Neil Lennon

The fact he threw up the air quotes when he said “Privileges” * angers me.

 

You didn’t try very hard, you just called Sturgeon a *.

 

Herald, record, bbc, express, the sun

 

Because she is


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What, saying “Also Celtic replied back to government that they seen it as unfair government reply was if they push it further they will shutdown the game up here”?

Can you show me?

I’m not being a *. I’ve just not seen it, anywhere. It wasn’t part of the press conference.

 

Weighs his words!!

At the AGM - he actually said "I've never managed in a pandemic before" - an unbelievably stupid comment.

Yesterday he complained about people taking photos without permission - this wasn't some paparazzo with a telephoto lens prying into his bedroom - it was a group of at least 20 people round a swimming pool.

He also said that this whole thing "wasn't a public health issue".

There are definitely valid points to be made - but he just went off on a rant and mixed in a load of BS so they were lost.

I dread to think what BS he'd come out with if he didn't "weigh his words".

 

Got conflicting emotions about this.

I feel he has a strong point about the hypocrisy. And if it's true that guidelines were retroactively changed, in relation to seating etc. then that's very suspicious government interference that can't just be brushed off just because Lennon is an incompetent. There's been far too much government interference in Scottish football this season. And it's always been a convenient deflection tactic for seriously poor handling of the pandemic by the SNP and its officials. This will never be acceptable. No other government in Europe is poking its nose into football matters that don't concern them.

However, I feel Lennon's rant is in itself a deflection tactic. The nonsense about there being a "bloodlust" for his job annoyed me more than his defence of the trip. It just underlines how desperately out of touch he is and how he is incapable of aaccepting even the most basic responsibility for the calamitous situation he's led us into. That makes his position completely untenable if it wasn't already.

 

There is and he has taken responsibility for the trip.

 

Seeing people try and scrape together a justification for this is both hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure.

 

The opportunistic political posturing was cuntish behaviour to be fair.

Lennon was right to point out the inconsistencies.

 

In fairness, after reading the full transcript, Neil is absolutely right to be more than a little miffed at the duplicitous nature of both the media and the government.

Bottom line is we WERE going for the 10 this year.

Every cat on dog in the street knew that the slightest misstep or miscalculation would be a feeding frenzy given the nature of such an historic season.

We would have liked our club to be a little more savvy when it comes to things like this.
The content of Lennon's "rant" should have been formulated into a well worded statement, pointing out inconsistencies and hypocrisy, whilst at the same time acknowledging that mistakes have been made, but with the best intentions.

The rags have time travelled back to Lennon's first tenure as manager. Unflattering photos, misleading headlines, and employing a subtext of a man who "brings it on himself".

The only difference is that this time... he just might have.

 

We are no victims. We are responsible for this fiasco, no one else. The alleged malfeasance of certain Scottish institutions is a conversation for another time.

Lennon was playing to the gallery yesterday. We mock the con artists across the city, and the distractible idiots who fall for their bullshit; we ought to be wary of falling into the same trap.

 

If in fact it was his decision.

Was it worth a try to save the season ? If the trip actually achieved some "bonding"in a clearly dysfunctional group and as a team building exercise to an embattled manager ? Probably yes, and most managers in the same situation would have said the same.

What else could NL do ? In a sporting / managerial sense it was an understandable decision The season was coming apart long before the Dubai trip , I know who I blame for that and its not Neil Lennon, maybe 8 or 9 other names spring to mind for me at least.

But the decision should NEVER have been a footballing one, the Board or CEO should have made the decision not NL and it should have been based on the wider community and PR implications of going.

Its been a PR "disaster" but only because of the inherent distaste for Celtic and our fan base amongst the Scots media ( TV and Press ) , who are justifiably proud of their reputation as the most biased, ill-informed * licking scum.

Of course self serving Politicians are happy to jump on the ( holier than thou) bandwagon.

 

This whole ‘we’ve only got two positive cases. It’s remarkable how it’s so low’ isn’t the defence he seems to think it is.

It just makes it sound like they were expecting more positive cases by going on the trip and are surprised they managed to keep it to only two.

If you think it’s ‘remarkable’ we managed to only get two cases from a pointless trip then maybe we shouldn’t have went.

 

HE reckons it’s been made to look like a stag-do p*** up.

A Club 18-30 winter sun lads’ week.


Pints by the pool, shots at the bar. Less work and more play, while the rest of the country was lumbered with another lockdown.

Yet Neil Lennon insists Andy Walker and anyone else who has that opinion of Celtic’s training camp in Dubai has got it all wrong.

Walker branded his old club arrogant in SunSport for travelling to the Middle East, before pointing to photos of Lenny and his team drinking, and labelling it an extravagant jaunt and a “jolly”.

But the Hoops boss has been left raging with that version of events and hit back: “The innuendo and the insinuation from Andy Walker that it was a ‘jolly’, I can’t have that. I can’t tolerate that at all.


