seen eye to eye with the rest of the board, Lawwell, pictured, will now replace him. Hamilton’s Les Gray will retain his position as the third Premiership representative.

There will be a vote to decide the two Championship nominations, with Dunfermline’s Ross McArthur and Ewen Cameron of Alloa Athletic being challenged by Inverness Caley Thistle chairman Ross Morrison.

Brechin City’s Ken Ferguson is expected to remain on the board but Gordon Thomson of Clyde has been touted to take over from Montrose chief executive Peter Davidson.