One of Lennon’s former allies wants new Celtic manager next season

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Chris Sutton has called for a new Celtic manager to be at the helm come next season.

Sutton had long been an ally of Neil Lennon’s during the Northern Irishman’s time in the hot seat. However, Chris changed his tune after the shocking 2-0 home loss to Ross County in the Betfred Cup several months ago.

Incredibly, Lennon has continued to cling onto his job despite dropping 18 points behind in the title race and failing to bag us a meaningful win in Europe this season. Those are just two of the main complaints supporters have had with the manager this year.

And Sutton has doubled-down on his calls for Lennon to walk, as he believes a new manager must be appointed this summer. Speaking on the Record Celtic Podcast, Sutton said: “For me, Neil can’t be in charge. I don’t care whether he wins every game until the end of the season. This season has been a disaster. And I don’t like saying that as a former teammate. When you look back to last season, it’s the same core of players, so the simple question is: Why has the level dropped off so much?

“It’s the manager who carries the can and this has gone on for too long. It’s going to get more and more awkward if Neil carries on. He’s had four wins. Then it becomes eight wins and 10 wins and they think: Well maybe we’ve turned the corner.

“That isn’t the case for me. You look at the season as a whole. Celtic were embarrassed in European competitions. Celtic have regressed under Neil this season and that’s why there needs to be a new guy and then the overhaul can begin.”

We can’t allow winning run to halt Celtic fans’ demand for a new manager

I spoke on Thursday about the importance of ensuring this small winning run doesn’t silence our demand for change. The bigger picture simply must be looked at.

Since then, Celtic have added another three points to their haul to mark their fourth consecutive success. Chances are they’ll make it five wins-on-the-trot against Aberdeen on Wednesday night too. Once more, however, it doesn’t change a thing.

For a winning run now can’t heal the wounds of the disastrous last four months or so. We don’t get those two Glasgow derbies back. We don’t get the embarrassment that was our Europa League group stage back. Dropped points at Aberdeen, Hibernian, and Livingston won’t be added back to our total.

To sum up – the damage has been done. You can’t knock down a house, cement a few bricks back together and pretend it’s a house again. These wins we’re now picking up represent a few bricks. Unfortunately, the foundations were destroyed long ago, and they can’t be retrieved anymore.

So it’s great to see Sutton continue to hammer the point home about needing some freshness next season. That’s essential if we’re going to take the league title back from our rivals. Having Neil continue to stay in the dugout doesn’t do a thing for the progression of Celtic Football Club.

Hopefully, that’s a feeling new Chief Executive Dominic McKay has as he gets set to get his feet under his own Parkhead desk come July.

In other news, Nicola Sturgeon has again provided another warning to Scottish football.