Sport
Celtic can’t afford to get Neil Lennon replacement wrong
The greatest enemy of success is complacency but the latter can easily follow the former if a spell of dominance remains unchallenged for long enough. As the saying goes, you either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain. Such a statement feels befitting of Neil Lennon, a man who has helped create history for Celtic as a player and a manager, after his resignation last week.
The vitriol towards him from fans certainly seemed unwarranted, given his status and deep-rooted connection to the club, but equally it has felt like change was needed from top to bottom all season.
Lennon inherited the dream scenario as his second stint in charge began on an interim basis. Brendan Rodgers had departed for Leicester City and the bright lights of the Premier League, and Lennon was left to complete the job on the ‘treble treble’ in February 2019.
Rodgers had somehow managed to take Celtic to a new level in his two-and-a-half year reign; in part he was helped by Rangers’ journey to recovery after liquidation at the beginning of the decade, but what really told was the Northern Irishman’s reputation as one of Europe’s brightest coaches, the kind Celtic have struggled to attract before and will now they have a vacancy to fill once again.
He instilled a playing philosophy and signed players who have proven too strong for Scottish football in the past. Moussa Dembele was one of Fulham’s rough diamonds. He was polished in Glasgow and now plays for Atletico Madrid via a stint at Lyon. His replacement, Odsonne Edouard, has been equally as impressive.
Others, like Stuart Armstrong, Callum McGregor and Kristoffer Ajer, looked adept at stepping up should clubs south of the border come looking, with the latter since succeeding at Southampton. Although the likes of Victor Wanyama and, most patently, Virgil van Dijk, did so before Rodgers arrived, it wasn’t always the case.
Celtic suddenly looked imperious in Scotland, more so than ever before and, after preserving that last season, completing the ‘quadruple treble’ with the help of a season cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, Neil Lennon was hoping to lead them to the fabled tenth title in a row. But momentum had stunted, while Steven Gerrard had been developing his own style, which was paying dividends at Rangers.
They were ready to pounce this season while Celtic didn’t push on and Lennon’s deficiencies, in comparison to Rodgers, were laid bare. Rangers were focussed, picking them off in the Old Firm derbies and remaining professional every week. Whether it be due to Boli Bolingoli breaking COVID-19 guidelines early in the season and eventually departing, or the entire club travelling to Dubai for a training camp, professionalism hasn’t been a hallmark of Celtic’s season.
Suddenly, they are playing catch up to Rangers, and from looking like dominating for well over a decade, they now have a job on their hands to stop Gerrard’s charges leaving them in their dust. The rebuild should have been more gradual, measured and thought out. Now it will all appear very sudden and even rushed.
The departure of chief executive Peter Lawwell seems ill-timed, given that his replacement Dominic McKay is not due until June and will have no official say in the recruitment of whoever follows Neil Lennon as Celtic boss. But Celtic have a bigger problem on that front, one that even Rangers will be familiar with, and something that plagues them whenever it comes to selecting a new manager.
Lennon was never the right choice as Rodgers’ permanent successor, he was too safe and not in-keeping with the new standards being set. Equally, though, it was difficult to find someone on a similar level. Nobody doubts how big of a club Celtic are. Historically, they are among the most famous football clubs in the world. But when domestic success is barely seen as anything more than par and European glory is so unattainable that it isn’t even considered, there really isn’t very much to entice a top coach beyond the prestige of what has gone before. That is what brought Rodgers, as well as the fact that his credibility needed rebuilding after being sacked by Liverpool, he was a Celtic fan.
The truth is that, even if Celtic recover their place at the summit of Scottish football before Rangers assert their own prolonged cycle of trophies, the only thing to strive for is to be competitive in the Champions League. That was something they failed to achieve under Rodgers, other than becoming canon fodder for teams like Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.
Even those famous European nights, as emotionally charged as they were, haven’t been enough to build anything from. Scott McDonald scored against AC Milan in 2007, and joined Gordon Strachan in moving to Championship Middlesbrough two-and-a-half years later. The height of the hero against Barcelona in 2013 Tony Watt’s travels was a spell at Charlton Athletic.
Rafael Benitez is a man who has been linked with the Celtic job and the Spaniard has been publicly complimentary of the Glasgow club. He is somebody who thrives in jobs where the club is tightly connected to its community; Celtic tick so many boxes, but affording his wages would prove difficult, and there simply wouldn’t be enough room to grow the club realistically to make such an audacious move viable. As Lennon has found, maintaining success only goes so far; every club needs to develop and because of the nature of Scottish football, Celtic have a ceiling. They are caught between a rock and a hard place.
It is a similar story for Rangers, though bringing in Gerrard was with the aim of closing the gap. His brief will suddenly change next season, and there are some who believe he has to prove himself elsewhere to earn a good reputation. While that is harsh, it suggests that there is a perception surrounding the Old Firm.
Celtic should look towards a younger coach after Neil Lennon and follow Rangers’ lead. If someone can cut their teeth while winning most weeks, without either expecting greater things or having them expected of them, it could be a good fit.
Both Celtic and Rangers are gigantic football clubs, but their clout isn’t in proportion because of their surroundings. In the 2000s, both reached UEFA Cup finals, showing what can be achieved, but money has changed things, and it means that neither can afford to compete outside of Scotland anymore. That is the harsh reality.
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