Neil Lennon has been given the seal of approval by Celtic’s largest shareholder Dermot Desmond following the defeat to Ibrox on Saturday. According to The Scottish Sun, Desmond and Peter Lawwell have decided that Lennon has done enough to retain their support following a performance review.
The club had promised a performance review in January following a dismal run of just two wins in twelve games. However, Lennon appeared to address the slump with six wins from six, with the Quadruple Treble being sealed in that time. Although the league damage suffered in the poor run of fixtures coupled with the defeat to Rangers, leaves Celtic 19 points behind the Ibrox side.
Celtic have three games in hand and there is a glimmer of hope that the league can still be one – however distant. Lennon and the team are currently in Dubai but face an enormous task on their return in order to claw back the points advantage held by Steven Gerrard’s side.
The likelihood is that Celtic need to plan ahead for the next season – 2021/22. The team will likely be reshaped with a number likely to leave either this month or next summer. Meaning that if there is a new manager, they and their staff will need to be in place well in advanced to get the ball rolling for the next year. Celtic have a habit of failing to capitalise from positions of strength as well as failing to plan ahead – exemplified by the fact that we continue to play European Qualifiers without recognised defenders or strikers.
Standards at an all time low @CelticFC
The managers job being treated with complete disdain. No accountability and no sense of pride.
Absolutely no clue where we go from here as a club.
Embarrassing.
— The Cynic (@90MinuteCynic) January 4, 2021
Celtic not following up their review declaration with clear and concise communication is so small-time and embarrassing.
— The Grand Auld Podcast (@GrandAuldPod) January 4, 2021
Instead we are basically instructed to be on The Daily Record or The Scottish Sun website at 10:30pm every night to even get a sense of what the club are thinking.
Do you hate those outlets? Well unlucky because the support actually depend on them and it is Celtic’s fault.
— The Grand Auld Podcast (@GrandAuldPod) January 4, 2021
As The Grand Auld Podcast points out, Celtic have leaked a story late at night about the outcome of a meeting, that supporters are desperate to know the outcome of, to a newspaper that occasionally take pot shots at the club when there are numerous fan outlets that pay their season tickets and also create Celtic related content.
The club need to increase dialogue with fan media and help steer the direction of the club away from what appears to be completely stagnated. 10IAR is not over, it hangs by a thread. We all knew that it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity and the failure to prepare has resulted in the club looking down an enormous Rangers lead. It would always come down to a massive overhaul of personnel but ideally, it would have been under better circumstances. So the club would have known that there would have been an enormous amount of planning needed to prepare and consolidate any changes that may take place.
