It was an interesting decision from Neil Lennon to choose to accept an offer from BT Sport to run a critical and tactical eye over Celtic’s performance against Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday night. Aside from the fact it resembled a jilted boyfriend critiquing the performance of the new fella’s bedroom prowess having been dumped for being a far from satisfactory lover himself, it was also simply a show of poor manners.
Now I don’t know Neil Lennon’s financial position of course but I’m certain he’s not so short of a bob or two that he particularly needed the pieces of silver on offer from Thursday night’s broadcast hosts. Certainly the recent Celtic Plc results indicate that he received a very large six figure sum when he left the club in March. Nor do I believe there weren’t other media opportunities elsewhere that wouldn’t have involved having to criticise a Celtic manager under pressure when he himself knew just how it feels. And I’m fairly sure he wasn’t there to offer some sort of moral support to the Celtic’s new boss otherwise a mobile telephone number left at reception with the message ‘call me if you need to talk’ may have sufficed.
“The fundamentals of a football club like this are still winning and taking pride in your performance, not losing 4-0 at home.”
“Where are the leaders?”
🍀 A fascinating chat with Neil Lennon and Paul Lambert following Celtic’s fifth defeat in eight games.#UEL pic.twitter.com/ApyMHj9uhc
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) September 30, 2021
Now we all have to make a living, we all have bills to pay, but for Neil Lennon the timing of his appearance, less than three months into Postecoglou’s attempts to clean up the inherited shambles and shattered confidence of the scorched earth he himself left behind, smacks of a lack of decorum and it also smacks of someone who was willing to put a minor amount of personal gain ahead of the recovery of a club who he like to portray as close to his heart.
If you do then you give the new man room to breathe, you don’t pop into his workplace and accuse him of naivety and his players of kamikaze defending while he’s shovelling your…well let’s go with Chris Sutton’s manure analogy, this is a family publication after all!
I possibly wouldn’t mind so much, but it was clear throughout Lennon was willing to criticise but not acknowledge the part he played in the decline of standards at Celtic – same as it ever was. I also wouldn’t mind so much if Lennon hadn’t ignored the fact he’d lost four goals to Sparta Prague reserves – twice – some twelve months ago when tactically analysing a home defeat to the team lying second in the Bundesliga.
Nor would I mind if he wasn’t simply doing this gig to put himself in the shop window and try and sell himself as a more pragmatic manager than the one in the Celtic dugout, particularly when in truth he’s now attempting to polish a turd and I’m not sure the Crewe Alexandra or Burton Albion chairman would be tuning in to watch Celtic in Europe in any case, and that’s very much the size and challenge Neil Lennon will be hoping to attract at best after the colossal mess he made of his previous job.
In short this was a no-one wins decision from Neil Lennon on Thursday night, and as much as a man like Lennon has more than enough credit as a legendary Celtic player and once successful Celtic manager, I’d expect him to have a bit more about him than to add his voice to those criticising Ange Postecoglou so early into the job that he’s had no chance to make his own mark and is still having to clear up after the guy handing out the advice.
Do us a favour Lenny, just keep a low profile for now because all your doing is harming us and there is very little you are going to get out of it in any case. As the saying goes, ‘Good manners opens the closed doors, bad manners close the open doors.’ And we’d all prefer the door at Celtic was open for you, it’s just a good idea to be cleverer as to the timing of the invite you accept.
Niall J
This rebuild journey will not be easy or quick @CelticFC was a complete shambles when Ange was appointed. Progress is frustratingly slow on the playing side, while the business remains dysfunctional. Ange needs time & all the backing we can offer from supporters & the moneymen HH pic.twitter.com/Y9aM4F5hmw
— Celtic Gossip (@CelticGossip) October 2, 2021
READ THIS…Celtic are now so far behind the curve but that isn’t on Ange
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Some of you guys just have to be kidding about Lennon’s “lack of decorum”!
It was a distinct lack of decorum and respect for our previous manager which forced him to walk away.
What did he say that’s not 100% accurate?
What I really can’t wrap my head around is how some fans want to give Ange time to get it right, yet couldn’t get Lennon out fast enough! Like it or not Ange is not a patch on Lennon and frankly, never will be.
Ange is on a par with John Barnes and Ronny Deila! He is a clueless one dimensional manager who like the two aforementioned ex “managers” never had a plan B! In fact, these three don’t have a plan A either!
The other thing they all had or have in common is that they have no knowledge of what it means and needs to be Celtic!
This is another thing Lennon had and has in bucketloads!
Mistakes Lennon made were because of that knowledge and passion! Not because he lacked it!
So the patience with Ange is ridiculous! A cheap option who has already cost us multiple times what we thought we’d saved by hiring him!
A man who took a job knowing he would inherit coaches and a backroom staff who stabbed the last manager in the back!
He has no backbone, no tactics, no knowledge of the size of the club, the passion of the fans or simply what it means to be Celtic!
Hiring Ange was a bit like buying a derelict house without realizing you don’t know how to fix it up!
He has cost us far more in less than six months than we saved, and he will continue to accumulate costs until he is kicked into touch and replaced with a manager who knows his trade. It certainly isn’t Ange!
His hiring has turned the biggest club, in fact, Scotland’s ONLY big club, into a laughing stock!
Best thing I’ve read in days Joe !
Joe, agree 100%!
tommythecommy
Can’t disagree with most of that Joe.
Neil Lennon gave everything to Celtic as a player and manager and he would be the first to hold up his hands when mistakes were made. He also spoke out about racism and bigotry and always gave his opinions in an open and honest way.
Compare that to the Celtic Board who have failed to stick up for our club, have failed to take on the SFA when it was needed, have constantly undermined managers by selling our best players so the balance sheet could look good.
Celtic’s problems come from a board that lack ambition and back bone, that sit there taking salaries for failure, two recent examples being Howe and McKay and never own up to their mistakes.