YOU’RE A SILLY BHOY
NEIL LENNON last night blasted Charlie Nicholas’ “silly” jibes at Celtic.
And the Hoops boss saluted recruitment chief Nick Hammond and the club hierarchy for the work that went into an excellent transfer window for the champions. Lennon reckons
Nicholas would have had something thing negative to say if Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were paradedd on deadline-day at Parkhead.
The club then waded in on
Twitter with a dig after the former Hoops striker had accused the board of going “cheap” in the capture of a left-back as they sealed a loan deal for AC Milan defender Diego Laxalt on deadline day.
Lennon said: “If we’d brought in Messi and Ronaldo, Charlie would have found something to moan about.
“You do wonder about some of the ex-players who create this negative narrative around the club constantly.
“I don’t take any notice of it. I was made aware of the comments and there is no foundation to it.
“He continues to lambast the club for no apparent reason. It’s just absolute nonsense.
“It’s another negative spin that isn’t true. There is no substance to it.
“It’s wrong and I don’t know if Charlie’s looking for click bait or whatever but he’s just making himself look silly by saying things for the sake of saying them.
“He’s been negative about the club for years. Charlie doesn’t think for me, he doesn’t speak for me.”
Celtic’s Twitter account mo c ked Nichol a s’ catchphrase by posting a pic of all the new recuits in a tweet that read: “Just sitting there thinking ... what a window! Another warm welcome to all the new Bhoys!”
Lennon insists he was delighted with the work done behind the scenes as his squad was boosted for the rest of the campaign.
Vasilis Barkas, David Turnbull, Albian Ajeti were signed on deals worth around £13million, while loan moves were tied-up for Mohammed Elyounoussi, Shane Duffy and Serie A star Laxalt.
Lennon said: “Nick has done a great job. The recruitment team worked so hard over the lockdown period and summer.
“He has had to totally restructure that department and the amount of work that’s gone into it has been tremendous.
“Nick has kept his eye on a lot of deals and to get some of them done has been fantastic.
“You look at Duffy, Laxalt, Barkas. Turnbull is a great young talent. We have a good mix of experience and youth and real quality.
“There is a bit of youthful exuberance in the squad. We identified the areas we wanted to strengthen and we did it.
“We’ve tidied up the squad too. Some have left and others have gone on loan to get games.
“We’ve brought in some real quality and allied to that, we’ve kept all our main assets.”
Lennon’s final comment came as club chiefs ignored temptations to make sales and stood strong amid interest in some of their top performers.
Key figures such as Odsonne Edouard and Kristoffer Ajer attracted suitors during the window and offers were made to take Olivier Ntcham on deadline day.
Celtic could have commanded huge fees for any of the trio but despite the financial impacts of the pandemic, chiefs were unmoved.
Lennon paid tribute to their stance. He said: “It’s really good business from our point of view and it shows the intent the board has for this season and seasons to come.
“Any interest we had in our players was totally rebuffed. We did have some interest in Olivier but there was nothing appealing at all.
“It was clear from Friday we weren’t going to let anyone out the door. The club has been true to their word on that. It’s been a very exciting re-boot for us.”