Charlie Mulgrew has ridiculed the idea of Celtic sacking Neil Lennon anytime soon.
The Fleetwood Town star, currently plying his trade in League One, was signed by Neil for Celtic back in 2010. Mulgrew would go on to secure five Premiership titles, two Scottish Cups, and one League Cup. So there’s affection there.
And there would have to be to defend Lennon. Celtic are 19 points behind Rangers in the title race (with three games in-hand). We’re out of Europe and this season’s Betfred Cup. We also went on a run of only two wins in 12 for a period. It was unacceptable.
However, the Hoops did manage to respond towards the end of 2020. The quadruple treble was secured with a Scottish Cup win against Hearts as part of a six-game winning run before the Rangers defeat. Mulgrew, therefore, believes achieving yet another treble should ensure Lennon is safe.
“Who is available?”
Speaking on the Celtic Huddle podcast, Chuck said: “Who is wanting to jump in and take a job at this time? Who is available? Who is going to do better than Neil Lennon goes? I think it would be daft to get rid of him now. I think they need to stick by him until the end of the season and get right behind him and let him make some signings in January and try and get them over the line because it’s going to be difficult now.
“At the end of the day, they are quadruple Treble winners. In years to come we’re going to look back and say that’s unbelievable, and this team is getting stick. Everybody wanted ten-in-a-row and I’m still optimistic and think there’s a chance of that. But we’re talking about a team that has won a quadruple Treble and Lennon played a big part in that.
“When nobody else stepped in, Lennon stepped in and got them over the line with the treble Treble and then he got them the quadruple Treble.”
Mulgrew owes Neil Lennon plenty; but sentiment can’t come into things
This is a narrative that irks me. This idea that Lennon stepped in when nobody else was available. Like a white knight riding in to ensure our season ended as a success. Yes, Lennon did achieve the treble-treble and afterward the quadruple-treble. But let’s not rewrite history.
There would’ve been plenty of suitors eyeing up the Celtic job. We’re talking about the Celtic Football Club’s managerial post here. Not the Rutherglen Glencairn assistant manager’s gig.
In fact, Peter Lawwell pretty much hinted at the options Celtic had for the job when Lennon got it permanently in 2019. He claimed he put a host of CVs into cold storage and kept his word to Lennon that the job was his if he led us to a successful campaign (Daily Record).
The Celtic fans have shown plenty of disdain for the fact Neil is still in the role. Monday night’s Scottish Sun report that highlighted Dermot Desmond’s continued backing of Lennon didn’t go down well. The supporters were left furious that the board were still backing him after a third consecutive loss to Rangers.
So it certainly isn’t daft for supporters to want him gone. Not when it would give us fresh impetus and would allow a new manager to look over his squad. There are plenty of positive reasons to go for someone new right now.
Mulgrew, however, is clearly on the other side of this argument for now.
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