There’s no easier way to say this after today – Nick Hammond now has to follow Neil Lennon out of Celtic imminently.
Lennon’s departure from Celtic was the second step in a potential clean slate for the club next season. His departure added to the future stepping down of Chief Executive Peter Lawwell, who’ll be replaced by Dominic McKay.
And with Lennon’s confirmed exit, there’s no absolutely no valid explanation for keeping Hammond on.
So much of Celtic’s problems this season have been down to recruitment. This is something Hammond, as Head of Football Operations, has been directly responsible for. Granted, we’ve been happy to defend him in the past. We don’t necessarily believe Albian Ajeti, Diego Laxalt, Vasilis Barkas etc to be bad players. History suggests that’s not the case.
But the fact is they haven’t been successful. And if your work isn’t reaping rewards, it provides a grim picture for your long-term future.
Nicky Hammond knew Neil Lennon; now there’s nothing that should be keeping him at Celtic
In addition to that, Celtic are reportedly searching for a Director of Football. Candidates were said to be in the process of being assembled as recently as last week [Daily Mail]. The job of a DoF would be to find suitable targets for the next head coach.
Essentially, that’s taking much of the main responsibilities away from Hammond. If you keep him on then you’ve surely got too many cooks in the kitchen, so to speak. It would surely lead to far too many individuals doing similar jobs.
Not forgetting the fact that Hammond was appointed in part due to a previous relationship with Lennon. When Nick was appointed, Neil touched on how much trust he has and how long he had known the Englishman.
You then have the prospect of both a new Chief Executive and a new manager coming in over the course of the summer. Hammond likely won’t have worked in any shape or form with either. That effectively leaves him as having no further link at the club, and he doesn’t have a history of success here to suggest he should stay on.
No manager worth his salt will come into the club and accept having both a Director of Football and Head of Operations there that have both already been chosen for him to work with. It becomes far too messy at that stage.
For now, he’s survived the initial announcement of Lennon’s sacking. But don’t expect Hammond to be around too much longer, there’s absolutely nothing to suggest he’ll stay beyond the summer.
In other news, we take an in-depth look at what a John Kennedy Celtic side may look like.
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