NEIL LENNON IS A CELTIC LEGEND, BUT HE NEEDS TO SIT THIS ONE OUT
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 18 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Like most of you, I was rather disappointed last night to hear Neil Lennon’s steadfast defense of the current Celtic Board.
However, I wasn’t surprised. The Celtic Board, as I’ve mentioned before, have adopted a stance of hostility instead of transparency.
Unfortunately, probably due to his misplaced loyalty to his friend, Peter Lawwell, Neil Lennon decided to wade in on the current Celtic Fans Collective and their objectives of bringing change to the Celtic Boardroom.
It would be fair to say his comments haven’t been well-received.
Neil Lennon’s Loyalty to His Friend is Admirable, but Not a Wise Decision
I want to preface this with a couple of important personal addendums.
First of all, I want to make clear my unswerving admiration for Neil Lennon the man. He went through torment like no other Celtic player has, and hopefully never will have to ever again, simply because he was proud to be both a Celtic player and someone from the North of Ireland.
Death threats, assaults on and off the pitch, horrific abuse directed at him and his family. He went through it all, and he did it for us, and the club we all love.
For that alone, he has my eternal gratitude and respect.
On a more personal level, I had the pleasure of spending time in his company at a few different events over the years. He was always kind, generous and talkative. Anyone who has ever met Neil Lennon will tell you, whatever they may think of him as a player or manager, that he is one of most genuine and sincere people you’ll ever meet.
But he’s backed the wrong horse this time. I hope he realizes that before he tarnishes the goodwill that he still enjoys from the vast majority of Celtic fans.
I think his comments came, not from a place of bitterness towards fans, or indeed this latest fan movement, but out of honor and loyalty. Unfortunately, through their actions both past and present, the Celtic Board have shown that they see such things not as strengths to be admired, but weaknesses to be exploited.
As I pointed out in another recent article, Neil Lennon himself was one of half a dozen Celtic managers in the past decade or so who came out and said that the club hadn’t met his expectations in the transfer market.
His reward for his loyalty and friendship, was to be thrown under the bus, taking almost all the blame for the disaster that was the Covid season, when, in truth, it could all have been prevented had the board not tried to get ten in a row done “on the cheap”.
Neil Lennon is a man of principle and a man I hugely admire. But he needs to take a step back and realize that calling out the Celtic fans, even if he thinks his reasons for doing so are just, is the wrong call at this time.