Ten years ago Celtic were celebrating the club’s first treble in 32 years- won under new manager Martin O’Neill. An appointment that was greeted with much delight by the Celtic support.
Since then three more men have taken the helm at Celtic Park. Only now do you get the feeling that the support are united behind a manager since then.
Gordon Strachan stepped in to replace Martin in 2005 and despite his best efforts and three league titles doubts remained in the minds of a lot of the Celtic support. When Gordon stepped down Tony Mowbray was the man the Celtic board chose, and the rest as they say is history.
Again, Celtic had a ship in need of being steadied. A temporary measure was put in place and Neil Lennon was appointed in temporary charge. A choice that, again, had the Celtic support divided. A novice manager was the last thing we needed. Despite a win over Rangers at Celtic Park in the league doubts remained, mainley due to the Scottish Cup semi-final against Ross County at Hampden.
Despite a win over Rangers at Celtic Park in the league doubts remained, mainly due to the Scottish Cup semi-final defeat against Ross County at Hampden.
When Neil was appointed in a permanent capacity in the summer of 2010 many doubts remained, some preferring Giovanni Trappatoni or even Lennon’s midfield team-mate Paul Lambert. Neil made his point in the summer by making numerous summer signings.
Despite a good start to the domestic season and a 100% start in the league a crushing 3-1 defeat to our biggest rivals again brought out the doubters. Further fuel was added to the fire when Celtic hit a terrible patch of form in December.
Our season took a turn for the better with a 2-0 win at Ibrox in January but we headed to Hampden in March when the Lennon doubters then came back out. An extra-time defeat to Rangers in the league cup final again brought our the famous saying ‘We can’t win the big games’.
An extra-time defeat to Rangers in the league cup final again brought our the famous saying ‘we can’t win the big games’.
Fast forward to Celtic Park in May, our last game of the season, and despite letting the league title slip away a few days earlier in Inverness. Celtic Park saw 57,000 fans for the first time in many years. Was this a show of unity for our manager?
The fans chanted ‘One Neil Lennon’ first time out managers name had been chanted since the chants of ‘Martin O’Neill’ used to ring around the stadium.
Lennon has built a team of winners in the same way Martin did by bringing in the likes of Daniel Majstorovic, Joe Ledley, Emilio Izzaguire, Biram Kayal, Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes.
He may not have had the success on the park that Martin had but off the park, private matters aside, he’s got the whole Celtic support on board something Strachan and Mowbray had failed to do.
Bring on next season.
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hammy , i am afraid i have to totally disagree with a couple of your points . gordons name was sang several times during his term , most notably when he won his first title at celtic park and when he won his third at tannadice . he was also given a fantastic reception the day after his resignation at phil o,donnells tribute match . as for his successor , he was treated like a messiah when he arrived by some fans ! on his first game at pittodrie his name was constantly chanted and this continued for many months . indeed you only have to look back to robbie keane,s debut at rugby park to recognise how long this chanting went on for .
I agree with your points but my point is there will still many doubters. I know of several people who doubted Mowbray’s motovational skills. Strachan never really had the same backing as O’Neill my point now is you can finally feel the WHOLE support getting behind one man for the first time since O’Neill.
I’m not doubting backing they got from the terraces on match days but these can be different in pubs or on supporters buses.
The fans also chanted Samaras’ name after the cup final. He’s not exactly the most popular charachter at Celtic Park either.