Neil Lennon has explained what was behind his exchange with some fans during today’s defeat from Inverness Caley Thistle.
Despite leading the SPL with a game in hand Celtic season ticket holders have been left frustrated by disappointing home form.
The highs of Champions League victories over Spartak Moscow and Barcelona have come in-between home defeats from Kilmarnock and Inverness Caley Thistle leaving supporter patience thin on the ground
“They are frustrated,” Lennon explained about the exchange with supporters. “I disagreed with them, I didn’t like what they said about the team.
“Look, if they are not happy with what I am doing and they want me to go, I will.
“If the fans make it clear that they are not happy and they want me out then that’s okay, I will do the honourable thing.
“I can’t repeat it (what fans said) because it is public arena but there were a lot of expletives and heavy criticism, which I didn’t think was justified and (there was) a lack of patience with the team as well.
“If there was a lack of application and commitment I would be the first to criticise the team.
“I didn’t see that today but I did see a lack of composure and quality in the final third and that’s what cost us.
“If I think it is justified then I don’t have a problem with it but I don’t think it was justified today but they pay their money, they are allowed to say what they like. I’ve got my opinions on it and sometimes I give them as well.
“I am not happy with the league form, it is my team at the end of the day so I take the responsibility for it. It’s not for the lack of trying to find the answers.”
CLICK HERE for Murray hits out at BBC
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Its about time a lot of these players got the finger out!! To be fair to the fans it has been a pretty frustrating time domestically. I can accept defeats but not in the manner in which celtic have been losing recently, especially at home!!!!!
Times are changing, it wasn’t great today
but we are still top and we will win the
league and results like this will bring fans
out for other clubs and hopefully benefit
the game as a hole.
I’ve never slated neil lennon ever but the scott brown thing is really doing my nut in, why did he play him against benfica and on the bench today and comes on is a joke, he’s struggling big time, says he can hardly get out of bed yet Neil lennon says he’ll play against spartak. I’d rather have fringe players playing who are 100% fit
Some fans are hawf-wits
We are seeing the same old mistakes time & time again….players are not giving their all for the team, we are being simply outworked by lesser teams.
If Lennon cannot see the problems from his seat in the dugout then he should take his own advice and get a clearer picture from the stands.
A disgrace that we are not creating clear cut chances against mid table domestic sides like St. Johnstone, Caley etc. If we were missing hatfuls of chances we could blame the strikers. Yet Hooper has again been starved of any quality service !
A lack of application & commitment…dam right. Have we learned absolutely nothing from the way Barcelona / Benfica cut us open – fast flowing, incisive….not the plodding / aimless passing we are seeing yet again.
Today was crap and not the first time by a long way, do we not have a Plan ‘b’ what happened to our traditional whirlwind starts.
If he can’t motivate the players for SPL/ domestic cup games, then maybe a change of management is needed. Last years league and Scottish cup defeats still haunt me .IMO – John Park is more important to Celtic than Lenny or Lawwell.
Yeah mac bring back tony mowbray!
Oust a title winning manager? This isn’t Real Madrid mate.
Domestic Cup Games???
Thought we were in the semi’s of one and still in the other!
Cast your mind back to the start of the season and ask yourself, if someone told you that we would be:
1 point away from qualifying for the last 16 of the champions league, with a home game to come.
Semi-Final of the League Cup
Top of the table with a game in hand
I’m pretty sure you would have taken it.
Coaches please take note of the difference in tempo between our home performances and our away form.we are not direct enough and keep coming up against brick walls from inferior teams.today we were caught in possession too often,we must move ball quicker and be first to the ball then we will punish teams and make Parkhead a fortress once again.
Why do we play with wide men who can’t beat a man. Samaras was bullied today and couldn’t get into the game. Chris Commons is frankly becoming embarassing. I would love to see his ratio of shots taken to shots on target. Its pathetic and someone really needs to have a strong word with him. At one stage today from eight yards out at the angle with only the keeper to beat he did not even hit the side netting. That shows you how far wide it was!
On the way home from the game tonight I was discussing Hooper with my brother and we both agreed that every season he has been at Celtic he has been dreadful up to mid December. This season has been the same with the exception of Spartak away. There is no spark to his play and taking up positions where he his not hurting the oposition and that is what forwards should do; hurt the oposition.
We are now becoming a team that cannot come back from losing the first goal. Our team is all about controlling the middle of the park and dominating posession but there is no end product. No one driving beyond the opposition midfield and committing players.
Teams are happy to simply sit in, goal keepers wander here, there and every where before they take a goal kick to break up play.
The longer the game goes on without us getting the first goal the more ragged we become. Defenders start taking unnecessary chances and we lose our shape. The goal today was a perfect example of this there were so many guys out of position it was shocking but that is what happens in a fluid sport.
