Kris Commons is the latest ex-Celtic player to stand up for his pal Neil Lennon by attacking those who currently wear the jersey right now, and as with most of those who’ve done so his comments come over as utterly ridiculous and lacking in credibility.
No other Celtic squad – not even the Lions – has put together a spell of such domestic dominance.
Some of these players have won everything they’ve competed for these past four years, and that has propelled them to the very pinnacle of excellence and accomplishment as far as the Scottish game is concerned. They are without equal in it.
This is why I get angry whenever I hear Lennon or anyone else accuse these guys of not caring and lacking heart of commitment.
The disrespect it shows to these footballers and what they have achieved is staggering, and especially when that sort of criticism comes from players who didn’t come close to their standards of success or professionalism.
Even amidst all this, they managed to raise their game at Hampden and win a place in yet another cup final.
They don’t look to me like players who lack interest.
They look like players who are sick fed up being lambasted and made the scapegoats for other people’s mistakes.
If it wasn’t for the ability of these footballers to produce moments of individual brilliance, we’d already be too far behind in the race to even dream of catching up.
I go back to what I said the other day; if there was any truth in this allegation about players chucking it then all the manager has to do is utilise this squad he has and drop them. He hasn’t done that. The same guys he’s been lashing for weeks still walk into the team.
Commons has a particular problem lecturing anyone on credibility and not wanting to do for the manager though.
His infamous touchline strop against Ronny Deila is one of the defining images of his Celtic career, and whatever his attitude was in the dressing room was so negative, and so beyond what was acceptable, that Brendan Rodgers never gave him a minute of first team football.
Out of respect for the player and what he gave us, nobody has ever really dug down deep and wanted to ask why that was the case. Commons clearly had talent and was only nine goals away from joining Celtic’s 100 club.
Yet Rodgers didn’t even grant him the opportunity to show what he could do; he was clearly unimpressed with something.
Commons wouldn’t get those questions if he didn’t keep inviting them.
There are players who can ask questions about this squad and what their relationship is like with the manager – those questions are entirely legitimate and maybe even necessary – but their professionalism and heart and courage isn’t up for debate, and especially not by this tabloid wannabe.
It’s hard to take Commons seriously anyway, considering some of his columns over the past year or so.
He, too, has been hypercritical of Lennon at times … he changes his mind like the weather, which might be a good analogy as I get the impression that Commons doesn’t really know what he thinks until there’s a bandwagon going by and he can jump on it.
Please read our article on our new Facebook strategy, and bookmark the sites mentioned in it.