When Lennon spoke last night to a bog-roll tabloid about the signing of Liam Shaw, he said some things that I found pretty perplexing.
One of those was about the players who want to leave and how he thought some of them might be talked into staying.
He also suggested that the turnover of players won’t be as big as some folk seem to believe.
He’s kidding himself on, certainly on the second of those assertions and, if he’s at the helm, on the first of them as well.
We’re facing major issues in the summer.
I’ve written a lengthy article on what the requirements of the next window are likely to be; we’re looking for at least one player in every position, and perhaps more.
There are areas – such as central midfield and central defence – where we’re losing so many players that two or even three footballers will need to be signed. It’s the biggest rebuild in our recent history and unless we have no interest in mounting a challenge it has to be suffused with quality.
On top of the three key players we’re probably going to sell – Christie, Edouard and Ajer – all the loanees will be returning to their clubs. If Lennon even tries to re-sign any of them that should be added to his growing last of sackable offences.
Add Ntcham to this and we’re probably not going to see him again either.
That’s seven departures. Brown cannot possibly get another deal, or Lennon will play him every week. That’s eight. He’s told us that the keeper isn’t going to be a first pick, so you can call that nine. We’ve lost Frimpong and Abd Elhamed, so there’s no right back or cover for one. So call that ten at a minimum and probably eleven. We need cover on the right.
All this, and we don’t know who else might go.
One site has already applauded the signing of Shaw on the grounds that he can play at central defence and central midfield; look out for this “round holes in square pegs” philosophy being taken to the extreme.
We can hope that’s not the case.
The scrappy nature of tonight’s 1-0 win over Aberdeen – decided by a long range moment of magic from David Turnbull – shows the clear dangers inherent in retaining the current manager.
I think the club has already decided to, but if I’m wrong then the danger of waiting until the summer before dispatching him are hardly less serious; the longer he is there the more the real rebuilding is delayed.
The people running our club are making one almighty mess of this, and if Lennon’s remarks here were supposed to ease our concerns … they just make me wonder what the Hell is wrong with him if he hasn’t grasped the full extent of what needs doing.