That calls into question my professionalism, the professionalism of my players, my staff and the people who were out there helping us. It’s an absolute scandal.

“The fact is 80 per cent of my squad are probably tee-total. It’s a distortion of the facts. And for him to go on a public platform and accuse Celtic of being arrogant, demanding an apology from the club, which we’ve done.

“Even then, it wasn’t good enough for him.


“I want an apology from Andy Walker. You can’t falsify what went on with a total misrepresentation of reality.

“You can’t go on a public platform and spread insults about my professionalism and my players’ professionalism.




You know the inference he’s meaning by saying it was a ‘jolly’. It wasn’t a stag-do, it wasn’t a Club 18-30 holiday, even though it’s been portrayed like that.

“We went out there with the best intentions.

“The lads had one day off. They got into Dubai at 7am and they were entitled to a bit of down time.

“It’s not as if they were doing a conga in a dressing room, dancing to Baccara or travelling up and down on a train journey from London to Glasgow with Covid.

“I think we’ve been harshly treated. There’s been a bit of bullying going on and we’ve been held to a far higher account than any other club.

“But for Walker to use the term ‘jolly’ is quite crass and arrogant.


He accused the club of being arrogant last week, we weren’t. We had no intention of being arrogant or rubbing it in anyone’s faces.”

Lennon only just stopped short of using the expression ‘Fake news’.

But that’s pretty much how he sees this whole sorry episode and the media storm it has created.

The wagons have been circled now. Forget the public apology from chief executive Peter Lawwell last week. That’s now null and void. Lennon went on the attack with more determination than his under-strength team did in their last two draws against Hibs and Livingston.

For some, this siege mentality only underlines their opinion he is no longer the man to boss Celtic.

In a weekend podcast, ex-Celts striker John Hartson called for Lenny to go.

Lennon said: “John has an opinion, like more people on the periphery of the game.

“You either take it on board or you don’t. It has no impact on me. It means nothing.

“When he praises me, it means nothing. When he’s talking about me losing my job or being removed from my post, it means nothing to me.



But when you are on the media side it’s an easy life.”

Lennon could be forgiven for wanting one of those. For now, though, he’s defending his position.

The debacle of Dubai may be something he lives to regret, but he’s refusing to back down.

Lennon’s even annoyed at the process that forced him and 13 players to self-isolate after Christopher Jullien’s positive test result.

He said: “This is where I’m confused because clubs in Scotland have been travelling up and down the country in two buses.

“With these guidelines now that we’re having to adhere to, it means only three players can travel on a 52-seater bus.

“When we played Hibs last Monday, we had to bus six players on two 52-seater buses. That means every club in the country with a squad of 30 people would have to take TEN buses.



For me, the goalposts are completely moved. We have been in dressing rooms throughout the country, like Hamilton and St Johnstone, where there is zero physical distancing.

“There is no space, we are cramped up, 15 to 20 people in the one room.

“We adhere to all protocols, and to every rule in place, yet we have 13 players and three staff isolating for ten days that, apart from one, are all negative. That is absolutely preposterous.”

Lennon’s stance must have pricked the ears of owner Dermot Desmond and supremo Lawwell.

But he insists he is not fearing for his immediate future and added: “They are fully behind me. I’m in contact with Peter Lawwell daily. There has been no talk of any change or any difference to my position. I’ve always been appreciative of the support Peter, and the board have given me.


They have been absolutely wonderful. It’s only a month ago we won another Treble. Since I’ve come back, we’ve won five trophies in a row.

“That seems to have been forgotten very quickly by some people. It’s not an easy thing to do.

“I think I’m the first person ever to win the Treble as a player and manager.
“We’re going through a difficult period. We’re going through a bit of adversity and you need to be strong.

“I believe I’m the right man for the job, completely. I have the backing of the board and the players.”

Celts sit 21 points behind title favourites Rangers and Lennon admitted: “We’ve got to win every game now. It’s as simple as that.”

 

GovanHILL.

 

If we hadn't had went to Dubai we could have won our last 2 games if our squad weren't in isolation and the huns then dropped 2 points against Motherwell and if we won our games in hand then while not winning the league we could have exerted some pressure on the huns. But no let's have a jolly cause thats what it was.was julian going to do sprints on one * leg.this is all on lawell and lennon and * dermot for having no balls except a * slazenger 6.*. I have supported celtic for almost 60 years and never have I seen the club behave like this.a * traffic cone could replace those *.HH

 

It was one step away from ally mcmoists who are these people rant.* embarrasses to be a fan now .gtf asap.HH

 

Bollocks this was all our fault.using sturgeon is something the * huns would do.unionist *.i would imagine at least half our scottish fans are SNP voters and it's an insult to their intelligence.* lennon lawell and desmond.gtf .asap.HH

 

Lennon's rant has us * fighting amongst ourselves.well done * .HH