NEIL LENNON yesterday jumped to the defence of the man who brought him back to Celtic on a temporary basis at the end of February, after Brendan Rodgers walked out on the club, then appointed him as the permanent Celtic manager in the shower-room at Hampden after the Scottish Cup Final against Hearts on 25 May.
Lawwell then spoke to the media that evening and promised that there would be money for the manager to spend to improve the squad.
So far there has been a steady exodus of players leaving, including Kieran Tierney who was sold to Arsenal for £25million and three first team arrivals, two of whom were left on the bench last Tuesday as Celtic surrendered our Champions League ambitions with Callum McGregor being forced to play at left back.
It was a complete and utter shambles. Neil Lennon blamed the players but the support – including The Celtic Star – blamed two men, the CEO Peter Lawwell and the manager Neil Lennon.
It’s not really surprising that Lennon would spring to the defence of the man who gave him the job. It’s okay to blame the players, now it’s the supporters’ fault but don’t blame the boss.
“The abuse Peter Lawwell gets is very unfair, I think it’s totally imbalanced,” Neil Lennon said yesterday, as reported the morning in Scottish Sun.
“He’s presided over eight league titles in a row and three Trebles, and we’ve been in the last 16 in the Champions League a few times.
“It’s probably as good a time as Celtic has had for a very long time.”
Asked about Lawwell’s legendary penny pinching techniques, the manager refused to comment.
“I can’t comment on that. I’m not aware of how much money there is. But Peter does what’s best for Celtic, and he always has done, maybe to the detriment of himself sometimes.
“I know he puts the club first at all times.”
While accepting some level of criticism for the 4-3 defeat to Cluj, Lennon reckons that this game has been over analysed.
“The game and the team, and the players and the manager, get analysed to the nth degree these days. You could be doing eight out of ten things right and they will focus on the two things that maybe aren’t right.
“That’s just the nature of where we are now, the game is analysed to death now by everybody. It’s a game we all love and they are entitled to their opinion, and to their judgement on things, and that’s fine.
“It’s not easy to hear, sometimes, but you have to respect it. I don’t read and listen to stuff online. I’d go mad. Just stick to what you believe in and stick to what you know.
“No one knows the dressing room better than myself and my backroom team. No one knows the players better than Scott Brown and the others in there. You’ve got to trust them.”
Asked about Nick Hammond, who has a summer job at Celtic working on recruitment, Lennon had this to report.
“Nick’s going to write up a report and we’ll take it from there. At the minute, there’s a bit of a void in the recruitment system since Lee Congerton left.
“But again, we’re over-analysing the recruitment side of things. Some of it has worked, some of it hasn’t.
“That happens in football, but it’s not the be all and end all. If we go out against AIK and play well and put on a positive performance, things change very quickly again.
“That’s my whole concentration at the minute.”
All the Celtic blogs, with one notable exception, and fans sites have been saying the same things since the defeat to Cluj. Nothing Neil Lennon has said yesterday changes that.
Celtic have a big game tonight and we are once again desperately short of defenders and judging by the manager’s team selection last week even worse off that that for trusted defenders.
He promised three or four new signings before the transfer deadline a week on Monday. By that time we could be out of both the Champions League (needlessly) and even the Europa League and risk going to Ibrox with an under-strength back four.
None of that is the fault of the Celtic supporters who have been vocal in our criticism of the Chief Executive and indeed the manager.
Given that it’s match day, we won’t bother, but we might run a Poll tomorrow asking who is to blame for the Champions League exit – The Celtic Players, the Celtic support, the Celtic Manager or The Celtic CEO and allow readers to select as many options as they like.
BEFORE that we need to get our act together collectively and take care of AIK…
Tonight needs everyone of us to get behind the team. It will be nervy at times and we need to roar the bhoys on. It's time to go to war united as one. HH pic.twitter.com/Wm3AOlEp5T
— Celtic Gossip (@CelticGossip) August 22, 2019
