I think this is an ominous and sinister development. I don't think for a minute this vain Machiavellian master of the dark arts would step back into the limelight if he thought Celtc were about to lose the soon to be announced class action verdict against them by the CBC victims of child abuse.
He stepped away and allowed Nicholson, a prominent legal mind and on the panel of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, to manage the defence of the class action.
Jack McConnell at an RC dominated Scottish Labour Party looked away for politcal expediency for years. John Swinney, for the same reason, and abdicating government responsibility, denied a public enquiry and kicked it back to the SFA where Celtc are undisputedly the dominant voice. An SFA report that subsequently barely mentioned them.
We have seen some inexplicable judgements within the Scottish Judiciary recently regarding anything Celtc and that's if the evidence even gets to court. Lawwell at this time simply wouldn't put himself front and centre of the potential scandal of a guilty verdict.