Celtic told Mark Lawwell exit is the start of clearout IF one threshold is not met as ticking clock emerges

Head of first-team recruitment Mark Lawwell may not be the only one to leave Celtic if they fail to win the title this term.

That is the view of Tam McManus who thinks fan fury may boil over with the Parkhead board should they be dethroned as Scottish Premiership champions by Rangers. Peter Lawwell's son resigned from his post on Friday with Brendan Rodgers' side trailing the Light Blues in the table. The signings in Rodgers second spell have come under criticism from the Parkhead fan base with the majority struggling to break into the first-team plans in Glasgow's east end.

And former Hibs striker McManus reckons the majority of the punters won't be sad to see Lawwell Jr and Celtic’s lead first team scout Joe Dudgeon placed on gardening leave - and believes there could be more changes at the top in the summer. He told PLZ: "The Celtic recruitment hasn't been good enough. The results are showing that when they are second in the table and they haven't been second for a long time.

"I think he (Mark Lawwell) has paid the price for the signings not coming in and hitting the ground running. I don't think there will be a lot of Celtic supporters who will shed a tear - I think they will be quite happy with that news.

"We all knew how big it was for the team to win the league this season. £60million to go into the new Champions League set-up and that money is massive, particularly for Rangers who are lagging behind in the financial stakes to Celtic. So if Rangers go and win the league this season - and they are probably slight favourites at this point - fingers will be pointed at Mark Lawwell but I think they will be pointed higher up to the board for not giving the manager the money to spend."