Neil Lennon

Agree, maybe being a bit cynical but actually wondering if his thinking on Thursday night was , “ keep getting people telling me about all these fringe players who should be getting a start, * it I’ll put them all in against a top Lille outfit Who have everything to play for , watch us get humped and maybe they’ll start to appreciate why I start guys like brown, Christie Bitton etc” , and it’s had the total opposite effect

This time last year every Celtic fan on here was like “ why does he think Lewis Morgan is good option as our lone striker “, when we all knew he wasn’t good enough to be a Celtic squad player yet he persisted with him which if wasn’t for Forster would have cost us league cup,and we were proved right when he left few months later

Everyone on here been crying out for Turnbull n soro to start since start of the season He’s eventually 3 months later gave soro N Turnbull a start and our best performance of the season

none of us claim to be manager s yet we’ve all saw what our glaringLy obvious problems are 3 months before a so called astute manager , getting things right 3 months to late is not good enough

id also play Ajer further up, guys proven what a decent football player he is when he bursts forward he’s so comfortable on the ball and can split defence s right open

 

Lennon and his backroom staff clearly have to go. Whatever you may think of Rodgers, the club moved massively forward under him - since Lennon came back we have regressed at a massive rate.

What is the point in building a multi million state of the art training facility and having a a manager like Lennon who thinks that reviewing matches via video analysis is not something "we normally do" ?

As long as Lawwell is around and is allowed to interfere as a de facto Director of Football we will always struggle.

I would like to see the club try a proper DoF/Head Coach approach or, failing that, invest in a decent progressive manager who can make the most of the talent in our squad.

However, I fear we will do well enough in our next matches (against bottom 6 teams and a championship team) that they'll keep Lennon for this season.

I'd like to think that, if we lose the league, the board will put some thought into who will replace Lennon and also that Lawwell will step down.

Generally, I find it best to expect the worst decisions from this board + management - at least that way, you're rarely disappointed.

 

The club (and Plc) have been telling us since 6/7 IAR that 10 was NOT on their radar ... it was about one season at a time.

Fans yes! We’ve been building it up since then.... but if we take the club/Plc at their word then maybe they don’t give a monkeys about 10.

This is just another ‘season’ for them, it just happens to be one where there’s a chance to make history.

The fans clearly seem to want it more than the club and definitely more than the players.

sadly... lenny WILL want it as much as the supporters.. but doesn’t have the tactical nouse to make it happen.

 

The board might have been saying that publicly but then again saying anything else would have been slated for being extremely arrogant and presumptuous.

The board did for once give the manager a good transfer budget to spend without any money incoming but that alone doesn't constitute good leadership.

The wisest investment we can make is in our manager and coaching team. Proof of that being the contrast between Deila's last season and the rat's first; limping over the line in the league, humped in Europe and slapped out the cups to an Invincible Treble and competing with Manchester City in the UCL.

I don't think the board see this as another season and I don't subscribe to the conspiracies about them wanting a Hun win to bring back attention to the games.

I think they want it but they've just made some seriously incompetent decisions that have allowed it to be in peril:

• Failure to cast the net wide in the summer of 2019 to get the best manager we could get, having just banked £9m for the rat's exit
• Imposing assistants and coaches on managers
• Failing to understand the importance that a beefed up backroom staff - analysis and scouting - can bring to us
• Failure to find buyers for players that had intimated they wanted to leave so much, that it irked the manager to blurt it out post-Ferencvaros
• Failure to remove Lennon from his post 2-3 months ago when it was clear there had been a big stooshy and it wasn't turning round

 

I can see them selling players in January mate, was the Tierney money in those accounts there?

 

Aye, the Tierney money was in the last accounts and profit was down to £100k due to failing to qualify for the UCL and Covid.

I can see players going out in January too. As much as we would have kicked up like * if Eddie was sold, if the money was reinvested on players that wanted to be here we'd be in a much better position IMO.

