The Offical Glasgow Celtic thread

[JimStynes]

Glass is still half empty here. Can't see it turning around. The 10 in a row is gone ffs. Bring back Brendan

[Targetman]

Riveting discussion

Agreed, discuss on the relevant thread...this is to discuss how sh1te we are

TBH we are very shite at the minute and the huns look very strong, doesn't look like Lennon's getting his P45 so where's the spark gonna come from to at least make it a contest, too many players going through the motions week after week and its feckin killing us!!

[Orior]

Yes and I hope that bad spell comes and lets hope this is Celtic's only bad spell because they can't afford to have another one! But at the minute we can only go on what has happened and Rangers are flying. It says it all when Celtic are hoping Rangers have a bad spell in order to have any chance of winning. I read a stat:
Last 8 games
W 2
D 3
L 3
Goals scored 15
Goals conceded 17

Shambles

It's better than we concede now rather than cling to a forlorn hope that somehow miraculously Rangers will hit a poor spell and Celtic will go on a winning run. If Celtic keep doing the same as they are doing then of course nothing will change and the league will be over by March.

[Angelo]

Looks like we are going to have to be past the point of no return for Lennon to be removed from his job.

[illdecide]

Looks like we are going to have to be past the point of no return for Lennon to be removed from his job.

Looks like it...

[general_lee]

Looks like we are going to have to be past the point of no return for Lennon to be removed from his job.

Look at the bright side, we aren't far away from it

[JimStynes]

Yes and I hope that bad spell comes and lets hope this is Celtic's only bad spell because they can't afford to have another one! But at the minute we can only go on what has happened and Rangers are flying. It says it all when Celtic are hoping Rangers have a bad spell in order to have any chance of winning. I read a stat:
Last 8 games
W 2
D 3
L 3
Goals scored 15
Goals conceded 17

Shambles

It's better than we concede now rather than cling to a forlorn hope that somehow miraculously Rangers will hit a poor spell and Celtic will go on a winning run. If Celtic keep doing the same as they are doing then of course nothing will change and the league will be over by March.

Genuine question. Does anyone think Celtic can still win the league with Lennon in charge?

[JimStynes]

Also, what is going on with Edouard? Morales has been totally shite for them this year too.

[MoChara]

[clarshack]

Also, what is going on with Edouard? Morales has been totally shite for them this year too.

They've hardly conceded a goal so haven't needed him to be as good as last year.

[Angelo]

Also, what is going on with Edouard? Morales has been totally shite for them this year too.

His attitude has been off but that's been the primary difference for Celtic this season compared to last. Edouard carried that team on his back last year, everything went through him and when his form dropped of a cliff you can see how rudderless we are when it comes to breaking down teams.

Lennon has lost the players, it's a straightforward decision to make for the board but they are so reluctant to get rid of a man who will do whatever they say. Lawwell doesn't give a damn about 10IAR sadly.

[illdecide]

Celtic manager Neil Lennon will not "panic" about their recent form, says his former Edinburgh derby rival Craig Levein.

Scottish Premiership champions Celtic trail leaders Rangers by 11 points, but have two games in hand.

Lennon said he could not "defend" his players following Saturday's 2-2 draw with his former club Hibernian.

"He's been in situations like this before and he'll come out the other side," said ex-Hearts boss Levein.

"Neil Lennon knows more about being an Old Firm manager than just about anybody. He's had two fairly lengthy spells at it. I don't think there'll be any panic from Neil. He's seen it all before."

Lennon pondered whether Celtic had "lost a bit of hunger" after coming from two down to draw at Easter Road.

"He's frustrated because he expects better from that group of players," added Levein on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound. "That's why he's saying what he's saying.

"He's not having a go at his players just for having a go at his players - it's to try and get some sort of reaction. I just hear a frustrated manager.

"We've still to see what happens after the turn of the year, whether Rangers can continue their form. I think that's a really important part of this.

"There's a transfer window to come in January and I think if Celtic need more players in, they'll bring more players in."

[illdecide]

Yes and I hope that bad spell comes and lets hope this is Celtic's only bad spell because they can't afford to have another one! But at the minute we can only go on what has happened and Rangers are flying. It says it all when Celtic are hoping Rangers have a bad spell in order to have any chance of winning. I read a stat:
Last 8 games
W 2
D 3
L 3
Goals scored 15
Goals conceded 17

Shambles

It's better than we concede now rather than cling to a forlorn hope that somehow miraculously Rangers will hit a poor spell and Celtic will go on a winning run. If Celtic keep doing the same as they are doing then of course nothing will change and the league will be over by March.