Personally today I would have done something completely unexpected today. I would have taken Hooper off and brought on Brown but pushed Wanyama up into the forward line in an attempt to get a physical presence there and generally disrupted the play. Now people may say you would then go to a long ball game and your right but in all honesty could anyone that was at that game today see us scoring with the type of football we were playing today. Indeed could you see us scoring against Kilmarnock in that game either.
As a team Celtic need to be able to switch things around and route one football isn’t actually illegal but we need to be more pragmatic in our approach to breaking teams down when it is clear that our current personell can’t do it.
since the season started against scottish teams we have seen 3 good performances against raith stjohnstone in leaguecup and dundee in spl if it is the players mindset then can i suggest that they think that every game is a champions league game
I think we threw the game to make the league exciting!!!!!!!
Personally i feel lennon is to blame for these performances. Tactically 7/10 times he doesn’t see what’s right in front of him – players unfit, players uncomfortable beinh played in wrong positions, tactics getting exposed, etc.
A blind man could have seen the tactics against benfica were wrong and leaving us exposed wide. a blind man could see benfica scoring in that 2nd half and cally today, a blind man could see brown was limping about after 10 mins against benfica, a blind man could see mulgrew was completely out of sorts against benfica (found out afterwards he was ill, a blind man could see ledley was unfit against benfica too – yet lennon didn’t change it till it was too late again.
He constantly exposes his ignorance regarding the importance of tactics by talking about how they dont matter, and its all about players, yet in the same interview he spoke about tactically analysing barca’s zonal marking system and knowing they left the back post open – that we exposed by scoring ? i admire the man for everything he has given us, and i do not want him to go, but he really needs to start learning from these ongoing mistakes.
I wouldn’t swap Lenny for any other manager in world football, lets not forget what we as a support and club have came through these past few seasons. We’ve had our manager attacked both on and off field, officials lying to him, our club constantly abused by Scottish media. The SFA who are blatantly biased.
GBNL.
Fit players not Favourites or you dont get the jersey.Second, rudiments of defending such as ball watching shouldnt have to be highlighted to players like wilson but after the second benfica goal apparently they do.Anything, and I m ean anything in the six yard box is the goalkeepers so get an understanding going here for goodness sake.The modern game is getting up the park from defence to attack in approx. 4 seconds so we need more mobile and fit players for the modern game.
Glory hunting at its best…..GBNL get off the mans back
Fans were poor today. In fact some home fans are fast becoming an embarrassment.
The extreme reaction from some callers to phone ins were shocking & how the press will lap that up.
I heard Lennon today on radio. He didn’t have to bring the subject of resignation but he was clearly annoyed by the comment and the performance. Who can blame him.
Its hard to believe any rational person who saw a similar poor start last year but stunning performances once we found form are having a go this season.
Things are not that bad, we have a decent chance of last 16 & that would be a tremendous achievement.
BUT note to Celtic players. A performance like today or Kilmarnock & we might just be looking at Europa cup football. Spartak are a much better outfit than any if the Scottish teams that have turned us over!
Christ, get a grip. Lenny is the man for the job. He’s shown remarkable growth from rookie manager to beating Barca in the frigging champions league. He will keep improving. He will learn. He is learning. This shite about calling for him to leave is absolutely ridiculous and it pisses me off.
And also, to those who malign Peter Lawwell; he is the reason we are not in the Huns’ position – ya bampots. We should all get down on bended knee and thank Peter Lawwell for his tireless service and the fact that he has stayed with us when he could have gone elsewhere. Yes, we’d all love to be spending more money on players, but I’d rather scrimp and save than play in the 3rd division as a Newco.
Lenny, Park and Lawwell. We should all thank our lucky stars. I know I thank mine.
Here, here!
here here too but lenny needs to get a grip and rise above those comments regardless of how they annoy him
I think the Celtic support need to get a grip. You don’t just show up and win. The team are under-performing but so are the supporters. where were they today? The team must find it difficult to motivate themselves when 20,000 disappear during the ‘boring’ league games. Are the medias right? Are Celtic pining for Sevco? Are the ‘Old Firm’ really just that, a business partnership that needs each other. If so, I will be devastated. Surely we can stand on our own two feet.
Heroics in Europe, top of the league, competing in both domestic cups, players values rising by up to 20 times what they were bought for. It seems to me the club is in good nick. You can’t please all of the people all of the time but some expect perfect performances week in week out. I’m actually quite happy the league is more competitive than many predicted and I’m exstatic about our performances in Europe. I think the disgruntled fans need to think about what they are singing “We don’t care if we win lose or draw, what the hell do we care, for we only know that theres goana be a show and the Glasgow Celtic will be there” Hail! Hail!
Well said Thi Tim GBNL
Concurred
Spot on Thai.
I am not pleased with the performances but these things happen. Some were saying the crowds would go down because we would run away with the league. Now they are saying it’s because we are not running away with the league. What’s it to be? Or are we only willing to show up when it’s the CL.
Spot on all the punters who are backing Lenny…..we are Celtic fans not Sevco fans. Lennon has the potentiall to become an even better manager than MON. Some so called fans are not fit to wear the scarf