Chris Sutton expects the Celtic board to double down on their backing of Neil Lennon.
When supporter anger turned up on the doorstep of Celtic Park in November the barricades went up with two statements issued backing the failing manager.
At Celtic’s virtual AGM Peter Lawwell and Ian Bankier showed face to deliver their backing for Lennon with the board and CEO largely insulated from the anger of supporters who’ve been kept at arms length since stumping up for Season Tickets.
Some fans felt that the lack of an alternative was keeping Lennon in a job, now it seems that the board are in the trenches with the former Hibs boss rather than admitting that they called it wrongly.
In the Daily Record, Sutton writes:
I made no secret of the fact that I thought Neil was fortunate to keep his job on the back of the Ross County loss in the Betfred which added to the two Euro exits with the title already looking like it was lost.
I said so publicly. I didn’t think he would survive and I wouldn’t have had any qualms had the board pulled the trigger at that point. The fact they did not is what makes the dynamic of the situation right at this moment in time very interesting.
Since Peter Lawwell came out and made his speech at the AGM saying Neil was the right man for the job, they completed a quadruple Treble by winning against Hearts and won three straight league games without losing a goal before going to Ibrox.
Across the city, Celtic were dominant. In the three previous Old Firm matches, Rangers had wiped the floor with them. Steven Gerrard’s team had played them off the park and that counts the one at Hampden 13 months ago when Neil ended up holding the Betfred Cup afterwards.
Saturday? That was different. Celtic were dominant. They controlled the game from the start until the red card. The tactics were spot on and gave the visitors the upper hand.
The team selection was pretty much perfect in the eyes of the supporters pre match and, were it not for the heroics of Allan McGregor, Neil’s team would have been a couple of goals ahead at the interval.
Now I’m not naive. I know none of that really matters in the cold light of day. Celtic lost and that is the bottom line. But my point is that, if the board thought Neil was still the right man for the job after the County debacle with supporters protesting outside of the stadium, how can that really have changed in the light of the performance at Ibrox?
There is a subtle change from Sutton, in November he was giving his own opinion, now he seems to be trying to read the mood of the Celtic board.
Lennon came in as caretaker manager in February 2019 on the same day as Brendan Rodgers took over as manager of Leicester City.
Following the 2019 Scottish up Final win over Hearts he was given the job on a permanent basis on a 12 month rolling contract.
