No matter what happens Neil Lennon is a Celtic legend. The Irishman has had a twenty year affinity with the club and has won twenty major honours in that time, including ten league titles. Lennon is under fire for recent poor performances and the consensus is that he should be relieved of his duties as faith in him turning the season around fades. However, one man that has taken this time to stick a cheap shot in against Lennon is former Sky Sports presenter Charlie Nicholas.
Nicholas has popped up and decided to give his opinion on whether he feels that Lennon ‘earned’ the Celtic managerial job. There was a portion of supporters that did not want Lennon to take over from Brendan Rodgers on a permanent basis in May 2019, owing to his old school nature but nevertheless, he was back to the hilt. I was at Ibrox in May 2019 and applauded him after we were beaten by Rangers, the same earlier that month when he helped seal 8IAR at Pittodrie and then at the Cup Final, when his team came back to beat Hearts 2-1.
Lennon stepped into the breach for Celtic and put his reputation on the line as a club legend. Nicholas has taken this opportunity to try and settle a score, owing to Lennon rightfully calling him out for his record on Celtic in the past. Nicholas’ Daily Record comments are predominately at the board, who should rightfully be under immense scrutiny but the digs at Lennon are juvenile and embarrassing.
“When Neil came back, he didn’t earn the right to become Celtic manager.
“Neil is an old-fashioned manager and a Martin O’Neill-type, who will let his coaches get on with things. The problem that has been growing for me – and I have said it before – is the cheapness and the way Celtic go about things.”
Nicholas is probably on the money when he calls out Peter Lawwell’s cheapness, such as designing Lennon’s backroom staff. Lennon, a club legend and supporter applied for the job in 2016 but was knocked back in place of Rodgers.
“The Celtic board knew he would be desperate for the job and wouldn’t debate things too much. It was the easy option.
“He would accept Hammond being foisted upon him in the same way that John Kennedy and Gavin Strachan were.
“He also accepted the transfers when I said a good few weeks ago that they were the wrong players for his system.
“I have very little sympathy for Neil because he has caused his own problems, his own weakness at Celtic has now left them in this untenable position.”
Lennon was offered the job on the back of the Treble Treble success, he was arguably one of the best names for the job at the time but what irked Celtic fans is that Lawwell didn’t interview anyone. There was no process by which he reviewed the CVs and made a decision based on facts that Lennon should be the right manager, instead it was a job offer in the showers – which degraded Lennon from the get go.
The protests and anger shouldn’t be towards Neil Lennon, it should be towards Peter Lawwell and Dermot Desmond – who have allowed the club to regress while rewarding themselves for doing so.
