Neil Lennon and Iain Jamieson seemed delighted to catch up with each other in person at Hampden before the League Cup Final.
Five days earlier Brendan Rodgers had resigned as Celtic manager. Quickly followed by an incredible statement from Dermot Desmond.
Apparently Rodgers was ‘divisive, misleading, and self-serving’, not the sort of comments that anyone, especially a manager wants tagged with.
Since the start of this season Rodgers had been undermined. In terms of transfer activity he was badly let down. When The Sun published damaging allegations about the Celtic boss Michael Nicholson shrugged his shoulders.
He was too busy to investigate who might have a mutual friend with Roger Hannah called David.
Jamieson is Celtic’s long standing Communications Manager. Managing the messages, deciding on media access.
THE MESSENGERS
From the turn of the year word was out questioning the value of the summer signings made by Rodgers! The messengers were on the case. Even Kris Boyd picked up on the £26m ‘wasted on Arne Engels, Auston Trusty and Adam Idah. Barely anyone dared mention that those three signings had been central to the best Champions League performance in a decade. Success on the pitch and record turnover.
That ‘waste of money line’ went largely unchallenged. Apparently the team manager was responsible for the delayed August arrivals of Idah, Engels and Trusty. Not only that but Rodgers personally negotiated the transfer fees and salaries for those players.
The picture was being painted. Rodgers was a poor judge, he wasn’t going to get the squad improvements that he wanted. Not only that Celtic would be weakening their squad in January.
OPPOSITE AMBITIONS
While Rodgers was planning a win over YB Berne, Michael Nicholson was lining up the transfer of Kyogo Furuhashi. He was getting sold and wouldn’t be replaced. A well run club would be looking for an improvement.
The Celtic CEO planned to go into the Champions League last 16 Play Off with a weaker squad. Idah was the first choice striker with left-winger Daizen Maeda the alternative.
Celtic lost 3-2 to Bayern Munich on aggregate. Conceding the decisive goal in the the final minute of the second leg.
Some fans saw that 10 match Champions League campaign as a marker for the future. Inside Celtic Park it was the high water mark, never to be repeated. Time to retreat, downsize, dampen expectations. Undermine the manager with realistic ambitions.
SHARP DECLINE
Rodgers, brought back to make an impact in Europe was being neutered. The foot was now on the accelerator towards decline. It peeked in August away to Kairat Almaty.
Celtic lost out to Kairat while Nicholson was negotiating the transfers of the three forwards used in Kazakhstan. Maeda, Idah and Yang Hyun-jun.
The desire to downsize, to handicap the manager went too far. The consequences are there to see in results. Also rans in the Europa League, trailing Hearts domestically.
After the story in The Sun Rodgers’ position became increasingly uncomfortable. Some might say untenable.
Twice a week he was put in front of media conferences. Nicholson and his colleagues kept silent, except for a horrific meeting with supporters triggered by the creation of the Celtic Fans Collective.
September was challenging. October was toxic. Suddenly the manager of Dunfermline Athletic was back in the media spotlight.
A lengthy video interview in The Sun was a cover for sending out the message that Celtic fans should be grateful to have the experience and knowledge of Desmond and Peter Lawwell.
LENNON’S MANAGERIAL CV
Between his two stints at Celtic Lennon managed Bolton and Hibs.
After crashing the 10 with horrors such as the Bolingoli incident, a home defeat to Ferencvaros in the Champions League and the Dubai Disaster, Lennon has found jobs hard to come by.
He was in charge of Omonia Nicosia for 29 matches then Rapid Bucharest for six games. Currently Dunfermline are in fourth in the Scottish Championship, picking up 19 points from 14 matches. Lennon has been in charge of 25 matches at East End Park.
With the pressure mounting on Rodgers Lennon seemed to be in great demand from broadcasters. There was one message. Everything at Celtic was tailored to success with just the manager falling to deliver.
- Sturm Graz, October 23, TNT Sport: Lennon was full of praise for Celtic as they came from behind to beat the Austrian side. Everything in the garden was rosy.
- Hearts, October 26, Sky Sports: Alongside his mate Kris Boyd, Lennon was piling in on Rodgers- and Chris Sutton. While Sutton highlighted the failings of Celtic’s recruitment Lennon and Boyd just wanted to blame Rodgers. From the Sky Sports studio they out shouted Sutton
- League Cup semi-final, November 2, Premier Sports: Lennon makes it a hat-trick of broadcasters inside 10 days! All is good again at Celtic, Martin O’Neill is the man to restore all of the problems created by Rodgers.
Lennon is a decent pundit, he reads the game well and gets his views over clearly. Over the last few weeks he appears to have been on a mission.
NEXT PLEASE
Having successfully removed Rodgers Celtic are now in the ‘what’s next’ phase.
The international break is the natural time to appoint a new management team. Despite the leaks there are no concrete signs of moves being made to appoint Rodgers’ successor.
Every day is important, the January transfer window opens in less than eight weeks. Well run clubs already have their moves lined up. Celtic may have that and are trying to find a manager in agreement with their intentions.
Having engineered the exit of Rodgers, the spotlight is back on the Celtic board. Time will tell if they can stage manage the next appointment as well as they solved their problems with Rodgers.
