Today Neil Lennon brought to an end – or did he? – one of the best social media rumours of all time; that he has a secret (not so secret) Twitter account in which he defends his record, promotes his cause and attacks his critics with real vehemence.
I have hugely enjoyed all the controversy around this, and I can sort of understand where the stories came from and why they were believed. But Lennon has no need to act in such a way. He’s got access to every mainstream media outlet in the country, and he’s used them all several times to defend that record.
Indeed, he’s not in the least bit shy about doing it. For that reason alone, I’ve never really understood how anyone could believe that he feels the need to do something as madcap as that. Besides, it’s a little too visceral on there at times and a little too obvious. Lennon is much smarter than that, and he always has been.
Lennon has had an interesting weekend, denying this story and raking through the past. But actually, whereas he did not need to explain that one he did something else this weekend that is far more worthy of headlines and he’s done it at an opportune moment.
Lennon took responsibility for the COVID season collapse. And I was pleased that he did that, because I don’t want to bear this guy any ill will. He did his best for Celtic. I just never thought he was ever good enough to be in the job; that doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate his efforts and his commitment to the cause. He showed that in spades.
My gripe with Lennon these past couple of years is that he did everything he could not to accept his own role in what went wrong, and this weekend past he finally owned up to it and faced the truth on it, and although he still offered the circumstances of that year as mitigation, he’s pretty much done all that you could ever ask of him in this regard.
And in a sense he’s right, of course, and he’s always been right to say that season knocked us off course and that the absence of fans hurt us badly … where the argument falls down is that it’s the job of the manager to overcome these issues.
Still, he’s had a good weekend and I got a kick out of his setting the record straight on his Siamese twin! It’s the funniest story I’ve read today except the latest one about Tillman. I’ll get to that one tomorrow. It’s a bloody beauty.
Why is he decidin tae take responsibility now tho ? Does he see himself back at CP in some capacity sooner or later ? Should be rememberin his arrogance and sheer contempt for the support while he was at it.
Several times he’s posted selfies that most likely only he would have on his phone before swiftly deleting them. The acct very likely belongs to him.