The Daily Record has published an opinion piece by Keith Jackson over the prospect of Gordon Strachan taking over at Celtic.
Online supporters have speculated on such a move for over a month as it becomes clear that this season is running out of the control under Neil Lennon.
While some fans will claim that the report is mischief making it should be pointed out that Peter Lawwell has only spoken directly to one newspaper this year. In June he discussed with Jackson the prospect of having fans inside Celtic Park for a Test Event before the August 1 SPFL opener against Hamilton Accies.
Online there is very little backing for Lennon to remain in charge of Celtic, the main defence has been ‘who will we get in to take over prepared to work with Lawwell and the board?’
With two wins in eight matches and an 11 point gap at the top of the table the issue can no longer be avoided with two trips to Prague and Milan coming up that don’t look like improving the situation.
In contrast there is a fairly gentle, on paper, run of home SPFL matches and a Scottish Cup Final against Hearts coming up which could provide a new manager time to stabilise things before the January 2 visit to Ibrox which looks certain to kick off with a double digit deficit at the top of the SPFL Premiership.
This morning in the Daily Record Jackson writes:
It’s the phone-call that Peter Lawwell won’t wish to make and Gordon Strachan definitely doesn’t want to receive.
But just because the conversation would be excruciatingly awkward at both ends of the line, it doesn’t make a possible solution to Celtic’s current dilemmas any less obvious. Or perhaps even inevitable if Neil Lennon can’t find a way to pull himself out of a tailspin which is threatening to see the club’s quest for 10 In A Row crash and burn around him. And find it sharpish.
For Lawwell, the weekend would have been spent agonising over whether it’s too soon and too callous to pull the trigger on a manager who has not put a foot wrong in terms of delivering one trophy after the next since taking over from Brendan Rodgers.
With the prospect of a fourth consecutive domestic clean sweep to be completed days before Christmas, denying Lennon the opportunity of leading his team into another Scottish Cup Final would make the chief executive feel like a cross between Ebenezer Scrooge and the Grinch. But then again, Lawwell may also be worrying and wondering if he’s already left it too late
Pointing at some of the issues that the Celtic CEO might be considering as ‘grounds’, Jackson adds:
Two weeks ago on this very page, following a win at Motherwell which felt cobbled together by a makeshift starting eleven at a moment of impending crisis, it was suggested that Lennon used the breathing space of the international break to properly address the lingering issues which are undermining his management. And, let’s be brutally honest, there are plenty of them.
Does he know his best starting eleven or even his preferred formation? Can he solve Shane Duffy’s defensive wobbles or for that matter find a way to get more out of £5m keeper Vasilis Barkas?
If a back four is the way forward then is Jeremie Frimpong too much of a liability to be deployed as a full-back?
And exactly what can be done to shake Odsonne Edouard out of the sulk which has transformed the Frenchman from a prolific £30m valued talisman to a bench-warmer with a petted lip?
That Lennon sent out the same side at Easter Road as he had done at Fir Park suggests that none of the above has even been addressed never mind resolved. And it makes Lennon look like a man who is attempting to stop a haemorrhage with a sticking plaster.
That the manager once again resorted to castigating his players for being lazy and questioning their hunger and desire, underlines the extent of this peculiar malaise while highlighting the state of relations between manager and team.
It also leaves Lawwell with a finger hovering over his mobile phone and wondering if now is the time to make that awkward call to an old friend or not.
There are four MSM accounts very close to the thinking of the Celtic CEO, it will be interesting to read what @tedermeatballs has to say tomorrow, CEO has given one newspaper interview so far in 2020.
— Joe McHugh (@videocelts) November 22, 2020
Strachan has remained in close contact with the Celtic hierarchy in the decade since he stepped down as manager, in the summer his son Gavin was appointed as first team coach.
The former Celtic and Scotland boss is currently Director of Football at Dundee who would demand compensation if he was to move to Glasgow.
