NEIL LENNON has insisted that he is delighted to get his squad back together as the Scottish Champions look to create domestic footballing history by surpassing Jock Stein’s record from 1974 and winning 10-in-a-row.
As reported by the Scotsman, Lennon has said that the anticipation is building ahead of a potentially historic season. The players are restricted to non-contact training in small groups until Nicola Sturgeon announces new changes to the current lockdown measures.
“It’s been strange but good to have them back in. We’ve been training them in groups of four, going through running and tactical drills, and a mixture of a bit of both.
“We’ve had to be quite imaginative to bring a bit of variety to the sessions. You are quite limited to what you can do at times but it’s a start.
“It’s been absolutely brilliant getting them all back together again. You can almost feel the anticipation building again and excitement coming back.”
Lennon has said that the break has helped players like Brown and McGregor as it means they can rest ahead of an enormously important season, even if it may begin behind closed doors.
“They are all in great condition. Some of these lads have not had much of a break in three or four years. I’ve been going through the stats and the likes of Scott Brown and Callum McGregor are right at the top of minutes played.
“The break might be a godsend to Scott. He’s looking injury free and really fit. It will take a bit of time to get the football function back, with the twisting and turning, but we’ll eventually be doing games in training and they’ll get up to speed.
“It’s a longer pre-season period, so we are not rushing like we are in previous years. In some summers they only get a couple of weeks off. But this time we can take a common sense approach to it and get quality work into them.”
Celtic are due to return to action in August but as of yet, there is no fixture list only the date to work towards. The fixture list will be gruelling and challenging from the get go and in order to complete on all fronts, Celtic will need to be at their best.
Celtic were on track to win another Treble when the league was called but can still win the Scottish Cup when football resumes later in the year. The Scottish Champions were 13 points clear when the Coronavirus pandemic halted the league prematurely, meaning that Lennon’s team couldn’t improve upon that lead.
Lennon will know how important this next year is and he will stress that to any players that arrive but the rest of the squad will know how important this year is for the club. Continuity is a big thing and that is why re-signing guys like Fraser Forster and Moi Elyounoussi is imperative, they know what is expected of them at Celtic.
