Scottish Olympian and Celtic fan Chris Bennett has shared his thoughts on Neil Lennon’s recent struggles in an interview with 67 Hail Hail’s YouTube channel.
Celtic have only picked up 2 wins in 11 matches. Despite that form, Lennon has the backing of the board, but he looks bereft of confidence and far from the tenacious Lenny of old.
Hammer thrower Bennett, who represented Great Britain at the 2016 Olympics and Scotland in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, has sympathy for the boss. Speaking exclusively to 67 Hail Hail, Bennett said:
“For him it’s hard because literally everyone has written him off. There was a lot of people backing him for a long time. I was on BBC Radio Scotland after the Rangers game and I said there and then “I’d sack him now.”
“We’ve had Ferencvaros, Copenhagen, we’ve had Cluj, we’ve had Rangers at Ibrox in December of last year, and we’ve now had a game at Celtic Park where we’ve failed to register a shot. I was like “take him out of the firing line now, because it’s not fair on the man”.”
Where’s the Lenny of old?
Bennett’s desire for change is focussed on the personal toil Lennon has gone through, as poor results and drab performances have ramped up the pressure. The hammer thrower also wondered where the Neil Lennon of 2010-14 had gone; a manager who courted controversy and expressed himself unabashedly.
The athlete continued: “For me he’s a scapegoat, because he’s not been entrusted with his own backroom team. It was dictated who he got, so Kennedy and Strachan. It’s not fair to keep him in the firing line.
“I look at the man and can see he’s struggling. You look back to when Neil Lennon was first here; if something went wrong he was kicking water bottles, slamming dugouts, screaming at players.
“If there was a bit of passion, if there was a bit of fire in the belly, I think people wouldn’t be as hard on him.”
Wide-ranging and honest
In his interview with our colleague Hamish Carton, Bennett spoke openly and honestly about a number of topics.
Over 26 minutes, Bennett covered mental health, intense training, his sport-adjacent career pursuits and of course, his love of Celtic.
You can watch the whole interview here, via the 67 Hail Hail channel.
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