I was angry, we never spoke- Lennon signing recalls the beginning of the end

Craig Levein will never be able to disassociate himself from his infamous 4-6-0 line up for Scotland away to the Czech Republic.

After a return to Hearts his career in management appears to be over as he settles for a regular gig sharing his expertise with listeners to Radio Scotland.

At the start of last season Neil Lennon went close to that system in a match that sent Celtic into a tailspin that they haven’t yet recovered from.

After Odsonne Edouard was kicked off the park away to Dundee United the Celtic boss had a dilemma for the Champions League qualifier at home to Ferencvaros.

In January Patryk Klimala had been signed for £3.5m, six months later Albian Ajeti was bought for £5m from West Ham.

Lennon decided on neither, tried Ryan Christie in an advanced role with Klimala left on the bench as Celtic tumbled out of the competition, waving off a £20m plus place in the group phase of the Champions League.

Reflecting on that the Polish striker told Football Scotland:

I was angry because I didn’t understand it. I think everyone in my case would be angry because you have a striker available and you play a number 10 as a striker? Maybe the manager didn’t trust me enough, I don’t know.

It wasn’t one game, it was a couple of games like that. When I was at Celtic I would think about it but it’s completely done and I still have no idea why.

I never spoke about it with Neil Lennon. I never complained about why I’m not playing. I never spoke to anyone about why I wasn’t playing and they didn’t speak to me either because they knew that I don’t like complaining. I just did my job and maybe that wasn’t good enough, I don’t know.

Christie scored Celtic’s goal against Ferencvaros but it seems that that defeat was the beginning of the end for Klimala, and Lennon.

Earlier this year Klimala moved to New York RB where he has scored seven goals in 23 appearances.