World will be a better place when this is over, says Lennon
NEIL Lennon believes the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic could leave our society in a much healthier place when the nightmare is over.
The Celtic boss says it’s a time to truly appreciate what matters in our lives and reach out to those most in need.
It’s a noble view of the world, echoed by his former Northern Ireland team-mate, St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright, who has encouraged his players to give their elderly season ticket holders a kind-hearted phone call amid the horrendous outbreak.
Lurgan man Lennon, who has suggested Wright would be an ideal replacement for Michael O’neill when he leaves his Northern Ireland role, feels a new wave of compassion might strike society when this hellish time is over.
“I don’t want to be getting up on my high horse and preaching to anybody but we might look back on this as a time when our society changed,” said the Hoops boss. “I’m really missing football, I’m missing the players, the staff, the games, the colour, the noise, but it’s no bad thing to take a moment and appreciate what you’ve got.
“I think football will mean a lot more to a lot of people when it returns.
“What I’m seeing now is us going back to our roots, going back to community life with people looking out for each other and maybe we’d gone away from that.
“What’s happening is tragic but everybody is pulling together to try to get through it and that’s brilliant.”
Lennon, who started his career with Glenavon before moving to Manchester City, has often been a target of sectarian abuse.
In his time with Northern Ireland he experienced a sickening death threat and as Celtic manager he has often been on the receiving end of verbal, and sometimes physical, abuse.
Scratch below the surface of today’s society and bigotry still emerges but when Lennon was growing up in mid-ulster it was a much more poisonous time.
The 48-year-old, however, says the right family support shielded him from much of the madness.
“I had a great upbringing,” he added. “My parents kept us out of trouble. We didn’t have much to live on but they did their best and as you get older you appreciate more and more what your parents did for you.
“Growing up in the 1970s in Northern Ireland wasn’t easy.
“The most vivid memories were of the year of the hunger strikes, the rioting and the tension. I was about 10 or 11. That was a really intense period, especially in the nationalist, republican community where I grew up.
“Plastic bullets, I used to see them on the street, six inch cylinders, heavy and hard, but my parents kept me away from it.”
It could be many months now before football is played again and during this period of self-isolation, Lennon will need to check in on the physical and mental health of his players.
“They’re like caged animals,” he said. “These are young, fit men who’re used to an almost regimented way of living. Their routine is training and playing.
“All of that is gone. Some of them will be cooking for themselves for the first time.
“Mentally, the change can put a strain on them. They’re used to intensity and suddenly it’s not there.
“We’re very aware of the mental (health) side of this. We all need to keep our wellbeing in order.
“As long as I can get out and get some exercise for my own peace of mind then I’m fine. The silence is deafening when you go out for a walk.
“The place is deserted. We just have to ride it out as best we can. We’re all in the same boat.”
Celtic are 13 points ahead at the top of the Scottish Premiership but now it’s a waiting game.
“We want to play all the games but I don’t know if that’s possible,” he added. “It’s not the main concern. We’ll do what we can do, but the most important thing is that everybody stays safe and well in these scary times.”
Meanwhile, Graeme Souness has admitted he would love to return to Rangers in a boardroom
role.
The Gers icon spent five years at the club as player/manager before leaving in 1991 to take over at former side Liverpool.
The Ibrox club have recently seen a change at boardroom level with Dave King stepping down as chairman and Douglas Park taking over on a temporary basis.
And Souness says he’d love to rejoin the Light Blues in an advisory role if he was offered one.
He stated: “I’d like to be invited back to Rangers in some capacity but it would only be if the people in charge thought I could help. I’d like to go and be on the board in an advisory role.
“I’m still very active in what I do. I don’t want to be presumptuous or get ahead of myself — but that could be one for the future.”
Meanwhile, King revealed a £20m investment in Rangers is now on hold due to the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking in his statement, he said: “At my final board meeting in Glasgow on March 14, the board was close to finalising a new round of funding.
“However, this has been put on hold while the board considers the financial consequences of the rapidly evolving global impact of coronavirus.
“The subsequent severe developments within the sporting and general business environment — that have now resulted in global lockdowns — has necessitated that the careful financial planning assumptions presented on March 14 are revisited.”
Taggart added: “I can’t see us playing in June or July. You are looking at a lot of matches packed into a few weeks and it’s veryhard.
“You could run next season as the climax of this season. It’s not ideal but it’s a way of playing the games.
“The NIFL steering group are trying to make the best out of a horrible situation.
“It’s difficult to make plans because they may fall by the wayside depending on how the virus is spreading.”
One unfortunate side effect for all football clubs is they will suffer a financial blow. For how long will they keep playing players’ wages and can contracts be extended into the summer or beyond?
“Every club will take a financial hit,” added Taggart. “For each club it will be different. David (Jeffrey) took us into Europe last year and into a second round which was an historic achievement. That gave us more finances to help us on our journey, while other clubs have received investment such as Larne and Glentoran.
“Some have gone full-time with their European ambitions but I’ll make a reasonable assumption they are paying players 12 months of the year and may have inflated wage bills. It will be a hard hit for them.
“I want to see all the clubs come through this and we can get back to what is a tremendous product. We have two months left of the season to honour contracts and the club will do that. I suspect that if the season is pushed back, the issue of players’ contracts will need to be resolved and the players will remain with their existing clubs.
“There’s chat of financial support from NIFL and certainly, with no incomings, clubs can’t last forever.”