NEIL LENNON has reiterated the club’s desire to play the games and win our title on the park, silencing those that claim Celtic wanted a title ‘handed’ to us by the SPFL.

Speaking to Celtic TV, the Celtic manager says that Celtic have the lost out the most in terms of players and fans being deprived of watching the final stages of the 9th title in a row as well as the push for a quadruple treble. However due to unprecedented and tragic circumstances, football has been placed on hold.

“If we can go back and play the games – I think have to underline that. Everyone at the club – the players, myself, my backroom staff, the fans – want to play the games. Whether that can be achieved or not, that’s another thing.

“The players are the ones who’ve lost out the most in terms of the opportunity to play in front of the supporters. We’re going for nine-in-a-row and a quadruple treble, and I feel sorry for them at this stage, in a footballing sense.

“Hopefully at some stage it can be started up again, but if not, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens and the outcomes of what that is going to be.”

This has led to a section of the Ibrox supporters base claiming that Celtic wanted the league ‘handed to them’. The nonsense emanating from their support is exemplified by this embarrassing tweet below:

Most Juventus fans don’t want to be handed the title.

Most Liverpool fans don’t want to be handed the title.

Most Barcelona fans don’t want to be handed the title.

Most Bayern Munich fans don’t want to be handed the title.

Why do most fans of Celtic want title handed to them?

— The 4th Official (@Official_T4O) April 18, 2020

10IAR at all costs. Desperate stuff really.

— John Knox (@JohnKno40760600) April 18, 2020

Meanwhile in the real world…

Absolutely no doubt that Celtic fans want this season played out to a finish if possible. Everything should be done to make this possible. Calling should be the very last option. pic.twitter.com/miER4LhS1r

— Lisbon Lion (@tirnaog09) April 21, 2020

Lennon has fought back and broken Celtic’s silence from Peter Lawwell back in mid-March, which again said that Celtic wanted to win the league on the pitch. The fallacy that Celtic wanted a title handed to them stemmed out of Ibrox following the SPFL vote, which passed with 81% of support from 42 SPFL members.

Celtic last played at the start of March, a resounding win over St Mirren – which was standard for Celtic since their return from the winter break dropping just two points. Celtic extended their lead to 13 points and were through to the Scottish Cup semi-final, where just two victories stood between Lennon and yet another Treble.

“It feels like an age away since we played our last game against St Mirren at home, so in terms of keeping the players motivated, keeping them occupied, their own self-motivation is still very, very strong.

“The only thing they’re asking me is when can they get back to training as a group and when can we all start back again, but, obviously, no-one has an answer to that at the minute.

“I thought the first half of the season was superb, but the second half was just as good, particularly domestically. We’d only dropped two points in so many league games and we were making a brilliant challenge again for the Scottish Cup, and we’re in the semi-final.

“But the form that we’ve been in since the turn of the year was blistering. Even in our last game, we scored five against St Mirren at home, and that was a fine example of the form that we’d had. It’s a difficult thing to do at that stage of the season as well, but mentally and physically, they were in a fantastic place.

“I was delighted with individual performances but also the team as a collective was outstanding.

“Defensively, as a unit, we’ve been functioning great. We even changed the formation and they were very flexible with that as well and adapted to that brilliantly. The football we were playing was fast, free-flowing and we were scoring a lot of goals.

“I was so pleased with players coming back from injury as well. We actually only had one injury at that stage, which was to Michael (Johnston) out of the whole group, so in terms of the fitness levels and their appetite for playing, at that stage they had the real bit between their teeth and we were just rampaging through the league at the time.”

Scottish football has voted to declare the standings in the Championship, League 1 and League 2 but for Celtic and the Premiership, there is a nervous wait to see whether Celtic will be declared champions away from the pitch or we will have the chance to win it on the pitch.

INVINCIBLE by Matt Corr

The Celtic Star’s very own Matt Corr – who you may also know as a Tour Guide at Celtic Park – publishes his first Celtic book, titled INVINCIBLE – early next month. This beautiful hardback book will be the definitive story of Celtic’s magical 2016-17 season – it truly is wonderful, a real joy to read, and brilliantly written by Matt.

If you have been reading Matt’s regular contributions on The Celtic Star or indeed in the Matchday Programme or in the Celtic View you will know just how talented a Celtic writer he is. The book is published by The Celtic Star and you can pre-order below.

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