Neil Lennon’s legacy at Celtic is not up for debate. As a player, he was a fighter in the middle of the park. As a manager, he worked under pressures that may have crushed other people…
He endured things no one should ever have to endure simply for representing Celtic in Scotland. For all that, he deserves respect, deep, enduring respect.
But when Lennon pops up these days to defend Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawwell, he sounds less like the defiant captain of Celtic’s resistance and more like a soldier still patrolling a war that ended years ago. The world has changed, but Lenny’s still saluting the flag.
In his latest defence of the board, he told supporters they’ll “struggle to get better men” than the ones already in charge.
His comments appeared in an exclusive interview with The Scottish Sun, the same paper that, on 5 September, ran a high-profile story questioning Brendan Rodgers’ future and transfer dealings. That article was widely rumoured to have drawn on briefings from within Celtic’s own corridors of power, though no names were attached.
For many fans, that context matters. When Lennon chooses The Sun as the platform to praise the very figures who have long shaped the club’s internal narrative, it doesn’t just sound like loyalty, it feels like alignment.
When pressed about the Celtic Fans Collective’s call for structural change, Lennon doubled down.
“I think it’s unnecessary, I don’t agree with it,” he said, before adding, with a touch of sarcasm, “Good luck” to anyone hoping to find better leadership.
Of Dermot Desmond, Lennon was almost reverential.
“Dermot is a genius, for me. Not just from a sporting point of view, but an intellectual point of view. He’s very successful, probably the most successful man I’ve ever come across, in terms of what he’s earned and generated and built in his career. He’s on an intellectual level of no one else I’ve ever come across. He is very forward thinking, always looking to the future.”
He spoke in similarly glowing terms about Peter Lawwell.
“Peter is not only a great administrator but very astute. I fell out with him loads of times, as you would do, over deals or contracts or whatever. But everything he did was for the betterment of Celtic Football Club. Every deal, every decision made, the club always came first.”
Lennon concluded by calling their stewardship “incredible,” crediting them with Celtic’s stability, sustainability, and success over the past two decades.
It’s easy to understand why Lennon feels that way. Desmond and Lawwell gave him his chance, backed him when others wouldn’t and stood beside him in dark days. Gratitude is human and loyalty is admirable. But the real question isn’t about Lennon’s gratitude, it’s about whether Celtic, as a club and a community, can still afford to be run on gratitude.
Because this isn’t really about loyalty anymore, it’s about conditioning. Celtic’s inner circle has long been a culture of courtesies, of soft power dressed in warmth. It’s the phone call when you’re under fire, the private word of reassurance, the nod that says, you’re one of us. It’s the quiet privileges, the invitations to the inner sanctum, the protections, all the small gestures that blur the line between gratitude and obligation.
None of it’s sinister, not overtly. That’s the beauty of it. It’s simply how the club’s hierarchy keeps its shape, through the polite maintenance of loyalty. It’s a world where proximity to power is its own reward, and questioning that power is seen as betrayal, not bravery.
So, when Lennon defends Desmond and Lawwell with the fervour of a man protecting family, it’s not malice, it’s muscle memory. But the Celtic support he once led so fearlessly has evolved. The modern fanbase is wiser, hungrier, and far from willing to tug the forelock.
The Celtic Fans Collective aren’t being reckless by asking for change. They’re not ungrateful or short-memoried. They’re simply looking at a club that dominates domestically yet too often fails in Europe, that trades on its global stature while acting like a regional franchise. They see a structure that rewards caution, not ambition.
That Lennon can’t see that, or won’t, is telling. It’s as if the uniform of loyalty has become too familiar to shed. He still sees the board as noble guardians, rather than what they’ve become, custodians who mistake stewardship for ownership.
The tragedy is that Lennon once embodied Celtic’s refusal to bow to anyone. Now he seems to bow by instinct. He speaks the language of establishment, of faith in benevolent masters, of gratitude for what’s been “given.”
But the war Lennon’s still fighting, the one that defends power from scrutiny, is over. The modern Celtic support has moved on. We don’t want kings and patrons. We want a club that reflects its people, not rules over them.
Neil Lennon will always be part of the club’s history, but right now, he’s standing on the wrong side of its future.
Niall J
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Has it occurred to some of you clowns, that the people with the most first hand knowledge, hands on experience, literally YEARS of “in the trenches” at the business end of things who as a player, a captain, coach, two times manager like Neil Lennon who tickes EVERY BOX, just MIGHT have SLIGHTLY better ACTUAL input than you?
You see, if any of you are parents, you HOPEFULLY know that you don’t give your kids everything they want EVERY TIME THEY KICK AND SCREAM!
You don’t submit each time they THROW THEIR TOYS ON THE FLOOR!
SOMETIMES, THE GROWNUPS ARE ACTUALLY RIGHT!
Just like in this case!
The board knows what they are doing!
Accept it and start supporting the team team and club!
Stop being wee crybabies!