Chris Sutton has been discussing the damage his comments about Neil Lennon on BT Sport during that awful lockdown season has caused to his relationship with his former teammate, who was the Celtic manager in that campaign where just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong and allowed St Johnstone to win a Cup double.
It was so bad that even the hapless Steven Gerrard was able to fluke a trophy win, surely the one and only he’ll ever achieve in football management?
Celtic were going for that elusive ten in a row, something that Jock Stein and Walter Smith (at the previous Ibrox club) had both tried and failed to achieve.
Yet with no supporters present due to Covid, Celtic suffered more than most, Lennon’s management style wasn’t able to handle the dressing room where there were a number of players wanting to leave the club and the summer signing spending spree Lennon and the then Celtic CEO Peter Lawwell indulged in was misguided, flawed and set the stage for the tragedy that followed.
Throw in Bolingoli’s illicit flight of fancy, the Dubai fiasco and the usual Honest Mistake quota going against Celtic and it was always a season heading for the rocks.
The biggest problem many Celtic supporters had with Neil Lennon and indeed the board was their failure to accept that it wasn’t working and that a change was necessary. That should have happened around this time of year and should not have been allowed to drag on until th spring when the damage could not be reversed.
Speaking on BT Sports’ Currie Club podcast, Sutton who took no great pleasure in calling out his pal on television, spoke about the difficulties him giving his opinions on what was happening at Celtic during that season used with Neil Lennon.
“It wasn’t difficult,” Sutton explained. “You can only say what is in front of you but there’s always that nagging feeling in the stomach.
“Neil was a great mate of mine. We played together for four years at Celtic, I used to sit next to him in the dressing room. My wife chats to Neil’s wife.
“For example, when my son James was born at 28 weeks, Neil came in the next morning to visit my wife and little James, who wasn’t well. He showed great support in that particular time.
“We used to go out together as team-mates, as a lot of us did. That particular team was a band of brothers. I’ve spoken to Neil about this. Neil was a broadcaster as well and a really good broadcaster. I think he understands the game in that respect. He will be critical of managers and players.
“He wasn’t happy with me and he made that very clear. We walked down after the match and had to leave through a certain exit due to Covid and as we were walking down, Neil had turned the corner to walk up…I said, ‘alright Neil?’ and he said nothing…
“From Neil’s point of view, I totally got that because of the pressure. He was the Celtic manager and those Covid times were an absolute nightmare to manage in, because of the way the crowd can really lift the team and (not having that) was really difficult for him.
“But the performances at that particular time weren’t there. Now time has healed things a little bit and everybody realises what a brilliant servant he was. He might look back in years to come and think that actually I was right. But knowing Neil….”
