Is it time for Lennon to go?

Why? Do you think we would lose the league if a new manager came in?
Do you think we would be less likely to beat teams like Karagandy than we are now?

Note, I am not for getting rid of Lennon. I am pretty neutral. But I dont think if he left tomorrow that we would fail to achieve anything we have achieved this season. We would still win the league and we should still beat random Kazak teams. We would still lose our best talent and we would still replace them on the cheap.

 

Or maybe MON's wife was very sick at the time and he had that on his mind rather then being at Celtic Park.

 

True. However, he did the same thing at Villa and Sunderland - its his style.

He is likes to delegate. :icon_mrgreen:

 

In the last 10 days when it comes to Lenny he's had questions about his judgement on Griffiths, the Tyncastle abuse and now this poll. Cards on the table, I am not a fan of his tactics and getting fed up with the now too often explanation of 'didn't see that coming' or 'needed to talk to them at half time because they weren't dlivering' or 'there's an expected standard at this Club and that wasn't it', however, for a man who has given so much to this Club, he doesn't deserve this thread.
Having said all of the above I think it would be best for Lenny and his reputation with us if he said he was off to new challenges at the end of the year because it's only going to get worse next season.

 

But we did win both ties deservedly over the 2 legs in each round. The tie we played against Elfsborg when they were in mid season and we were still in pre season essentially was hardly ideal from our standpoint as well. But either way we won both ties and deserved to win both ties.

 

I think now more than ever Lennon will have his eyes fixed on winning the treble next season. No one needs to tell him how much of a failure this season will be with just winning the league alone. He'll know himself, I think this is what he was getting at the other day when he talked about leaving if he couldn't get the success on the pitch he wanted. I think this is what he means and he'll definitely want another shot at it. Next season is another real opportunity to do it imo and Lennon deserves the chance to go for it.

 

People thinking one cup competition out of four after our most serious challenger died is acceptable.

The Scottish Cup is our competition. The way in which we surrendered it today was absolutely embarrassing and it is becoming a familiar sight in cup competitions. Lennon has to shoulder his share of the responsibility.

If Lennon was a foreign manager with no ties to Celtic he would have been hounded out ages ago.

 

Personally I think Lennon has an issue winning cup ties. I don't think its enough to say ah well it's inevitable that eventually we'll lose, after all, they are a good side, stop over the reactions.

* that, its not good enough, I was really looking for our side to win at least one of the cups this year. Lennon should be looking in the mirror and asking questions, as well as the team.

People are entirely right to freak the * out. Rangers are in the quarter finals and we are not?

If people are fine with that....then fair * to ye.

 

+1

 

See below.

His wife being I'll was a factor but he started to delegate much more after his first year.

It's not a criticism of him, just the reality of management in many lines if work. A stand off approach isn't necessarily any worse.

 

Whether he stays or goes - and for the record, there is no chance in reality that he is going anywhere - things need to improve.

I can count on one hand, the number of games where Celtic have played exciting football this season. We have been grinding out results and it has been hard to watch at times.

It is a results driven business, so some will argue that as long as we are winning then we shouldn't be complaining. However we are out of two cups and really struggled against inferior teams in Europe this season (Elfsborg, Karagandy away)

We are tactically very poor and one up front in domestic football is not the way we should be playing. It feels like we are lining up as if we are about to play Barcelona every weekend. We are quite defensive in formation. Our centre mids dont get forward enough and we are relying too much on the creativity and goalscoring abilities of Kris Commons.

It's not all Lennons fault. I agree that Lawell has not given him full financial backing - choosing to splash out smaller amounts on several players in the hope we find a gem rather than going all out for the proven striker we needed at the start of the season.

Lennon needs to change the way we approach our home domestic games. We will get fans back through the doors if we are playing creative, attacking football. We verge on boring at times just now.

If Lennon can't see this and make the necessary adjustments, then yes, it might just be time for him to move on.

 

Change the thread title to Lawwell out

 

Lenny has said it himself, Samaras is a guy that could 'get you the sack'.
Well Lenny, you picked him (again) when Samaras should not be anywhere near the pitch. The old pals act has come back to bite your * this time.
You cant take this team any further, so time to go Neil.

