Well, Lennon gave us the news that nobody wanted to hear today, and it was not in the least bit surprising.
When you ride your luck the way this club does then these things will happen.
Hatem Abd Elhamed is a doubt for the match, which coupled with the manager’s lack of faith in our left back means that neither position is in good shape.
To cap it, of course, Jullien will now almost certainly start in central defence with Ajer – who has passed a fitness test – at right back … unless we’re going with Ralston.
So we’re in a bit of a state going into this one, which was all too predictable at a club which has an avowed policy of being “risk averse.”
No “risk averse” club would take these deplorable chances over and over and over again.
This year’s is the worst, the most dangerous, with more than just European qualification and advancement at stake.
I try not to paint a “worst case scenario” picture, but Lennon today said he expects three or four more signings before the window shuts.
It would have been hugely helpful had at least two of those come before this game, but we all know that this is those above the manager playing their standard game of “wait and see.”
We don’t have to though to know that if we’re knocked out of the Europa League that there will dire consequences for the football operation.
Lennon will be lucky to get one more player if that happens, and this is entirely self-inflicted, this entirely the product of awful decision making in our own house.
If we get beaten tomorrow night and we’re staring at the exit door, with no European football at all, it will be exactly what this club deserves for the shambolic nature of its planning and execution.
That we’re heading into this game with a makeshift back line – as we clearly are now – is damning of those who are in positons of “responsibility” at Celtic Park.
As should be clear to even the most blinkered Lawwell supporter, the board’s strategy has exposed us to a monumental degree of risk in this window, and if we’ve lost the chance at European income after having sold Tierney every penny of the money we got for him will vanish into the black hole in the finances, leaving us scandalously short as a result.
And that will have knock-on effects beyond just going out of Europe.
Our ability to make it through a gruelling domestic campaign would be severely compromised.
The fact we’re here at all, even talking about this as a realistic scenario, is, to my mind, a sacking offence for those who’ve gotten us into this mess.
This window has been nothing short of a disaster, and the failures in it nothing short of a disgrace. We are going into a match of huge significance and mammoth importance tomorrow night biting our nails because the team is weaker than it was when last season ended.
That is disgraceful for a club our size.