The people inside our club, those at the top, have spent the last couple of weeks telling us that we have to back them.
This would be easier to do if they took a shred of personal responsibility. Instead, they are working hard only at spreading the blame.
Lennon started out blaming the players. Then he blamed the global health crisis. Amazingly, he hasn’t blamed referees although there is still time. He went back to blaming the players. Now he’s putting the onus on the supporters. It’s as if he believes this is all a conspiracy to hold the club back.
Nowhere has he pointed the finger at himself and his coaches.
The board is doing a good job of blaming the fans for everything.
If they blame the manager for any of this, they haven’t indicated that in public. They may be singing a different tune in private, but for now the current crisis is the product of supporter dissatisfaction which the directors believe is entirely misplaced after nearly a decade of success.
It’s easy to understand why they are doing this. The manager can’t admit that he might be the problem in case the directors decide to solve it at a stroke. Lennon is defending what’s left of his reputation in the game. He knows he might never work in it again otherwise.
The trouble with all of it is that blaming the players doesn’t make them inclined to run through walls for you. The manager blaming the fans is just plain crazy.
The board blaming fans is even crazier, of course, but that’s the strategy. The fans are being lambasted in the media again today, all of them, because a handful of goons decided to put up a “Shoot The Board” banner. Lennon says none of this helps the first team focus on winning games, as if fan discontent was a new thing in their lives.
The players are not playing badly because they are getting online stick from the fans. Lennon was saying that it was the absence of fans that were affecting them not that long ago; I didn’t buy that explanation either. All the clubs are dealing with it. Others are coping with that.
The people inside Celtic need to stop looking for excuses, and yes that includes the players. The board cannot blame the fans for being unhappy with what we’re watching, and especially not when those who have bought season tickets aren’t allowed in the grounds.
The manager has to take some responsibility for his own failures, instead of trying to blame other people for them. It’s not going to wash.
The club will be in a better place when those who are failing look at their own performances and those around them.
Then, and only then, is an honest assessment possible, and with it the beginning of finding the answers.
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