Neil Lennon has all but run out of road as Celtic manager

One more wrong turning and it is impossible to see how this car-crash of a season for the Scottish champions would not claim Neil Lennon as its biggest victim.
The Celtic board can no longer avert their eyes over the predicament Neil Lennon  (pictured) finds himself in (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)The Celtic board can no longer avert their eyes over the predicament Neil Lennon  (pictured) finds himself in (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)
The Celtic board can no longer avert their eyes over the predicament Neil Lennon (pictured) finds himself in (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

A dwindling number of us who have petitioned of late - entirely reasonably, and fairly, I would still argue - that a man who has given so much to the club over two decades, played a central role in 19 honours coming Celtic’s way, and been so consistently successful at banking trophies across his second 21-month spell, deserved time to haul the club out of a disastrous form slump.

That has been the thinking of the Celtic board. Yet, patience as a footballing commodity must always be wedded both to results and a sense of what all the evidence points to as regards where a manager’s tenure is headed. Frankly, it appears Lennon has driven himself into a cul-de-sac at high speed.

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The spectacular misfiring, laid bare yet again with the 4-1 filleting away to Sparta Prague, did not merely ensure that the club’s Europa League group qualification bid never even made it to the runway. The feeling is that the product of a brutal state of affairs and a jaw-dropping defensive brittleness that frighteningly is assuming a certain permanence. As a consequence, it now seems impossible to believe Lennon is capable of the turnaround he keeps bravely putting on a front in interviews to maintain confidently remains fully within his gift.

All Celtic managers have found themselves in the deepest trouble when enduring a run similar to the past seven-week derailment that has left Celtic with only two wins from nine games. Indeed, even the ill-fitting Ronny Deila and Tony Mowbray never had such a torturous spell. As with Gordon Strachan, all claimed only three victories in nine-game sequences. These desperate dips sparked demands for their removals. Lennon’s team have lost their way so completely, the questions over him can no longer be attributed to Celtic supporters’ frenzy over an historic 10-in-a-row.

Not since Josef Venglos in season 1998/99 has a Celtic manager found wins as difficult to come by in nine games. However, during the Czech coach’s two in nine he still succeeded in registering a fine European away success and a draw in the derby. Moreover, Celtic then did not look like a team that, at the very least, could lose a couple of goals each time they step on to the pitch. The 21 goals conceded by Lennon’s men in their past nine outings has no modern parallel.

The 49-year-old Northern Irishman has deployed no fewer than 11 different players to find the answers to what appear systemic issues. Each and every one deployed has been dragged down to the horrifically sub-standard level Celtic are betraying as a defensive unit. Yet, bizarrely, nothing has yet been lost domestically for the club. They could still seal a quintet treble. Only if they win just about every domestic game ahead of them in the season, though. And even simply failing to succeed in one of the 34 fixtures required for that – starting with Sunday’s League Cup tie at home to Ross County – would surely leave the Celtic board with no option but to give up on Lennon before their fanbase give up on them.

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