Six months after resigning from Celtic, Neil Lennon joined in the banter with Tom English and Kenny MacIntyre as they joked about the doomed Dubai training camp in January.
Radio Scotland hosted a show from the Edinburgh Festival featuring music, light hearted joking among the panel while Lennon deflected any blame away from himself for last season’s collapse at Celtic.
The pandemic, lack of fans and a group of players that had switched off or wanted away were all to blame as the manager stood back helpless, drawing his salary and telling the world how he could turn things around.
In the autumn Celtic fans sensed that the season was falling apart. Four successive home defeats in a run that included losing 4-1 home and away to a depleted Sparta Prague side ought to have been a very significant warning sign.
Lennon and his backers in the Celtic boardroom completely dismissed the concerns of the fans, a managerial review was ordered and more than two months later the board backed Lennon as the man for the job. Within a fortnight he resigned.
Trying your best and failing isn’t a crime. The suspicion that Lennon was going through the motions, blaming others and dismissing distant criticism from fans is the issue that many supporters have today.
Since walking out on the club Lennon has jumped at a number of media opportunities, in none of them has he ever admitted to any mistakes or failings. Circumstances apparently contrived against him after getting £13m to spend last summer plus two EPL and one Serie A loan signing.
Lennon could have retained a lot of backing, support and sympathy from the Celtic support but with every move into the land of the media his legacy is ebbing away.
??’You could tell in the pre-season that his body languague wasn’t with us’
Did Odsonne Edouard want out at Celtic?
Neil Lennon answers ?
Click here to listen live??
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) August 21, 2021
No legend. Sorry. Doesn’t deserve that status. For him to be mentioned alongside Stein, The Lions, McStay, Tam, Big Roy, Tom Boyd, Henrik. Not one of them behaved this way after leaving regardless of how disappointed. He’s a shambolic individual seeking to justify his own failure
— Schrodinger’s Cat (@trebletrebleye1) August 21, 2021
Employee does not like working for inept boss shocker.
— Eddie Cassidy (@edcassidycomedy) August 21, 2021
Pretty sad stuff
— Minnie the Minx (@722Argyle) August 21, 2021
Never known anyone to take no personal responsibility the way Lennon does.
— Longshaw (@youhavingalaugh) August 21, 2021
Bolton players partied when they heard he’d left. Hibs players had a party in the dressing room when he left. He maybe wants to start having a look at himself. There’s a common denominator wherever he goes and there’s a distinct pattern to his managerial career as well.
— Tony Begley ® (@TBegley14) August 21, 2021
Wind yer neck in Lenny
— BoltonBhoy74? (@scott_melville) August 21, 2021
Just a thought, maybe he thought the leadership, training regime and the coaching at the club had fallen below the standard he expects, maybe I dunno ?
— LiamG (@parko1967) August 21, 2021
I really wanted to just let my anger towards Lenny fade and in a few years remember the good times, but he seems determined to make his relationship with the fans unsalvageable.
— MonTheHoopleheads (@hoopleheads_) August 21, 2021
Could one of these bbc journalists not perhaps put it to Neil that he was lacking the managerial intelligence required to keep the squad focused. Last season is now his legacy.
— Barry Furuhashi ?? (@forzaitaliacsc) August 21, 2021
Got to laugh at ” body language ” issue when he never got off his hole most of the season. He robbed a wage from us to do absolutely nothing , destroy the moral of the team& fans and takes No blame at all
— Dr. Hackenbush. (@smellymafingers) August 21, 2021
I hope this ends the debate. Would a “Celtic legend” continually wash dirty linen in public like this? He is showing his true colours taking every opportunity to run the players and club down. He is still trying to make a £ off the back of Celtic. No better than Nicholas imo.
— Boncydoot (@Boncydoot) August 21, 2021
I’m surprised he has time to take part in interviews, I thought he’d be reviewing all of the Managerial job offers he’s received…..
— Doug Smith (@Skyseller67) August 21, 2021
Odsonne Edouard, and the rest of the squad, saw right through him. A mediocre coach who lost the dressing room. A manager who didn’t have the ability to to stop the rot. He should have walked but he knew it was his last big payday, the last shot a the big time. Time to keep quiet
— Boncydoot (@Boncydoot) August 21, 2021