There's a reason that David Moss spoke about a 2-year cycle for young players to come to the club, develop then be sold on. It's the sweet spot in terms of keeping them focused and gaining the maximum fee from a sale.

We've broken that cycle and ended up with disengaged players who are now heading into their last 18 months of contract, meaning we will now get less than we would've. It also may make agents less likely to suggest that we're a good destination for promising young players in future. Bad on the park, bad off the park.

 

I know they like going on about the big money they spent on Edouard and Jullien, but if you add up the fees for the players who have failed here then we could easily sign another few with their quality. But that comes back to Lawwell constantly authorising the signing of projects.

 

Bayo and Shved alone will likely cost the club circa £10m, in fees and wages alone if their contracts run to conclusion.

Mental that those footballing decisions can be taken by a CEO and there's zero kickback for it.

 

These new quotes are not filling me with confidence on seeing a renewed Celtic on Sunday. “We are not getting carried away and saying ‘right these players are done, this is new age Celtic’. You have to do it bit by bit.” sounds a lot like “you * can protest all you want Scott Brown will still be starting”

 

I'll be honest here... I have not read Lennon's quotes yet but from what you've quoted and said it sounds nothing like he's saying Brown will start.

What am I missing?

 

If he plays Brown instead of Soro today and a few others and we don't get a marker result the level of frustration felt by the fans will be notched up to an entirely different level

 

The reality is there is nothing wrong with projects but we have given no time to most of them under Rodgers or Lennon. Ajer and Mikey are the only ones. So many got signed and became bench warmers if they were lucky. How the club has handled projects has been the major issue

 

Again, all eyes on Lennon until 2pm, when the team is announced. Every man and his dog could see the marked improvement in pace, aggression, tempo, forward thinking, dynamic midfield. If he reverts to type, then he is showing he is a truly stubborn, arrogant person. There is no doubt about, Lille was easily our best game of the season. Build on that momentum.

 

See if turnbull and christie both start and Christie is still on the set pieces? That's a sackable offence itself

 

if they revert to standard selection... then they might find themselves with a second angrier unofficial protest after the game in addition to the organised one they’ve been ‘so worried’ about.

 

Big big day for Lennon. If their is even a slight chance of turning this season round it needs to start today. It needs to start with the right starting 11. Turnbull simply must start and I'd be inclined to go with sorro too. I think we will all be left hugely frustrated if he goes back to the usual faces and if we don't get three points today it has to be brought to an end today. That simple.

 

Yeah that worried me when I read it. It's such a lot of crap as well. These players proved the other night they are fit enough, hungry enough and good enough to play every game from now on unless there's a dip in form. Frimpong turned 20 on Thursday and he's the youngest - it's not as though they're 16 or 17. They're at the age and stage they should be looking to establish themselves and most of them came from regular 1st team football at another club.

 

I imagine Christie on the right and Turnbull through the middle again, with McGregor and Brown.

Not good if so. Christie will cut in too much and float around that entire third of the pitch and be in the way of others, while contributing very little, yet more long shots that go nowhere near the net.
Brown ahead of Soro will be excused for Soro being "injured" and Brown will do what Brown does best, slow the game down and create a massive disconnect between the backline with their "possession based football" and an actual midfield.

In short, Turnbull will be wasted and Soro will be missed.

I hate being this pessimistic, but Lennon and the coaching staff have set such a bad level that it is hard to just switch to all happy positive vibes because we saw out a decent performance on Thursday night.

 

*, I logged on feeling a wee bit upbeat and looking forward to todays game however, all this talk about Soro might not be starting and that NL will revert back to his usual line up has got me * off. If he does revert back to type then I think that he will loose the last of any support he had left with the fans.

 

Yeah but it’s not healthy when the majority of our signings are projects, the team is badly needing sorted defensively for years and it still hasn’t been addressed properly. We are also still playing a 35 year old Scott Brown because we haven’t planned for replacing him either.