Measured Celtic manager Neil Lennon refuses to contemplate resignation after Livingston draw

Neil Lennon says he has put “too much” into his job as Celtic to consider vacating it despite last night’s draw with Livingston appearing to make a managerial change at the club inescapable.

Neil Lennon's reaction says it all on another grim evening for the Celtic manager. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Lennon cut a measured and controlled figure – in contrast to his angry demeanour in his Dubai-justifying flail-fest on Monday – as he sought to put his case forward for being retained despite a fourth straight league game without a win, the longest such run for the club in April 2000. It is a case that can no longer be made with any justification, however.

The subtext could be read as placing the onus on the Celtic board to initiate any change, which they will surely find impossible to resist on the back of a seven-month campaign that has been a horrorshow of utterly epic proportions that has left the Parkhead club 20 points behind Rangers with two games in hand.

"I won’t walk away, absolutely,” Lennon said, following a 2-2 draw in which Celtic fought back from a goal down, only to concede a second half equaliser when they were completely on top. “ A month ago we won the treble. Maybe no fans has had an adverse effect, I don’t know. But they haven’t reached the levels of last season. I haven’t changed, philosophy hasn’t changed but for some reason too many haven’t reached their levels. I’m very conscientious about the work. If the club need to make a decision they make a decision. You’re asking the wrong guy [about whether I will be still in post] and I’m fed up answering it. Everyone seems interested in my job. I’ll be here until told otherwise.

“Everyone is frustrated. We look to the next game and try to put wins together because the run isn’t good enough. Of course we can turn it around but we’ve been rapped with what’s happened the last couple of weeks. The performance tonight wasn’t too shabby at all. We can’t keep dropping points. We’ve only lost two games and draws have been from winning positions. We’ve been scoring enough goals but tonight we conceded two very poor goals.”

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