There has been a lot of interesting talk this week from our manager Neil Lennon and some Celtic players. Firstly, Lennon claimed it was ‘abysmal’ and a ‘slap in the face’ that no Celtic player had been nominated for SPL Player of the Year, a view that was echoed by Charlie Mulgrew yesterday. Lennon then went on twitter to claim his comments had been blown out of all proportion.
Then earlier today, Lennon appeared on ‘Football Focus’ and refused to confirm his future with Celtic, just stating that he will ‘have talks’ with Peter Lawwell and the rest of the board when the season ends. Both sets of comments were interesting for different ways – firstly, I can understand Lennon being annoyed about none of our players being nominated for POTY, but in all honesty none have really been consistent enough in the SPL, not even Kris Commons, undoubtedly our best player in the last couple of months. His reaction was over the top – and not for the first time. Today’s revelations are even more intriguing, as it seems to me that Lennon is waiting to see what will happen with his budget for next season and what players will be staying or going before committing to his future, the decision will have to be made soon as possible as Celtic’s Champions League campaign next season starts in July.
Now the talking must stop for a while as Celtic head to Fir Park to take on second placed Motherwell. It will be a much changed team from last week, as Lennon has opted to give some players time off this week, indeed Joe Ledley has been tweeting from Dubai – which made him look foolish in my opinion, in fact it’d be better if the Celtic hierarchy told everyone on the playing side to take a ‘break’ from twitter. Other players that have been ‘rested’ this week are Ambrose, Wilson and Commons, so there will be a load of changes, especially at the back.
It seems likely that Thomas Rogne – who seems likely to leave at the end of the season – will partner Charlie Mulgrew at the back. It’s a pity about Rogne as seemed to have a bright future at Celtic – he turned in a couple of great performances at Ibrox for example – but since turning down a new contract he has not featured. It wouldn’t surprise me if he featured in all of the games running up the the cup final – but not in the cup final. Adam Matthews and Scott Brown are still out – hopefully both will return in time for the cup final.
It would seem likely that the likes of Rogic, McGeouch and Gershon will feature tomorrow, they haven’t really featured since a fine performance in a 3-1 win at Inverness. Tony Watt, who hasn’t really kicked on this season would also seem a certain starter. It would be good to the see the likes of Atatjic and Chalmers from the development squad featuring too.
As for our opponents, Stuart McCall’s team have done very well this season and are almost guaranteed to finish in second place. Their dangermen are obviously Michael Higdon – who was nominated for POTY – Nicky Law and the talisman James McFadden. It wouldn’t surprise me if McFadden ended up at Celtic next season, as he has done very well at Motherwell this season. He’s still only 30 and has the type of gallus guile and creativity that Celtic currently lack.
The previous games this season against Motherwell have showed both sides of Celtic’s character, firstly a great performance in a 2-0 win at Fir Park early in the season, a hard fought 1-0 win at Parkhead and then a poor performance in a 2-1 defeat at Fir Park in February. Sunday’s game will be tough as Celtic will be playing a side made up mostly of fringe players against a Motherwell side in good form, but these are the types of games the fringe players must shine in to try and get a first team place. A hard fought win would be a fine result.