'Would you take Rangers winning the league for 4 years to maybe reach a Champions League semi?' - Peter Lawwell on Celtic ambition, Kieran Tierney's transfer to Arsenal and hotel and museum plans

Neil Lennon, Peter Lawwell and Ian Bankier pictured at the AGM

Lawwell on Tierney transfer

Peter Lawwell has insisted that Celtic are not a selling club, as he spoke on Kieran Tierney's departure to Arsenal during the summer for a fee of £25 million during the club's AGM.

The Parkhead chief was responding to one shareholder's question about whether Celtic's ambition was to "be an Ajax or be a selling club" and replied: "Ajax hadn’t won the league for four years before their bold new dawn.

"Would you take Rangers winning the league for four years to maybe reach a Champions League semi-final?"

He continued: "Our ambition is maximising the potential of this great club, and going as far as we can in Europe.

"Celtic is not a selling club, if you get a player like Kieran [Tierney], the attraction of a team like Arsenal becomes too much.

"As much as we wanted him to stay, it’s our job is to get most money. I don’t believe Tierney was sold cheaply."

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Lawwell was also asked for an update on the club's proposed plans for a hotel and museum as part of the project dubbed "The Masterplan."

The Hoops were given the green light by Glasgow City Council to start work on a hotel and museum project back in September 2017, with the project estimated to cost in the region of £18 million and hopefully creating 120 jobs in the process.

Reports at the time claimed the authority had had no objections to the plans but had asked for work to begin within three years, but there has been little to no update from Celtic on the plans.

In an interview with the Celtic Underground website in May last year, Lawwell said: “In the short term we are spending nearly £5 million in projects around the stadium, as we continue to invest in the stadium to hopefully give our supporters the best matchday experience."

The Celtic chief also revealed the club was “assessing options” around the blueprints for a hotel, museum, new superstore and ticket office.

He continued: “At the moment we are going out to the market, we’ve had expressions of interest. We are looking at what is best for Celtic, the best structure then looking at financing. Hopefully there will be a positive outcome.

“We are always looking to the future, always looking to develop, to get better. Clearly it’s a question of resources, do you put money into the first team or into infrastructure projects?"

Speaking at the AGM, Lawwell appeared to echo those comments when asked for an update by a shareholder, adding: "It’s about where we invest money.

"The hotel and museum are still options, we’re just assessing timing and money."