“Nice to have this man in Angels,” Nicky Hood gives Neil Lennon a warm welcome

Neil Lennon certainly seemed to be relaxed and looking well last night when he visited the popular Angels Bar and Restaurant in Uddingston which of course is owned and operated by the Hood family. Nicky Hood, Harry’s son posted this photograph on his social media accounts last night simply saying: “Nice to have this man in angels tonight” and this was received with an overwhelming positive response towards Neil Lennon from the Celtic support as the bitterness shown towards him last season subsides.

No-one would have been more delighted to have won ten-in-a-row than Neil Lennon himself but it wasn’t to be and without the catastrophic collapse last season we could be sitting here today with both the Lennon as the Celtic manager and Peter Lawwell as his CEO, enjoying one of his favourite months of the year when he gets to play Football Manager by fancying himself as our undercover Director of Football, backed by Neil Lennon’s ‘eye for a player’.

The situation now is that Ange Postecoglou, while working within the financial limitations of the club, is targeting the players he wants to sign, so far his judgement has been impeccable and new CEO Michael Nicholson isn’t hanging around to the last minutes of the transfer window to try to bring in players on lowball offers. Instead three exciting signings from Japan’s J-League – Daizen Maeda, Yosuke Ideguchi, and Reo Hatate – have been announced and so far two of the thee have been unveiled by Celtic.

Neil Lennon didn’t have the authority to work the way Ange does at Celtic because he was always a Peter Lawwell recruit and while they thought that they’d done everything they possibly could to deliver the title last season, so much went wrong that was in their control (poor signings, holding onto the wantaways, failing to recognise from around October than a change was needed, Dubai etc), more happened that was clearly out with their control (Boligoli’s trip to Spain, the two postponement ordered by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the Covid outbreak in the Scotland camp ahead of the first Glasgow Derby and much more.

Throw in honest mistakes, penalties to theRangers and their remarkable record of zero red cards and there was little to no chance of Celtic winning that league title as Operation Stop the Ten provide to be a winner, delivering a first ever major honour for the Ibrox club Charles Green founded in 2012.

Here are some of the comments from Nicky Hood’s tweet: “Will always be a Celtic legend”…”Not a Legend for me albeit a successful Celtic player. Sided with Peter and Desmond in calling us entitled and waited for a pay-off to leave. Took no responsibility for the shambles of last season.Tells you everything he is still out of a job”…” Lenny, great to see him smiling again”…”My hero forever”…”Could have been a legend but arrogance got in the way and his inability to take any blame is a massive downfall”…”Celtic football club legend”…”A good man. All went tits up at the end but wish him well”…”Came into Dundee pub few years back after Dundee game v Hibs at Dens. Was Hibs manager then. An absolute gentleman he was. Sat with us Dees fans and chatted and posed for photos with us. Top lad is Neil”…

“Last season was a nightmare from top to bottom, Lenny played his part in that but was by no means solely to blame, still regard him as a Celtic legend”…”Agree we seem to be slaughtering people quickly and easily these days. I wonder how representative the generally twitter fans that hate him really are. Hard to gauge. Not sure criteria but legend or great in my book.”…”Been plenty of disappointments from differing celtic signings and managers in my lifetime but can honestly say I’ve not hated any of them, well apart from one”…

“Will always be a Celtic legend no matter what some say. Wish he would accept some of the blame for last season though would get more respect”…”Good to see him smiling again, it fell apart last season but still be a legend for me”…”Oh – Smiths is pretty good for grub too – but Angels easy the best pub, but we’ve got something twice as good”….

Many believe that Neil Lennon was harshly treated by Celtic Supporters last winter. That anger mostly appears to have subsided and it’s certainly great to see our former captain and manager looking so relaxed and enjoying his night out at Angels. Hopefully he’ll enjoy reading Matt Corr’s brilliant biography, Harry Hood Twice as Good, which is published by Celtic Star Books and is available to order below. You can also pick up a copy from the official Celtic stores. And you can also get a copy over at Angels…