Neil Lennon has stated that “a lot had changed” amongst his Celtic players after lockdown ahead of the 2020/21 season.
Football in Scotland had been halted in March 2020 with the Hoops going on to secure nine-in-a-row. Confidence was high amongst the club ahead of the pursuit of the 10, but it after the Champions League qualifying exit to Ferencvaros in August, things started to change.
Stories were coming out that top players were looking to depart [Glasgow Times]. This came after Lennon had ripped into his players and told the media and questioned their commitment to the club [BBC].
This morning, the former Celtic boss was speaking on BBC’s Euros Breakfast Show [BBC Radio Scotland, 15/06, 08:54]. And as he revisited the start of last season, Lennon claimed there was a massive difference in tension after football came out of lockdown.
“It was pretty self-evident in their performances”
“We had gone from before the lockdown rampant, gone on to win another treble. Then when the boys came back from the three-month break, a lot had changed in their mindset in terms of some of them wanted to move on. Which I got.
“Some of them had reached the top of the mountain and were looking at other mountains to go and try their careers somewhere else. Which was understandable. But it creates a little bit of disaffection and tension within the group at times as well, and there was some of that at times – there’s no question of that.
“There was a few and it doesn’t need me to say it. It was pretty self-evident in their performances. You’re hoping they’ll come round once the window shut. To be fair the window went on until October as well, so it was a long protracted window, and you’re hoping ‘right, come on, find your rhythm, find your form’. But it never materialised really.”
Neil Lennon can’t pinpoint Celtic player’s attitudes as main reason for catastrophic season
We’ll never know just how many players wanted away from Celtic Park last season. We can all speculate and there are some who will be favourites to make that list over others. But it should never have been allowed to derail us.
You have to question why Lennon was happy to keep the players who wanted away in the first place. Surely there should’ve been a system in place where we looked to maximise their value with replacements ready to be signed? After all, this should’ve been a precaution taken in case players did indeed throw the huff during the 10 campaign.
In addition to that, it wasn’t down to players wanting to leave that saw us fail to win a derby game this season. It wasn’t down to players wanting to leave that led to the manager making baffling in-game decisions and failing to play the right personnel.
When the window closed in October, Celtic had actually been in good form. We had won nine of our opening 10 Premiership fixtures. Whatever tensions seemed to exist, it wasn’t transferring to the results.
It was only after the window closed that we began to derail. Once Lennon had his squad in place and had to find a way of managing them over the course of the campaign.
Top players want to leave clubs every summer. It can’t be used as an excuse to explain a poor season. This wasn’t the catalyst of our downfall. Lennon was.
In other news, Brighton’s reported summer priority opens the door for Celtic to make a class move.
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