Don’t blame me- Neil Lennon indulges himself again in Lockdown ‘confession’

More than two years on from resigning and picking up a pay-off from Celtic Neil Lennon is still indulging himself in self-pitying interviews.

Peter Martin’s PLZ Show is the outlet chosen by the former Celtic boss as he looks for some attention in the build up to Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final.

Lennon has already given multiple interviews absolving himself from any responsibility in a season that saw the Treble Winners finish trophy-less, 25 points behind in the SPFL Premiership and failing to even make the semi-finals of either domestic trophy.

From the moment that Celtic lost 2-1 at home to Ferencvaros in a one legged Champions League qualifier on August 26 supporters were sounding off alarm bells.

Typically, afterwards, Lennon blamed players that didn’t want to be at the club for the defeat- no one was sold in the aftermath despite the transfer window being extended into the start of October.

Going into that match Celtic were without Leigh Griffiths who seemed to have gone into semi-retirement during Lockdown, no one at the club seemed to have been monitoring his fitness.

After playing against Hamilton on August 2 Boli Bolingoli took a return flight with Ryanair to Spain undetected by the club, he returned to training, came off the bench in the draw at Kilmarnock on August 9 then was outed for breaking Lockdown rules. The player was fined while Celtic had two matches postponed with the media ad Government spotlight firmly on the club.

There are multiple issues that Lennon and Martin are unlikely to go anywhere near, such as:

Why didn’t the club secure Fraser Forster on loan for a further season when he reported back to Lennoxtown for pre-season training.

Who decided to offer Craig Gordon an insulting contract while telling him he’d be back-up to the hopeless Vasilis Barkas.

What process was involved that opted to sign Albian Ajeti over Ivan Toney after the Peterborough striker was ‘in the building’.

Why did the club go into the Ferencvaros match with just one summer signing, Barkas while Ajeti wasn’t match fit. In the week after that defeat David Turnbull and Shane Duffy were signed.

Following the struggles of Barkas, Ajeti and Duffy what thinking was involved that opted to sign on loan a Uruguayan from AC Milan to spend nine months in Lockdown Glasgow?

There are many many questions that remain unanswered as Lennon continues his media rounds absolving himself of any blame.

After four successive home defeats in the autumn the blame switches to the Celtic board but with Peter Lawwell dominating every decision it was unlikely that any credible European manager would go near the club, just like in May 2019.

The winter managerial review concluded that Lennon was the best man for the job which summarises the football knowledge of the tired old men on the Celtic board.

And of course there is Dubai… who decided on it, who went ahead with it, who invited Chris Jullien on it, who arranged the ‘activities’ and the seating plan on the journey home.

No doubt we will hear more from Lennon, all recycling the excuses that we’ve heard before.

Since leaving Celtic 26 months ago the former Hibs boss has been in management for just 29 matches at Omonia Nikosia, ending on 18 October 2022.

Lennon really ought to draw a line under telling half of the story and get on with his life which is much more likely to be in the media than management, unless Lawwell ever needs another caretaker.

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