Celtic’s stance on Lennon has been bizarre to say the least.
The behaviour of the board has been so offensive to many of the supporters that those who run this club are under pressure like never before.
They have shown such a tin-ear towards the wishes of the fans that it’s given rise to a lot of speculation about what’s really going on up at Parkhead.
Is it possible that the board intends to do nothing? Can it be that they are so completely at odds with supporter opinion that what we see really is all we get? Or are they cooking something up behind the scenes? Are there things going on we which we don’t understand?
The AGM is a good place to spring a surprise; indeed, considering stock market regulations and other legal requirements, it might be the very best place to spring one. Tomorrow is the AGM at Celtic; although it’s going to be a tame affair, I think even that would have been uncomfortable for the board had Lennon’s run without a win continued.
Frankly, they had no reason to expect otherwise. They gambled on facing the full wrath of the fans tomorrow and these men are pretty risk averse.
We assume that one of the reasons they haven’t already terminated Lennon is that they don’t know what to do next.
Or do they? Perhaps they do. Perhaps we’re going to find out tomorrow.
There are hints that some changes are in the wind. Peter Lawwell is not on the list of directors seeking re-election.
I hear lots of whispers that this is his last AGM as CEO … and that he will announce that he’ll be going at the end of the season.
It would be a good place for the changes to start, but it cannot be the last of them.
I’d like to see Bankier go as well.
I think an announcement that the manager will be gone at seasons end one way or another would be a welcome one as well. His appointment was a huge and expensive mistake, and I would hope to God that this is something people inside the club now realise and would like to rectify.
It would give us all a chance to consider the future with more confidence.
As far as this season goes, and the reaction of the fans, it may even put the pin back in the grenade.
Many of those who want Lennon’s head understand that this season might be past us and that finding a top class replacement might need a little work and it might be better to demonstrate loyalty to the current incumbent in the meantime.
I’ll put my cards on the table right now; I’m not one of them. I think removing Lennon is necessary, I don’t think he should get until January far less the end of the season, and I think most top class managers out there would understand the reasons we did it; the European results alone have been quite disgraceful and fully warrant the manager’s dismissal. A couple of wins do not change that or negate the need to demonstrate strength and purpose.
Still, for many people it would be enough. It would give them a reason to back the team and the manager in the here and now, and with stuff still to play for that might well do it. The deeper crisis, which will almost certainly hit this club like a hammer, will be partially averted.
I cannot imagine that we’re not going to get something tomorrow … there has to be more going on here than meets the eye, or our directors are reckless fools and we’re in a Hell of a lot bigger a mess than any of us imagined in our nightmares.
If all we get tomorrow though is the same old nonsense, if the board gamely soldiers on with a failed strategy, if they start planning to spend in January with Lennon as the face of the future, I think we’re heading for a crash of biblical proportions and the standoff will push next season off the cliff as well.
Not that it matters; the loss of the ten makes it Year Zero anyway and there won’t be a better time for those fans who want to teach the board a lesson to do so.
The directors at Celtic have been encased in their own wee bubble for too long. Celtic is not these timid men.
There may be captains of industry and even a genuine billionaire at the top of our club but our club does not depend on their largesse.
Celtic is the fans.
We built the stadium. We pay for the team. The salaries, the bonuses, the transfer fees … it’s all from us.
TV money didn’t build Celtic nor the deep pockets of some rich oligarch.
These men only have what authority our backing bestows on them.
If they cease to be worthy of it – and many of them ceased that ages ago – they can ask themselves what would still stand without it.
Celtic will survive them. So will the fans.
Tomorrow they can give us something, or nothing … there will be changes either way.
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