good luck neil lennon

 

Despite the disappointing result against Braga there’s no reason to be too despondent about Neil Lennon’s new Celtic team

Had it been anybody else Celtic were drawn against rather than Braga then we might all be in better fettle as the new season gets under way. A tie against Zenit, Ajax, Fenerbahce or Dynamo Kiev would have been written off by all but the most transcendentally optimistic as coming too soon for the new side being assembled by Neil Lennon. Braga... that gave us hope that we might go through to the play-offs and at least be beaten by a household name.

Realistically most of us would accept that we are miles away from being able to compete in the Champions League (the fact that we have to qualify at all is all part of the Mowbray fallout that will take some time to recover from) but for once would it do any harm if those in charge at the club acted as if they recognised the importance of this competition to the fans and acted as if they were prepared to face the challenge that qualification for it throws up?

European football is the only thing that makes bearable the assorted tortures that are served up weekly in the SPL, a test of endurance way beyond the threshold of most Japanese quiz show contestants. Is it too much to ask, therefore, that the required players - some of whom you would imagine, have been identified by the manager months ago - are signed with enough time to get them ready for the task in hand? Is it really necessary to pansy ass with players who are stringing Celtic along with promises that they might make a decision to join the club at some point in the future as opposed to giving them an offer then telling them to piss or get off the chanty? Could we not devise a pre-season schedule that is geared towards such an important game rather than one which earns some money but is so gruelling that many some players are given game time who have no chance of featuring in the big even?

No doubt there are more players still to arrive through the revolving door of the Walfrid (positively spinning like the proverbial top as it is this close season) and hopefully they will be the kind of players who will shake the stands of their torpor and help bring back what Neil Lennon refers to as the thunder, but by that time it may be all over as far as the Champions League is concerned and our interest in that competition will be confined to sitting back and watching last season’s SPL winners attempt to break some of the records they set last time out.

Until the board demonstrate that they can match our modest expectations with regards to Europe’s premier competition then they will leave themselves open to the accusation that they are content merely to stay one small jump ahead of Rangers as the cash-strapped Kinning Park club rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.

If we have to settle for the Europa League this season (and even that’s by no means a gimme) then so be it, but at least let’s do so in the knowledge that we gave the Champs League our best shot. Besides, there’s a part of us that enjoys tilting at windmills.

But Neil Lennon isn’t the first Celtic boss to suffer ignominious defeat away from home at the feet of Johnny Foreigner and he wasn’t appointed with the task of sweeping all before him in Europe. His immediate task is to clear out the players who are no longer part of the club’s future and assemble a group of players able to wrest the league trophy away from the rapidly weakening scaly fingers of our south side neighbours, the ones over the fence that you don’t like very much and rarely talk to unless it’s to ask about their ASBOs.

He has made moves in the transfer market to strengthen areas of the team that are weak - and in some positions have been so for a considerable period of time - and he is making the right noises about what he expects from a team who pull the Hoops over their heads.

But, like any managerial appointment or important signing, he is a punt, a gamble.

For the second season in a row the board have decided against pushing the boat out for a top man and have backed a hunch that Lennon has the qualities required to bring domestic success back to Celtic Park.

The merits of Lennon’s appointment have been debated long and hard since last May, and now that it’s done he will get the backing of everyone who cares about the club. But whatever qualities he brings to the job, the thing he lacks is experience.

If he is to get it at Celtic Park and fulfil whatever potential he has as a manager of our club then the fans will have to be patient and give whoever he sends onto the pitch our full backing. No easy ask when he is having to follow two seasons of stagnation and disorganisation on and off the pitch.

Mistakes were made in Portugal at every level, and there’s no doubt that there will be more frustration and disappointment in the coming weeks. What we want to see is that these are used as a focus for making things better rather than a succession of crushing blows that sap the collective spirit and morale a la Mowbray.

Reassurance that he is indeed the right man will come when we see that he is taking the necessary steps to effect improvement in the tactics deployed on the field and the personnel employed to implement them.

If Braga is to be Neil Lennon’s Artmedia then perhaps we can take some consolation from what happened at the end of that season rather than the beginning of it. By the same token, who would have predicted after a 5:1 doing at home against Arsenal in 1988 that we would have gone on to win the league that season against a Rangers team in much ruder health than their present counterparts?

All will be revealed in due course, but it’s difficult not to feel optimistic about what lies in store for what is essentially a young Celtic team this season. The Braga home tie and a good second half against Inverness have done little to dampen the optimism.

To end on an even more wildly positive note, as we go to print it looks as if the club are on the verge of signing a no-nonsense Swedish centre-back and, wait for it, a left-back.

We wish Lennie and all the Bhoys - especially the new recruits - the best of luck and a successful end to the new season.