Genuine question. Does anyone think Celtic can still win the league with Lennon in charge?

Honestly..."YES" but...big but here. If we drop any more points between now and end of December then we're in trouble (bigger trouble), people are saying he's lost the dressing room? Well that's just speculation as none of us know this. We've had bad injuries to crucial players, players that some clowns on here said were crap but i'd give anything for a James Forrest playing right now, Julliean was a big miss too in a crucial area. We've had Corona players missing and loss of form to key men.
Rangers have had it all rosey so far but their time will come with injuries and if none of their players have had to isolate then I believe their hiding it and sweeping it under the carpet as that's something they'd do TBH but they won't keep that form up all season and when they start dropping a few pts here and there and come Jan, Feb and March we'll see what their squad is like then we'll know better. Come end of March and we're still 7-8pts behind then we're in rel trouble but there's a long long way to go yet but don't let that stop certain people making up stuff they don't know anything about.

P.S. Louth have got a top manager in for three years, hope he does well.

[clarshack]

Yes and I hope that bad spell comes and lets hope this is Celtic's only bad spell because they can't afford to have another one! But at the minute we can only go on what has happened and Rangers are flying. It says it all when Celtic are hoping Rangers have a bad spell in order to have any chance of winning. I read a stat:
Last 8 games
W 2
D 3
L 3
Goals scored 15
Goals conceded 17

Shambles

It's better than we concede now rather than cling to a forlorn hope that somehow miraculously Rangers will hit a poor spell and Celtic will go on a winning run. If Celtic keep doing the same as they are doing then of course nothing will change and the league will be over by March.

Genuine question. Does anyone think Celtic can still win the league with Lennon in charge?

Honestly..."YES" but...big but here. If we drop any more points between now and end of December then we're in trouble (bigger trouble), people are saying he's lost the dressing room? Well that's just speculation as none of us know this. We've had bad injuries to crucial players, players that some clowns on here said were crap but i'd give anything for a James Forrest playing right now, Julliean was a big miss too in a crucial area. We've had Corona players missing and loss of form to key men.
Rangers have had it all rosey so far but their time will come with injuries and if none of their players have had to isolate then I believe their hiding it and sweeping it under the carpet as that's something they'd do TBH but they won't keep that form up all season and when they start dropping a few pts here and there and come Jan, Feb and March we'll see what their squad is like then we'll know better. Come end of March and we're still 7-8pts behind then we're in rel trouble but there's a long long way to go yet but don't let that stop certain people making up stuff they don't know anything about.

P.S. Louth have got a top manager in for three years, hope he does well.

there's absolutely zero doubt that they will cover up positive cases to any of their main players, and then a vaccine will become available - therefore in the end they will not be impacted on the football field by covid. there's no winter break this season which broke up their momentum in previous seasons plus they have a stronger squad now. I think the 10 is already gone now tbh as Celtic will continue to drop points.

[illdecide]

Celtic's PR strategy continues with The Herald and Glasgow Times freelance journalist Alison McConnell for a second day in a row having an exclusive on the club's response to the weekend outrage among what appears to be the majority of the Celtic support who have now lost patience with Neil Lennon and the kind of manager that he is.

Yet while Martin O'Neill makes very valid points in this interview he nevertheless completely fails to appreciate the reason why these Celtic supporters want Neil Lennon gone. We'll try to explain on behalf of the support.


First though to MON's admirable defence of one of his own foot soldiers. He blames COVID and the impact that no fans has had on the season for Celtic. We have the biggest and best support so miss the backing more. He blames Bolingoli who unlike Peter Lawwell and Neil Lennon it seems, knows how to get into the Champions League. He did give away a penalty at Old Trafford this evening but nevertheless looked half decent (no really!) so maybe we'll get more of the £3million spent on him back than we'd previously feared.


But MON refuses to accept that Neil Lennon should be blamed and points to him seeing out the Treble after Brendan Rodgers left and being only one game – the Scottish Cup Final next month against Hearts – away from completing yet another treble.

As for the league the former Celtic manager refuses to accept that it's over and believes that Neil Lennon can lead Celtic to Ten-in-a-Row.

The fact that O'Neill's interview is covered by the same journalist – who is close to the Celtic CEO – who 24 hours before got the exclusive word from Celtic that the board were backing Lennon despite the mounting pressure from fans and would give him the next month or so to build up a run of wins ahead of the trip to Ibrox on 2 January, points to this being a coordinated response from the club.

Fair enough, nothing wrong with that, but everyone should understand how this is being played.

