Lennon needs to turn pitter patter back to thunder

KID gloves were never an item that fitted Neil Lennon’s character.

A man who kicked off the nine-in-a-row run by reinstating the Parkhead thunder with his fierce demands for success a decade ago is now facing a perfect storm deep down inside the bowels of the stadium.

Lennon is on the canvas and looking increasingly likely to meet his own 10 count as a consequence of the Hoops’ ham-fisted efforts to reach that magic number of titles.

So you’ve got to wonder why, at a time when he is under pressure that would buckle an iron paw, the Celtic boss has adopted a softly, softly approach to the people who have placed his head firmly on the chopping block?

Our very own Gordon Parks was bang on yesterday when he gave an insight into the dressing-room politics that ultimately only ever end in one thing – the downfall of the man in charge.

Lennon’s failure to root out those who aren’t fully signed up and willing to put their body on the line in the quest for 10 in a row looks certain to come back to bite. And hard.

Yet it’s the one thing above all else that made Lennon a success on the park and in the dugout.

A ferocious fire in the belly, an inner thunder and an utter disregard for anyone or anything that stood in his way.

Why then is talk of cajoling rather than castigating his underperforming stars become the norm?

When Lennon returned to Celtic Park 21 months ago, the wreckage of Brendan Rodgers’ sudden exit and the fanfare surrounding the return of the Northern Irishman masked his own ugly exit from Hibs.

Lennon had been suspended by the Easter Road club after a player mutiny over an explosive dressing-room exchange which followed a run of five league games without a victory.

Insiders in Leith pointed to Lennon having lost the dressing room with his fiercely demanding approach.

Lennon returned to Parkhead a matter of weeks later claiming to have mellowed. “I’m not as volatile,” he said.

That might explain the new approach to turbulent times. But Lennon the mild mannered manager doesn’t fit his profile.

There was talk of bringing in a psychologist and getting inside the players’ minds.

It doesn’t take Sigmund Freud to tell

Lennon is on the canvas and looking like meeting his own 10 count

Kris Ajer to stick a leg out to stop a cross or Olivier Ntcham to at least pretend he cared.

When it comes to times of footballing crisis it’s always best to regroup and focus on doing the basics right.

If Lennon is to somehow ride out the storm then he’s going to have to produce the most unlikely of miracles in Milan tomorrow night.

Even then it might not be enough to save him.

For any chance of that to happen he needs to bring back his own thunder to spark his slumbering stars to life.

A slice of the fury that visited Parkhead on Sunday night – overblown and ugly as it was – must be channelled into the players.