Chris Sutton has outlined the scenario where Peter Lawwell might want to have a ‘different voice’ in the Celtic dressing room.
Sutton and Lennon go back 20 years together but both are very aware of the results driven business that they are involved in- one on the inside and the other observing from close quarters.
Straight after Saturday’s derby defeat Sutton tweeted about Celtic’s reserves but it’s clear from the aftermath that the problems are more than a couple of missing players.
In his Daily Record podcast Sutton described the lack of shots on target and intensity of Celtic’s play as totally unacceptable, warning that a very sharp turnaround is needed to prevent drastic action.
Facing Aberdeen twice in-between matches against the leaders of the Italian, French and Czech leads isn’t the fixture list that Lennon would choose but that’s what is facing his squad over the next 16 days.
Speaking on the Daily Record podcast Sutton said:
Was there one shot on target at the weekend against Rangers, maybe no shots that is just totally unacceptable. The level of intensity was totally unacceptable.
I think Neil has to carry the can. I have sympathy with him because the likes of James Forrest was out, he gives them that balance on the right hand side. It’s amazing, James Forrest, a player that often gets slammed by some of the Celtic supporters, you realise how big a miss he is when he’s not in the team, his reputation was actually enhanced by the limp performance at the weekend.
Neil Lennon has real thinking to do because if he doesn’t turn it round soon, and when I say soon I mean the next few games and a lot of Celtic fans are thinking this season is all about the 10, Europe doesn’t matter. Well it does matter now; it always did matter but it really matters more now because Neil Lennon has to find performances from somewhere and he needs to find results allied with performances and the next few games are going to be remarkably tricky.
I think that the Europa League group that Celtic are in, each of their opponent’s AC Milan, Sparta Prague and Lille are top of their tables in their respective countries so they are going to find it difficult.
The fact that the performances have been so flat, the fact that Celtic haven’t clicked so far this season is becoming a massive problem for Neil and he’ll know this himself.
He needs players back quickly, he’ll need players back fit but there needs to be a drastic change in the level of performance otherwise I do think that Peter Lawwell after the next couple of games, if things are so flat he’ll maybe be thinking that we need a different voice now because clearly the players aren’t responding.
Then if you want to chuck in the dressing room unrest if you want to call it that, Neil Lennon talking about a leak in the dressing room. The fact that earlier on the season Neil was talking about players wanting away, questions have to be asked about the spirit in the dressing room and naturally questions will be asked ‘Has Neil Lennon lost the players’ is this the case? These things need to be resolved. It is not a happy place at this moment in time. He needs to turn things round and turn them round quickly.
Lawwell is closely aligned to Lennon, surprisingly confirming him as permanent manager after the 2019 Scottish Cup Final win over Hearts.
Sacking his own appointment is the last thing that the Celtic CEO wants to do, in mid-season he’d have to act fast as he did when he turned to Lennon after Brendan Rodgers opted to give his life to Leicester City.