Neil Lennon has jumped to the defence of the under fire Celtic board for the second time in a month.
Following the goal-less draw in the Glasgow Derby at Ibrox Lennon was called out by Chris Sutton as he went through the standard excuses trotted out for Celtic’s repeated failings in European football.
This season there has been an extra dimension to the issue due to Brendan Rodgers being in the final year of his contract.
After making massive progress in Europe last season Rodgers has been ‘rewarded’ by having his better players sold off without any serious attempts made to bringing in replacements never mind improvements.
For many fans the sales of Kyogo Furuhashi, Nicolas Kuhn and Adam Idah can only be viewed as an act of sabotage.
Topping that up senior figures as Celtic briefed someone to speak to The Sun about Rodgers engineering his exit, it looks more like the club executives have been trying to edge their manager towards quitting the club.
In most circumstances you’d expect Lennon to be sympathetic towards the conditions that Rodgers is working under but nothing could be further from the truth.
Whatever Mr Desmond and Mr Lawwell do they can be certain of the unwavering backing of one former manager.
Many Celtic supporters suspect that the current Dunfermline boss is hoping that there is another role for him at Celtic Park, it seems the only logical explanation for his blind devotion to a board of directors that offers no direction, ambition or vision beyond staying just ahead of their business friends at Ibrox.
It’s a huge disappointment not being in the Champions League but they are the most fraught games of the season, they come so early. I know the fans are very discontented with the board but I don’t necessarily agree with the that – I don’t put it all not the board.
The team Brendan had was good enough to beat Kairat Almaty over two games and I’m sure the board were working away in the background to try and get deals done. Some of the players didn’t come early but have come now like Sebastian Tounekti.
They spent a lot of money last season because they were guaranteed Champions League football. The £30million on Arne Engels, Adam Idah and Auston Trusty and those players aren’t playing at the minute.
The Engels, Idah and Trusty line is a favourite among those wanting to blame Rodgers for the issues at Celtic even though, as Lennon knows more than most the Celtic manager isn’t involved in transfer negotiations. Kris Boyd uses that line in every discussion about Rodgers.
Transfer fees are down to Michael Nicholson who owes his current job, salary and lifestyle to Peter Lawwell. Nicholson has no experience of football other than working under big Peter.
Those three August 2024 signings where hugely involved in Celtic’s 10 match Champions League run last season with Engels and Trusty starting nine matches and coming off the bench once while Idah scored three times from starting three matches and coming off the bench in the seven other matches.
Idah’s involvement in the own goal scored by YB Bern was the most important goal of the season, that allowed Nicholson to push through the deal to sell Kyogo to Rennes as the CEO stepped up his plan to weaken the first team despite guaranteeing a Last 16 Play Off.
Getting into his script Lennon added:
The flip side is without having the guarantee of the Champions League it’s hard to attract players to Scotland without that carrot, especially with the amount of money they’re prepared to spend on players.
It’s their club and they’re entitled to voice their opinion in any way they want. The Celtic fans have been amazing over the course but there’s a realism about this, there’s sustainability.
The club have to plan not just for this season but for years to come and if you’re spending £10million on a player plus the wage on top of that then it eats into the money they have earned over the years and they can’t spend that amount of money without the Champions League money.
I understand the frustration but it’s not all on the board either. There has to be a unity at the club. They’ve been so successful under this stewardship of the board and Mr Desmond at the helm – the success he has brought since 2000 has been unparalleled.
I worked with them and they are class operators. They know the environment and culture of European football and they look ahead. They are such a well run club but people want instant success constantly.
This ‘outstanding’ board has now failed five times running to qualify through Champions League Play Offs, losing out to lower ranked opponents in Kairat, Midtjylland, Ferencvaros, Cluj and AEK Athens.
Playing in the Champions League rather than the Europa League is generally worth £20m more a season. Prior to that run of failure there were costly defeats to Maribor and Malmo.
Lennon likes to trot out the line that players won’t decide on transfers until they have the guarantee of Champions League football, another argument that doesn’t stack up.
Club Brugge and FC Copenhagen were both able to sign up good quality players in time for Champions League qualifiers, they were bedded in and effective as they made it through to the Champions League. As a consolation prize the Europa League is a big attraction to players across Scandinavia, eastern Europe and in Holland and Belgium plus mid ranking clubs in France and Germany.
Ambitious players will see Celtic as a great platform where they can win things, play in European competitions and move on to bigger deals like Nicolas Kuhn, Matt O’Riley and Jeremie Frimpong.
While Lennon backs the board and trashes the legitimate concerns and complaints of supporters he loses credibility with the fans who once worshipped him and backed his every move.
Those days are firmly over, Celtic fans are watching carefully as folk like Lennon and Charlie Mulgrew are defying all logic and reason to tell supporters that they can’t expect Celtic to match the European successes of Club Brugge, PSV Eindhoven and FC Copenhagen.
The more they push those views the stronger the Collective becomes as they push for changes with Nicholson refusing to answer seven very reasonable questions about the ambitions of the club.
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1 Comment
by Stevie Bhoy
Lennon talking shit again. If we bought the winger from Go Ahead for 5 million to replace Kuhn (instead of the derisory 1.5 offers) there is a 15 million profit and I am sure he would probably have signed for less money than the German.