“No one man is bigger than the club”. Do you remember those sentiments? The standard reply to players who had been accused of holding the club to ransom.
Look where we are today. Humiliated by St Mirren, trolled by Livingston. Eight wins from twenty four and a handsomely paid manager who refuses to accept any responsibility whatsoever.
There has been a time when I have blamed the board for this debacle but with every passing hour I find myself becoming more and more hostile towards Neil Lennon. I have no more goodwill or grace or even sentiment because of his previous achievements to grant the man.
Any self-respecting Celtic man would have held their hands up and thanked the club for giving them the opportunity to fulfil a dream and left.
I don’t care about what levels you’ve played at, national, Champions League, domestic, amateur or on a Sunday over the park with your mates or all of the above … If you’re a supporter you always want what’s best for the club.
I question now whether he is a supporter or a failed manager picking up a wage for as long as he can before the inevitable.
But my hostility for Lennon is now spilling over to the players and I’m questioning their commitment to the club despite everything they’ve achieved and it doesn’t feel right.
I’ve lived through terrible times as a supporter, even when we were demonstrating against the Whytes and Kellys, when attendance were rock bottom, but this period, this year is the first time I’ve felt detached from the club I’ve supported man and boy for 50 years.
Neil Lennon’s legacy has been tarnished and I’m afraid to say beyond repair.
I was honestly struck senseless when he was laying out his transfer plans for next season, I thought is this man delusional? Or just completely blind to the groundswell of opinion against him?
As a society we are undoubtedly living in extraordinary times, a time when even the strongest of characters mental health is being put to the test and wondered with Neil Lennon’s well documented mental health battles is he also struggling? If so Peter Lawwell has not just failed him, he’s thrown him to the lions.
This Celtic board and management team have failed the support spectacularly.
We’ll never stop supporting this club we love, but those in charge at this present, and pointing the links and irish heritage we are so proud of makes it all the more heartbreaking are in danger of breaking a link forged over many lifetimes that may take decades to be re-forged unless they act now and bring this sorrowful show to an end.
David Early