Where Martin is not fully addressing the situation with the support is that after having an elite football coach who is in tune with the modern game and the methods necessary to succeed in this day and age, to play football in a progressive manner, to start to make an impact on Europe and to develop players and bring players though and unfortunately Neil Lennon delivers none of that – more so without his own backroom team who were not allowed to follow him back to Paradise.



Tactically Celtic are all over the place this season. Games where there are no strikers. Wingers at full back the season after it was Callum McGregor playing there. Shane Duffy, the hitherto respected Irish captain, left horribly exposed and looking like a pub team player, the fastest man in Scottish football standing still as our keeper makes what could have been a crucial penalty save in the hunt for Ten-in-a-Row. Strikers who are never match fit. Leigh Griffiths who was scoring hat-tricks before the lockdown yet is still unable to play 90 minutes. Odsonne Edouard who has gone drastically backwards. Players like Ryan Christie asking for a transfer before a ball was kicked this season and playing like he's only in it for himself. Bolingoli sneaking off to meet a girl in Spain. Listen we could go on and on.

The problem is this. Celtic brought in Brendan Rodgers and it was an eye-opener. The support felt bitterly betrayed when he left because they like the players, we were totally under his spell. He raised the bar and made us see what was possible. But him and Peter Lawwell fell out and there was only going to be one winner.

To the support, who didn't want Neil Lennon to get the job after delivering that Treble in May 2019, we said this. Under Peter Lawwell management structure Neil Lennon was the best we were going to get and MON is perfectly correct, he is 90 minutes away from completing his own personal treble as Celtic manager. A wonderful achievement. But after this season league wins stop being about doing the Ten and it's the club's position as an elite club in the game that is what supporters want. Not losing four goals at home to teams like Cluj and Sparta Prague Reserves.




Lennon was not even allowed to bring his own backroom staff in. Lawwell assembled that too. Nick Hammond was brought in to handle recruitment – not looking great so far this season is it? Gavin Strachan replaced Damien Duff (a down grade on a down grade) and John Kennedy was Lawwell's man who sensibly was in place to soak up the high standards that Rodgers and his team brought to Celtic. He sits on the Celtic bench these days looking like he's in the huff – don't they all see the chemistry that the support picks up? The body language is not good.

It is no coincidence that theRangers are improving under Beale (former Liverpool Under 23 coach who is highly regarded at Anfield) and Gerrard. Are they really improving theRangers players? Undoubtedly. Are Neil Lennon and John Kennedy improving the Celtic players? Name one that has progressed this season Martin, just one.

And if we do not win Ten-in-a-Row and theRangers go into the Champions League qualifiers do you really believe that they will slip up against the likes of Cluj and Ferencvaros? One look at their European record over the past few years will answer that one. Celtic have squandered maybe £90million over the past three years missing up the Champions League qualifiers.

But these Celtic supporters want something that the club with Peter Lawwell in charge won't deliver again. It is believed that Lawwell will leave the club at the end of the season. That is why we said yesterday that even if he wins the Ten then Neil Lennon's time is up at the end of this season at the latest.  He has always had our support as Celtic manager because as we said he was the best we were going to get under the environment that existed at the club after Lawwell won the power struggle with Rodgers.

But at the end of this season, whether the Ten happens or not, there is a chance for Celtic to become much more forward thinking as a football club and start to re-establish ourselves as a force in Europe. In 2020, no-one can suggest we have not been consistent at Celtic Park in European football – in the three meaningful games we've lost them all badly.



Neil Lennon was appointed in the shower at Hampden. CVs from other applicants were left in a drawer. Since that time it appears that much of what Rodgers brought to the club has been gradually eroded. We have no clear playing identity. Players are unhappy. Players want to leave. We are back to playing the same keeper who was dropped after the Cluj fiasco. The post match call outs from the manager this season are worryingly similar to what happened at Hibs in his last few months there.

The Celtic support isn't daft. We have all invested heavily – emotionally and financially – in the club and will continue to do so, but we will be heard and Neil Lennon himself will know the truth. He may well turn things round , he may not – the bookies say it's a 3/1 chance – but it's still time – now, on 2 January or at the end of May to go with his head held high and as a Celtic man. And those last three words is why Neil Lennon should be allowed to make the call himself. It's only results that will keep Neil there until the end of the season. If he can't deliver the results needed  he should resign. And it's all about the short term. Building the new Celtic starts in the summer.

Sacking him now would means a caretaker situation – like O'Neill/Keane or Gavin Strachan's dad – and that would mean that the bookies odds would lengthen still further. The main thing is a new structure is put in place come the summer and an elite football coach is appointed as the Celtic manager to run the football department at the club. That's a bigger prize than anything else including betting on a 3/1 outsider currently drifting.