Even Neil Lennon is calling this board out. Celtic, it’s time to wake up.

Neil Lennon’s comments on Martin O’Neill are interesting because they are not particularly controversial, but they do reinforce something many Celtic supporters already feel. The key message is simple: if the club genuinely believes Martin O’Neill is the right man to lead Celtic, then it has to back him properly.

Lennon repeatedly returns to recruitment. That is not accidental. Last season exposed serious weaknesses in Celtic’s transfer strategy. The January arrivals failed to make the impact expected, and O’Neill clearly was not afraid to move players on when he felt they were not good enough.

Lennon is correctly saying that Celtic cannot afford another transfer window filled with projects, punts or signings who do not immediately improve the first team. That should not be a controversial position. It should be the bare minimum.

I wrote about this earlier, but coming from Lennon it has real weight and particularly as he has always been seen as a staunch defender of the Celtic board. This is as close as he has come in a while to admitting that they’ve too often got this stuff wrong.

The Champions League is the central issue. Qualification changes everything financially. Lennon knows that from experience. Celtic can dominate domestically, but Champions League football is where the biggest money and prestige sit. His argument is that spending properly now could ultimately generate far greater returns later.

That is the part Celtic’s board needs to understand.

There are moments when a football club must decide whether it wants to grow or simply maintain its position. This feels like one of those moments.

Martin O’Neill rescued the Hoops last season. Now he deserves the chance to shape the next one. That means Celtic’s board must stop thinking about what it can get away with spending and start thinking about what is required.

There is a difference. A huge difference.

What is also notable is Lennon’s emphasis on authority. He talks about O’Neill being assertive and in control. That sounds like a subtle acknowledgement that Celtic’s football operation has sometimes looked fragmented, with questions over who is driving recruitment and football decisions.

Is it the manager? Is it recruitment? Is it executives? Is it a committee? For too long, supporters have been shouting about all of them.

The greatest Celtic sides have always had clarity. Strong managers. Clear leadership. A shared vision. Lennon appears to believe O’Neill now has the stature and influence to shape things more directly, and frankly he should.

What he achieved last season was not the work of an interim caretaker. It was the work of a manager who walked into a difficult situation and restored order.

Now comes the harder part. Expectation.

O’Neill is no longer filling in. He is the manager. The pressure belongs to him now. The scrutiny belongs to him now. The responsibility belongs to him now. But with that responsibility should come support. Real support.

Meaningful support. The kind of support that sees Celtic attack the transfer market with purpose rather than caution.

Because supporters are tired of hearing about ambition. We want to see ambition. We are tired of hearing about progression. We want to witness progression. And we are tired of being told Celtic are a Champions League club while acting like a club afraid to spend what is necessary to even get us to that level.

Neil Lennon has said what a lot of Celtic supporters have been thinking for quite some time now. The significance here is that he is the one who has said it, a guy who has sometimes been very critical of the fans when we’ve made our voices heard.

If Martin O’Neill is the man, then back him. Not with words. Not with promises. Not with carefully crafted statements about ambition and progression. Back him with players. Back him with money. Back him with the sort of signings that tell everyone, from Glasgow to Europe, that Celtic mean business.

As I read Lennon’s comments, I found myself nodding along. Not because everything he says is revolutionary, but because it is rooted in a simple truth. Celtic cannot keep asking managers to build cathedrals while handing them a bag of bricks.

Last season was chaos. Brendan Rodgers departed. The Wilfried Nancy experiment quickly turned into a disaster. Martin O’Neill returned to steady the ship and somehow managed to drag Celtic back towards success when the whole thing looked as if it was drifting into dangerous waters.

A league title and Scottish Cup double later, the story looked very different. But nobody should forget what happened along the way. The inconsistency. The dropped points. The frustration. The feeling that Celtic had once a gain left themselves short in key areas of the squad. The failures in the transfer market in January.

Lennon is absolutely right when he points towards recruitment. He does not need to name names because everyone knows what he means. Too many signings arrived with question marks hanging over them. Too many looked like gambles rather than genuine upgrades. In January there were nothing but loans … few of them up to much.

We often find ourselves trapped in an endless cycle. Every transfer window arrives carrying great excitement. Every transfer window brings stories about targets, budgets and plans. Then we watch opportunities pass us by while the club searches for value and potential.

Potential does not qualify you for the Champions League. Potential does not dominate European opponents. Potential does not fill glaring holes in a squad. Quality does.

Lennon knows exactly what Champions League qualification means. He has lived it as a player and as a manager. That is why his comments about maximising the budget matter. Celtic do not need to behave recklessly, but they do need to behave seriously.

The reality is this; Martin O’Neill has given Celtic stability. He has given the dressing room belief. He has given the supporters hope. Now the board must do its part.

This summer cannot be another exercise in penny-pinching and crossed fingers. It cannot be another window built around projects that might come good two years from now. The manager needs players who can make a difference today.

Because the Champions League qualifiers will not wait. Because Celtic supporters will not lower their expectations.

And because opportunities like this do not come around every season.

Neil Lennon sees a big summer ahead. I certainly hope he is right.

Not because spending money guarantees success. It does not. But because standing still guarantees nothing. Celtic have stood still far too many times when they should have been charging forward.

The challenge has been laid down. The manager has earned his chance.

Now it is time for the club to match his ambition.

No excuses. No hesitation. No half-measures.

Just action. The kind that will change our club.

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