So as we trickle into the second half of the month, we’re all still awaiting the conclusions from the Celtic January Review on Neil Lennon.
The board made a promise to the Hoops support back in December. They stated that they were backing Neil Lennon over the festive period. However, it was a decision made with the promise of a re-evaluation of how things are in the new year.
Celtic actually ended 2020 strong after the statement. They secured six consecutive wins and were starting to gain a bit of momentum. And even the 1-0 loss at Ibrox had the shadow of an impressive performance against them behind it. In fact, it was the best we had performed against Rangers since September 2019.
The Scottish Sun reported not long after that that Dermot Desmond was said to have been satisfied with the performances. That, in actual fact, Lennon had more or less passed his January review. This was never made official by the club, however, who continued to stay silent on it.
Celtic SLO JP Taylor has even called for the board to make their decision. He believes that a promise was made to the fans and it should be honoured. That was a big moment in this battle for a review. And as such, Celtic have now been backed into a corner.
Celtic cannot defend a thing in any January review
Had Celtic released a statement after Ibrox, you could’ve understood it. You could’ve seen where they were coming from if they felt they saw enough in Lennon’s performances over the course of December. Many wouldn’t have been happy, but the board could’ve pointed to an upturn in results and displays.
Lennon finally appeared to have found his best XI. Ismaila Soro and David Turnbull were providing Celtic with plenty of freshness both offensively and defensively. Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths had been reunited in the final third too. There was hardly a thing you could argue about.
Then Dubai happened and the club came under a major PR crisis. They’ve been battered from pillar to post by both the Scottish Government and their own fans. 16 members of the playing and coaching staff had to self-isolate after the positive test from Christopher Jullien came through.
Lennon would then fail to win his next two must-win matches at Parkhead. Both Hibernian and Livingston both took points from Parkhead in an absolute disaster for our title-hopes. The league is now all but over, and the lack of any sort of positivity taken from Rangers’ draw yesterday shows just that.
Now, there’s no defending the recent weeks. Given everything that’s happened at the club, they’ve been left backed into a corner with their arms tied. They simply cannot come out and back Lennon once again. It would be a total disaster for club-supporter relations. Yet, at the same time, they’ve promised to provide us with a January review.
Celtic fans will easily be able to smell any nonsense the board tries to volley at us. But they’ve now put themselves in an uncomfortable predicament. There’s only one option that can now be made – Neil Lennon simply has to go.
In other news, this Celtic star has provided a worrying admission just days after Callum McGregor’s eye-opening Celtic TV interview.
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