‘Shoot the board’ banner opposite of what Celtic need: Lennon
UNDER-FIRE boss Neil Lennon has accused sections of the Celtic support of engaging in “dangerous rhetoric” after a ‘shoot the board’ banner was hung outside Parkhead.
The manager and Hoops chiefs Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawwell have faced increasingly angry protests after a wretched run of two wins in their last 12 games.
Club bosses have reacted to the demonstrations by erecting a ring of steel around the stadium — but the Celtic faithful have used the iron fences as a gallery to display a string of banners calling for Lennon and the board to go.
The Ulsterman insists he understands supporters’ fury after seeing huge cracks appear in their 10-in-a-row dreams, but he hit back at those who are responsible for the sinister poster that
was hung up on Tuesday night.
“From some sections of the support... it is dangerous rhetoric,” Lennon said. “What I will say is we all want the same thing. Those fans want success, the majority of our fans want success. The players and everybody here want the same thing.
“We don’t want any divisions. I understand the frustrations and the players are feeling that.
“But we don’t like that kind of language or expression anywhere near the football stadium. It serves no purpose really.”
The fan anger levels reached boiling point again this week when the board released a statement reiterating their backing for Lennon, saying he would be given seven games leading up to the New Year clash with unbeaten Premiership leaders Rangers to turn his team’s campaign around.
The protests are unlikely to die down if Celtic suffer further humiliation when they round off their woeful Europa League campaign against Lille tonight or fall further behind Steven Gerrard’s men when they face Kilmarnock at home on Sunday.
But Lennon hopes a sense of calm will come now that he has received the board’s vote of confidence.
“(The protests are) not what we want,” he said.
“It doesn’t serve any purpose. It certainly doesn’t inspire anyone at the club to achieve great things. We all want unity. We have got that certainly from the football side of things and we just want the supporters to get behind the team, especially when they need it.
“That’s what the Celtic fans do. They’ve done that for as long as I’ve been here. When things have got tough they’ve got right behind the team and that’s what we’re looking for.”
On the vote of confidence,
Lennon added: “I think it sort of settles everyone down. I know it settles the players down, for sure.
“They are really happy about that, thankfully from my point of view. It’s full steam ahead. We just need to try to get some consistency and wins now.
“For me there’s not an awful lot of work that needs to be done, just that little bit of confidence, that little bit more of forward thinking, a little bit more freer in expression.”