The beginning of the end of our ten in a row bid started before the final piece of confetti fell onto the Hampden pitch after INTERIM Celtic manager Neil Lennon secured the treble, treble.
The Celtic man answered our call when Brendan Rodgers took part in a midnight flitting. The Irishman navigated us to the end of the season but there was an acceptance among the support it’s not what we needed long term.
Brendan Rodgers instituted a high level of professionalism and had pulled the club up several levels. What we’ve watched since then is the slow deterioration of that professionalism which meant when things started going wrong it was going to snowball.
The counter-argument would be Neil Lennon won a treble of his own. A League cup won by one of the most incredible goalkeeping performances I’ve ever witnessed, a league title won mostly because of a relentless three months after a slow start to last season and a penalty shoot-out against a lower league Hearts. It wasn’t vintage and the case can be made it was the remnants of what Rodgers had left which gave the manager a huge boost. I don’t totally subscribe to this but there are elements there worth mulling over.
Quite simply, Brendan Rodgers was a cut above and to pass the torch to Neil Lennon in the shower at Hampden and jamming the announcement as we left Hampden was telling.
I stood at the train station outside Hampden, heading into town for a party when the news filtered through on peoples phones. Jubilation suddenly turned to deflation, the supporters at the station having to rally and shake the announcement off.
We wanted someone to come in and keep Rodgers levels going, Neil Lennon was never that man.
We sit here, picking over the bones of a season that unravelled very early on. Peter Lawwell, a man who hastily orchestrated Neil Lennon’s full-time return decided to sit on his hands and not make any hasty decisions when it was all going wrong.
It was never entitlement, we never thought it was due to us but we expected much better than what we were served up this season.
Let’s now go and appoint someone who can pull us back up to an acceptable level.
Today’s dire game was Celtic struggling for yet one more goalless draw. What do you expect coming from yet another defender made interim coach. Neil, John, Ronnie and Tony were all left with a tired team of induviduals that had no clue. Neil had survived longer by being a legend, a hands on, kick them in the bawz, kick and head every pass Celtic man manager. Even though this became his albatross.
He managed with what he was given, but don’t see him going back into management, unless Partick Thistle, Morton, Alloa or Airdrie are looking for a new boss (I may be wrong only time will tell) No sense in trying to pick though the bones of today’s result. As it had his claw in it all round. New manager needed now. Not in June.