Dave King’s ‘Fold like a Pack of Cards,’ Lenny’s Bling, why Steven Gerrard is no Martin O’Neill

NEIL LENNON has been speaking to the Media about the coronavirus pandemic, how it has impacted on the game, the club and the players and more importantly how in the scheme of things that is all far less significant than the need for everyone to pull together, follow the instructions to stay at home and beat this awful virus.

“As you get older you try to strike a balance and this is unprecedented. It’s surreal,” the Celtic Manager said to the Media, as reported by Daily Record.

“We have to follow the government guidelines and certainly football takes a back seat in terms of what is going on at the moment. Health and safety is the most important thing. This is life we are talking about not sport. It’s above everything else.

“We were out at the window (applauding NHS staff) and my neighbour downstairs was banging on a saucepan. It was quite emotional, actually. I suppose it is some sort of way of showing thanks for the amazing work these people are doing for us.

“In society it’s a total change – if and when we do come out of this. And from a community perspective you are seeing good in people and football is a big part of lives.

“For some their football club is what gets them away from the rigours of normal life. They can support their club and you can see a lot of clubs giving something back. It’s fantastic.”

Celtic have made a donation of £175,000 to the Football for Good charity and this money is going to make a difference to lives and people’s situations at this time of crisis. The sum is significant especially when you look at the £50,000 given to charity by each of the two big clubs in Manchester or the two second hand tubs of hand sanitizer donated by the self proclaimed ‘Most Successful Club in the World’ – they were at that again last night.

The truth is they’ve had their hands on more sanitzer tubs that major trophies. The score on that one is 2-0. To be fair though in the other Friday night statement, Dave King hinted that there’s no money there anyway as he signed off as their Chairman to deal with matters closer to home in South Africa.

What happened to Celtic folding like a pack of cards Dave?

Let’s remember King’s Words of Wisdom, as reported by Sky Sports...

“We appoint a manager who can win games, with more resources, and we take one league away from Celtic.

“We only need one league. We don’t need two or three. We need one. Once we take one away, it’s a pack of cards.

“Celtic’s costs structure is more like we were 10 years ago. We needed Champions League football and if we went into the Europa League we were in trouble because the cost structure was so high.

“Take that away for one season and it will change the numbers in the Celtic side very, very quickly. They have the comfort levels we once had of knowing we were going to get Champions League money. We have to take that away from them and hopefully we have started that process on Friday.

“The question is, that with Celtic’s resources, does it put you beyond them forever? The answer is clearly no.

“We have seen the cycle. I was with Rangers when we thought Celtic would never catch up – never in a hundred years. Dick Advocaat said they would never, ever catch up. I think it lasted 17 minutes of the next game we played against them (Celtic’s 6-2 win in August 2000.)

“They caught up with us 17 minutes into the next game and then went past us because Martin O’Neill came in and figured out a different way to do it. You need the right management structure to do it. We have now gone very, very strong in the management squad.”

Looks like Steven Gerrard is no Martin O’Neill then, Dave. It’s looks like Neil Lennon is perhaps a better comparison for that one, judging by his bling…

Lennon with his Treble

Back to Lenny, he revealed that players like Tom Rogic and Olivier Ntcham have gone back to home to Australia and France while Odsonne Edouard and Christopher Jullien have remained in Scotland. The Celtic manager is working from home and trying to manage the squad remotely. Strange days indeed.

“Once a game of the magnitude of a derby is postponed you quickly realise this is real.

“We were well aware and well briefed on that. We were trying to get them into train at Lennoxtown in twos and threes but then we had to stop that as well under the guidelines from the government and the association. I’m trying to keep in touch with the players. Our fitness team has given them individual programmes.

“My worry with them is that they will be like caged animals at the minute – they are used to a regimented way of life and a great life and a healthy life.

“I’m worried not just about their physical wellbeing but their mental wellbeing as well. A lot of them will be very frustrated with pent-up energy and you can only do so much when training at home. It’s trying to make the best of a very bad situation.

“The government have been doing all they can and, if you do go out, it’s only for essentials or exercise. The opportunity is there for players to make the most of the situation.

“I contacted a few of the boys who are back home in different countries just to get in touch and see how they are. I’m also on the phone to Peter most days for updates.

“It’s just a question of time now and taking it day by day as opposed to trying to plan anything.”

Neil Lennon is well aware that the players will need to be as prepared as possible for a return to action whenever that is. UEFA have stated that the leagues should be completed in June and while that is not looking at all likely you just never know.

The likelihood though is that there will be no games until late July or into August. Hopefully we start with concluding this season to its conclusion before moving on to the next one but we all have to wait and see and trust that Peter Lawwell is making sure that there is no skullduggery going on at Hampden where decisions will be taken one way or another.

There is NO WAY that the Celtic support will accept a Null and Void decision.

“We know they are going to be deconditioned when they come back so that will take time to get them up to full speed,” Lenny said.

“They are going to need a lot of time as they are missing out on interaction and football-specific training. That can take its toll on conditioning, cardio and the muscles you use.

“It will take time before a ball is even kicked to get them up to speed.

“It’s nobody’s fault. It’s a pandemic and so it’s not just Scotland, it’s worldwide. And it’s not just football, it’s all sports and all ways of life.”

Stay safe everyone and follow the rules. We’re trying to give you as much high quality Celtic content as possible to help and if you would like to try your hand at writing about any Celtic related subject we’ll be happy to publish your piece on the site – just email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

We also have a great wee Celtic community over on Celtic Noise – when I started The Celtic Star I didn’t want to overload the site with either too many ads (complaints received about jumping pages, or ads over-powering the site remain at zero) and I wanted to separate the comments and interaction from the site itself which is built on WordPress and is not ideally suited to having a forum attached. So that’s why Celtic Noise is there and the sense of community there for the Celtic family is outstanding – please feel free to sign up, it’s quick and easy and all Celtic Supporters are welcome. You can sign up HERE.

Myself with Paul, Stripey Cat, Neil and Friends

Incidentally Liam Kelly’s article on his first away day trip European adventure following Celtic was published on The Celtic Star last night was a brilliant read and you can enjoy it HERE.

And don’t forget to test your Celtic knowledge in David Potter’s latest quiz…

Take The Celtic Star’s Photo Tour of Celtic Park and enjoy our stunning photos from inside Paradise RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.

Support Celtic Youth Development

Help raise money for Celtic Youth Development by joining the £1 weekly lottery and you could win up to £25,000 – just click on any one of the photographs below to join. Lots of our readers have already done so and they’re now doing their bit to help fund Celtic Youth Development that can deliver the stars of tomorrow and beyond. And you might even win a few bob too! And a special thank you to all The Celtic Star readers who have already signed up and are now supporting youth development to give us the Celtic Stars of the future…

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

Comments are closed.