The four major changes that may spare Lennon from Celtic sack

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If you’re asking me what I would do, it would be to get rid of Neil Lennon as Celtic boss now and start building early for next season.

Just read the list of calamities we’ve suffered this term alone; two derby defeats out of two to Rangers. 19 points behind our rivals (games in-hand becoming more and more irrelevant). Knocked out of the Betfred Cup at home to Ross County. Bottom of our Europa League group. Back-to-back 4-1 maulings off Sparta Prague. A run of two wins in 12 games.

Let’s face it. Not many other managers would survive these kinds of pathetic displays. Yet Lennon has. He continues to trot along as manager of the club as 10-in-a-row burns in front of our very eyes.

But even despite yesterday’s 1-0 loss to Rangers, I expect him to remain in the post. At least until the end of the season. And there are four major reasons as to why I think that’s the case as the board get set for their January review.

First off, the results as a whole have picked up. Celtic have won six of their seven games since the board announced their attention to review things this month. Six of those wins have been extremely comfortable with new personnel breathing life into the Hoops.

That isn’t sacking form, unfortunately. They’ll look at our recent results and think we’ve picked up enormously compared to October/November time. Even if we should be closer to Rangers than we are, there have been shoots of positivity since then.

Secondly, Lennon has found his best XI and a formation that looks like it could boss Scottish football. The diamond shape Lennon now goes for as well as the introduction to the team for Ismaila Soro and David Turnbull have boosted him.

Celtic looking much more settled

Celtic now look like they have a settled XI. And it’s a team that has bossed every team it’s played since the promise to review things. I’m not saying I would keep Lennon for that alone, but if the board are looking for excuses to keep him for now, this is another one they can use.

Thirdly, Celtic finally appear to have found a way to beat Rangers. Okay, so it wasn’t successful at Ibrox yesterday. But taking that game in isolation it really was rotten luck that saw us lose it. Celtic dominated at Ibrox. It wasn’t a clever, tactical defensive performance either. We asserted our dominance on the game and really should’ve been 2-0 up at the break.

Much of the fear around Lennon’s team was his ability (or lack thereof) to take on Steven Gerrard’s Rangers. Yesterday. Lennon won the tactical battle in convincing fashion. With the diamond and the two up top, Celtic may finally have found a way to get at the Ibrox side. Another reason for our board to stick by him for now.

And lastly, the players appear to be playing for Lennon once again. You could very easily question the desire of some of Celtic’s stars towards the tail-end of 2020. We weren’t playing well, and there looked to have been plenty of half-hearted displays.

Our trips to Aberdeen and Hibernian as well as St Johnstone at home had alarm bells ringing. But despite that, there’s been a growing sense of unity amongst the players in games.

Celtic look like they’ve clicked – albeit too late. They’re playing with a quicker tempo and the chemistry amongst the starting XI has been a joy to watch. You can’t look at us over the last few weeks and say Lennon isn’t backed by his players. It’s looking like they’re back onside with him. Granted, it remains to be seen what yesterday’s defeat does to that spirit.

So if the board are looking for reasons to keep him on, they have them. Regardless of what you or I would do at this point.

In other news, this pundit was absolutely fizzing with Celtic chief Peter Lawwell yesterday.