Neil Lennon has touched on the subjects of his recent one-to-one chats with Peter Lawwell, and has stated that Celtic are already planning for next season.
Lawwell is trickling into the final few months of his time as the club’s Chief Executive. He’ll leave before the new season to make way for Scottish Rugby’s COO Dominic McKay.
In the meantime, there remain huge question marks over Lennon’s future. As it turns out, the manager has yet to actually meet the incoming Chief Executive. Perhaps a sign for many that the managerial office could be set for a similar revamp come the summer.
Even so, Lennon is still discussing future plans with Lawwell in his daily briefings. As quoted by the Daily Record, the manager said the following:
“We’re talking about the team, the present players and Peter planning and putting things in place for the new guy coming in. It all begins now. The preparations are ongoing.
“I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. With Peter leaving, it leaves a big hole on the football and administration side.
“It’s obvious that gap needs to be filled by one or two people. Whether that’s a director of football or another sort of person coming into the building remains to be seen. You’ve already got Dominic coming in. When it comes to contracts and budgets, then that needs to be looked at for next season. I haven’t met Dominic.”
Lennon and Lawwell may be holding private discussions, but his Celtic future isn’t up to either of them
Celtic fans shouldn’t be too alarmed at the thought of Lennon and Lawwell talking about the future. The fact is that the current manager’s continuation in the job isn’t down to either of them.
It’ll be down to a combination of Dermot Desmond and incoming chief McKay. Only those two men will hold the power to remove the manager or keep him in office. Lawwell’s admiration for Lennon won’t come into it. Come the summer, his influence at Celtic Park will be over.
McKay has yet to really delve into his plans for the club. Yet to really share his vision for the future. That’s to be expected however given he has a start date of July 1st.
But what that’s created is a level of uncertainty. It’s made the managerial hot seat a touch hazy. Lennon will feel there’s still time to impress the new man before he arrives. Whereas Celtic supporters will believe it’s only a matter of time before McKay turns around and sees the current boss off.
At this point we shouldn’t expect any wheels to start turning until July. The fact Lennon hasn’t met McKay is a touch interesting in my view too. Considering he’s clearly met Desmond and Lawwell, a short chat with the manager who you’ll be working with could easily have been organised.
Whether that will indeed be a sign that McKay will have no relationship with Lennon remains to be seen. But for now, all we can do is patiently await Lawwell’s successor and the transfer of power.
In other news, Lennon has provided a definitive verdict on James Forrest ahead of today.
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