THE TENSION IS MOUNTING
Lenny’s bid for historic title is suffering from a severe case of self-harming
NEIL LENNON always knew there would be people from all corners desperate to halt Celtic’s bid for 10 in a row.
What he couldn’t have foreseen is that anyone from within his own camp would be willing to inflict damage.
As if there wasn’t already enough pressure on Lennon going into this potentially historic term,BoliBo ling oli’ s day-trip to Spain has left his gaffer right behind the eight-ball less than two weeks into it.
Of course, the most important aspect of the Bolingoli incident is the health situation in the country and the fact he put the football season here at risk.
These topics have been fully covered. But once the clouds of anger clear within the corridors of Lennoxtown and amongst the Parkhead support, the picture in terms of the title race will become vivid.
Lennon and his team are going to have their backs jammed firmly to the wall for the foreseeable future.
They will be playing catch-up for months due to a rammed fixture list which means it is going to be virtually impossible to shoehorn the rearranged games against St Mirren and Aberdeen into the programme before Christmas unless Celtic make a disastrous exit from Europe before reaching the group stages of either the Champions or Europa League.
The intense pressure which was going to be on them for every game due to the season’s importance has just been cranked up another notch.
There was always a suspicion that playing games behind closed doors at first might suit a Rangers squad who had shown themselves to be vulnerable when pressure was applied from the stands during last season.
That’s not opinion. That viewpoint comes from a statement made by Ibrox captain James Tavernier when he admitted as much during the Light Blues’ post winter break collapse.
But now Steven Gerrard’s men can open a gap and ease some of the tension by winning their next two fixtures against Livingston and Kilmarnock before Celtic get going again away to Dundee United at 5.30pm on Saturday week.
How big the gap will be remains to be seen, but chances are it’s going to be chunky and can put a spring into the step of Celtic’s biggest rivals.
Points on the board for one team means games in hand get more stressful for the other. .
Celtic were already two points behind after drawing against Kilmarnock on Sunday.
A lifeless, flat performance where a winning goal could not be conjured through 65 minutes of deadlock at 1-1.
Whereas Leigh Griffiths prised the Killie door open in January alongside Odsonne Edouard, he was nowhere to be seen this time.
Lennon did not need one of his players returning from the lockdown out of shape and out of condition. That was the first setback not of the manager’s making.
The fact that Griffiths wasn’t at Rugby Park was a disappointment. The fact Bolingoli was has turned out to be a disaster.
The gaffer said the squad was rusty on Sunday. Sitting idle when they should have been facing St Mirren last night and Aberdeen on Saturday due to the Belgian’s Spain shame is not going to shake that rust off. So, basically, they’ll still be undercooked when they come back for a vital Champions League qualifier against KR Reykjavik on Tuesday. And they’ll be trailing a long way behind in the league when they go to Tayside.
All thanks to the selfish stupidity of someone within their own dressing room.
Lennon and his strong core of disciplined and successful players were always going to be put to the test this term.
But that test has just become a whole lot bigger.
And, if they come through it against this backdrop of homecooked hassle, it won’t just be historic. It’ll be heroic.