 

It's never easy to accept defeat, especially at home and after so many clean sheets, but that's football.

If Neil Lennon has a failing it probably that he tends to be too loyal to his players, even when they fail time and time again he still sticks by them, Samaras being the classic example.

Today's performance was not the best, however give Aberdeen and their manager some credit, they nullified Chris Commons and our open play today.

 

I think he should be given another season. If we don't win at least a double next season, then he has to go. The league on its own isn't enough now. Crashing out at the first hurdle to Morton in the league cup & going out in the 5th round of the Scottish Cup - no matter how good Aberdeen are - isn't good enough. This had & still does have the potential to be a very special season (going unbeaten in the league) but our runs in the cup (or lack thereof) has taken the shine of things somewhat.

I think Lennon's shown that he can be a very good manager but at other times he seems to be tactically inept. His team selection is baffling at times, he rarely rotates the squad & his use of substitutes isn't even worth talking about. I know he's still learning but he has to learn from his mistakes, something he doesn't seem particularly good at.

 

The supporters on here who don't want Lenny to go I believe are stating this because "he is is one of us and from Ireland". In football matters he should be shown the door. This current squad are a poor bunch. How much money has McInnes put together the current Aberdeen team? These are the facts people should be evaluating at. McInnes is a cert for manager of the year. So called Celtic rejects Flood, McGinn & Robson were a grade above our players today.

 

We'd PROBABLY still win the league but you never know. You could end up with another Tony Mowbray situation where things don't come together, the team loses confidence and everything is suddenly in disarray. You then have to sack a manager mid season and bring in someone else to prevent the embarrassment of not winning the league. Why potentially put yourself through all that when we have a man in charge who is guaranteed to lead us to the Championship each year?

As for Europe, things could get A LOT worse for us if we got rid of Neil Lennon. You're hand picking Shakhtar Karagandy as an example of a team that we beat under Neil Lennon but who any other decent manager could have got us past. How about I hand pick Barcelona? Neil Lennon led us to the last 16 of the Champions League, I'm sure I don't have to remind you that a certain Martin O'Neill never managed that feat and that Gordon Strachan got lauded by all Celtic fans for accomplishing the same feat.

Why are you trying to downplay that achievement by ignoring it and hand picking Shakhtar Karagandy? I can tell you one thing for sure, managers who can:

1. Put together a team capable of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League using the budgets Celtic work with

and

2. Have the man management and tactical skills to get that team through the Group Stages of the Champions League

......are few and far between. We are fortunate to have one of those managers in charge right now. Why the * would we want to kick him out the door?

I totally get people's frustrations about the performances in the cup competitions under Neil Lennon, I share them, but I would like to draw attention to one small fact. Gordon Strachan managed Celtic in 8 domestic cup campaigns, how many did he win? 3. Neil Lennon has now also been in charge for 8 domestic cup competitions and has won 2. Not exactly a gulf in achievement is there? I would also like to remind people that Gordon Strachan lost at home to Falkirk in the League Cup and at home to Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup. Results that are directly comparable with what we've done this season.

The reason I am pointing all this out is because Gordon Strachan is hailed as a hero by most and is generally considered one of the most successful managers in our history. Once we wrap up the league title this year, Neil Lennon will have won as many league titles as Strachan, will have matched his achievement of reaching the last 16 in the Champions League(on a smaller budget than Strachan had) and will be only 1 domestic cup behind Strachan. And he will have done all this in the same timespan that Strachan achieved what he did. Strachan also didn't have to put up with all the off field nonsense that Neil Lennon has had to put up with, I personally don't think there's a chance in * he'd have stuck around 4 years if his family were in danger and he was being sent bombs through the post. Neil Lennon did.

If Strachan is the legend he's hailed as then Neil Lennon must be one too, or be extremely close to being one. Again I ask, why would we want to sack a Celtic legend?

This 'sack Lennon' stuff is nothing more than a knee * reaction and it's * sad to read. In fact, given everything that Neil Lennon has given to the club over the last decade, it's downright ungrateful.

Sack Lennon? Not a * chance.

There's only one Neil Lennon

 

What a load of absolute *.

I can't believe what I am reading on here tonight. Unbelievable. It's embarrassing actually.