'Tarnished forever', 'End of 10', 'Still plenty who believe' - Celtic fans react to board statement backing Neil Lennon
The tweet from the official club account, which stated, “The Board of Celtic Football Club wishes to make clear its continuing support for Neil Lennon and his backroom team”, received over 8000 replies and retweets with the vast majority of Celtic fans left unhappy with the decision.
While some point the finger of blame for Celtic’s poor season thus far – they have won just two of their last 12 fixtures in all competitions and currently trail Rangers by 13 points at the top of the Scottish Premiership – at Lennon himself, the board, led by majority shareholder Dermot Desmond and chief executive Peter Lawwell, have also come under heavy criticism.
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Hide AdPopular podcasters The Cynic (@90MinuteCynic) posted: “Neil Lennon is becoming more and more culpable as the days go on. His legacy is eroding”, while actor Darren Connell (@DarrenConnell87), who plays Bobby on Scot Squad, simply tweeted: “Tarnished forever”.
Marc McArdle (@marcmcardle1) took aim at the directors: “How is it possible you’ve made this worse with every statement you’ve issued? The results are bad enough, yet the off-the-pitch conduct is somehow even worse.”
As did plenty others ...
Jacqui Mills (@Jacquimills11): “Disgusting statement. Completely Unacceptable. Keep burying your heads in the sand. We are winning nothing this season .This is not going to get any better till there’s serious change at every level.”
John Carey (@Johnny_Carey): "We would have a right battle to win the league this year even if we were playing well & getting results. Big enough to admit Rangers have the bit between their teeth & have improved beyond measure this season. We on the other hand are only going in one direction & it isn’t forward.”
Darren Warren (@darrenjwarren83): “I don't think the board or any of those at the top of the chain, understand what they have done. This is a game changer. Not only backing a failing manager etc, but dismissing the view of the vast majority of fans, is just unacceptable. Its time to go, Desmond and Lawwell.”
Jon boy (@jonnyablett91): What do Celtic actually base this on? We've heard for weeks now that the players are behind the manager and will do better. Everything has stagnated and we are now in the position where any team in the league has a good chance of beating us. This statement here is the end of 10.”
Finding positivity among the Celtic support on social media is akin to finding a needle in a haystack, but Shauny (@ShaunyCeltic) tweeted: “I will say one thing. IF we manage to win the #10IAR (Still very doable) and win the Scottish and Quadrupedal Treble. I think we will look back to this very post and be MORTIFIED at some of the comments. This is the hangover from being so successful with the finances we have.”
Paul McGugan (@Paulsatim) also added: “Good, hopefully that's the end of it, some amount of noise being made by people who rather than support have became media pundits or tactical experts. NL and players should know that there is still plenty of Celtic Supporters who believe that we are there to support WL or Draw.”