SIMON JORDAN and Neil Lennon were very friendly during their TalkSport chat on Tuesday, however, one point the former Crystal Palace owner did not agree with Neil Lennon on was the trip to Dubai.
During the chat with Neil, Simon Jordan made it clear it was a ridiculous decision for the club to head to Dubai in the midst of what was going on.
Jordan echoes a lot of the sentiment of the Celtic fans when it comes to the idiocy of the Dubai trip.
Hindsight wasn’t even needed to see that going was a bad idea.
As it happened, Celtic were punished badly as a result of Christopher Jullien testing positive on his return to the country. There were 16 players and coaches who were deemed close contacts of the Frenchman and the squad was depleted for ten days.
Speaking after Neil Lennon ahs left his position, Jordan laid into the idea it was right to go on the trip.
Speaking on TalkSport, he said:
You guys were bloody ludicrous going on that trip. Just because someone tells you that you can do something, it doesn’t mean it’s wise to do it.
The fact of the matter is we’re right in the eye of a pandemic, there was only going to be a downside. There was no upside here for you.
There was a situation here for you already as the team weren’t pulling their weight, you were struggling with certain sections of the press and Rangers were in the ascendancy.
You go out there and there was a strong possibility that something might have gone wrong and there was going to be a focus on it. Do you know what happens with your principles when you die, Neil? Your principles die with you. And I looked at it, despite the fact I like you and I wanted success for you, I thought it was a bad move.
I would have gone ‘listen lads’ I know you want to go and it’s a team-building exercise and we should be able to do what we want and I know the government have given us permission. But we also know about political capital that Sturgeon makes out of situations like this.
It wasn’t just that there were previous situations that had gone on earlier in the season when some of your players have been bloody idiots and put you behind the cart.
So, it was a culmination of events that brought you to a situation where you got all the unfair press that came with it but it was your own making, if you wouldn’t have gone you wouldn’t have got that.
Neil Lennon retorted:
“I agree with you to an extent, but we had government permission. You can’t just say were ludicrous to go to Dubai.
“We went to Dubai for the right reasons. It wasn’t as severe in Dubai as it was back home.
“We were following all the protocols to a tee and came back with one positive case and we got thrown under the bus.
“In my opinion the criticism was over the top. 13 players and three staff ended up isolating – which we found ridiculous.
“But there are no reports on other Scotland players in the camp not isolating and I find that very hard to grasp.”
Neil Lennon has refused to take much of the blame for anything that happened last season. The former Celtic manager has put things down to world events, wantaway players, entitled fans and the government.
The Irishman doesn’t want to discuss his shortcomings, I suppose that’s natural if you’re trying to convince other people to hire you.
