Watching Neil Lennon at his presser today, you are reminded that the Celtic board doesn’t think we’ve fallen far enough yet for decisive action, despite those who have decided to sign up with betfair to back a revival being left thoroughly disappointed. Seeing us ready to sell Ntcham for a fraction of his worth reeks of self-sabotage.
The CEO and the manager know the game is up. They’re both determined to stay as long as they can. Their reputations are shredded.
Both men are perfectly capable of taking the club with them.
Watching recent events, you would be forgiven for thinking they are not only willing to but trying to.
The Rumour Guy wrote earlier about the Trumpian spectacle of our leadership downing tools. That’s so on the money it makes me want to scream in frustration. Lennon has abandoned the slightest pretence of running a united dressing room. The board has completely abandoned any pretence that they are committed to the strength of the team.
Above all else, they have not acted to fire Lennon. His every press conference is an insult to the support, and the worse this gets and the longer they fail to act the more it looks as if they’re keeping him in place to spite us.
There can be no other explanation for it, because there is no longer the slightest argument to be made that he is the “best man for the job” even in the short term. As I said earlier, the only people who really want him to stay are at Ibrox.
There is no longer any question that the players are fed up playing under this guy.
He has sickened the squad to the point that there would likely be a mass exodus if he got as far as the summer. Faced with the choice of losing Lennon or the bulk of the first team squad I’d have sided with the players long before this unravelling gathered momentum.
I think most of them would leave if we were pre rather than mid-season.
The season ticket base will be gone long before we get to that point.
Many fans that I know are sick and tired of even listening to him. I find looking at his picture unbearable right now, an emotion I have never connected to any person at the club.
Whether you can’t stand this guy or you are one of the last remaining fans he has left, it is impossible to deny that Neil Lennon’s presence around Celtic is so divisive that it’s plainly toxic and the longer he stays the harder it will be for us to recover.
But what’s it going to take for that process even to start?
Surely Lawwell and the board aren’t leaving it up to McKay to finally give Lennon his jotters?
If it’s not that then what’s it going to take? Desmond’s decision not to “pander to the mob” kept a failing manager in place long enough not only to squander any hope of ten in a row but to hand the Ibrox club a double-digit lead which might end up in record breaking territory. So how low can we go?
I expect us to drop points tomorrow night. I just don’t see Lennon having enough about him to win at a ground where we’ve tended to struggle and where their players will be going all-out to impress a new manager.
Our footballers have no interest in saving the one we’ve got. I think we will struggle, and fall further behind. What then?
Well based on current “form” Lennon will be at his Friday press conference preparing for Motherwell at the weekend. At that point, I half expect further protests from the fans.
What the last few weeks have taught us, to our horror, is that this season can always get worse. It was possible, until Frimpong was sold, to cling to the idea that we might get through the window without weakening.
That has been revealed as folly, as this board cannot be trusted to keep their word on a single thing. Ntcham’s departure seemed inevitable.
Our directors lie to us.
The manager has contempt for us.
The players cannot wait to abandon ship. In their position I’d feel the same.
They see a club run in shambolic fashion with no leadership at any level and no signs of ambition for the future.
The best thing about it is the fans … and the fans are pig-sick of the lot of it.
We can’t even see the bottom of this thing yet, and that’s what scares me most.
We really could be in danger of losing even second place.
No-one involved in this should be allowed to toddle off into the sunset with best wishes and a bag full of money; they should be run out of town on a rail.
