CELTIC released a statement last night saying that the club were not complacent and that they were endeavouring to continue the success of recent years. However, the statement missed the point, it gave lip-service to everyone being all in this together but the scenes outside Celtic Park proved that wasn’t the case.
The gathering and protests on The Celtic Way were avoidable. The club should have communicated with the supporters that there would be a review underway on Monday morning and that they would be in touch regarding the future of the manager. People would have still been angry and rightly so, two wins in ten is not good enough but they would have felt as if their frustrations were being heard by the club.
If they decide to back Neil Lennon then they should say that themselves – we think Neil has the talent and expertise to turn this around. Instead, guys like Keith Jackson have been given ‘exclusives’ from ‘senior sources’ have come out telling the supporters that the club have no plans to change the personnel in the dugout.
The treatment of Lennon from the club and some supporters has been shameful. He is a club legend, who has won twenty major trophies for the football club but his managerial shortcomings have been exposed. If these are evident to us as the support and our opponents, why can’t our Chief Executive see this and act upon it?
Lennon did Lawwell a turn when he stepped into the void that Brendan Rodgers’ departure created. The attention of the departure fell upon Rodgers and not the reasons that the Irishman decided that enough was enough but despite pocketing over £9m for the signature of Rodgers and his staff, Lawwell gave Lennon just two coaches – John Kennedy and Damien Duff in a scarce backroom.
This would have been adequate until the end of the 2018/19 season before adding and strengthening ahead of the new season. Unfortunately there was no recruitment but that didn’t matter, the management trio found a way to work together and Celtic sealed 9IAR. Damien Duff left and that left just Lennon and Kennedy. Duff’s departure was the first blow of the 10IAR season.
If the club believe Lennon is the man then they need to publicly support him and offer him all the support that he needs – financially and personnel wise.
We still have twenty five league games remaining. League titles are not won in December nor are they lost but the attainable gap between sides can fade. Celtic need to explicitly back Neil Lennon or pay him off as this twilight zone helps absolutely no one.
Ten in a row is not a formality nor is it a pipe dream it is achievable but the club’s senior management need to act and offer Neil Lennon the dignity that he has earned.
