Mulgrew has faith in Lennon and Brown
NEIL LENNON and Scott Brown are the ideal pairing to steer Celtic out of troubled waters, according to former Parkhead defender Charlie Mulgrew.
The tsunami of criticism on social media has been in danger of eroding all sense of perspective but Mulgrew knows more than most how vital it is to stay afloat in the midst of the storm.
“They are two guys [ Lennon and Brown] who have been over the distance,” he said. “They are having a sticky patch. It happens in football and it happens to every team in the world.
“It is magnified at Celtic and Rangers especially just now when Rangers are winning games, getting results and playing well.
“These two know what it takes and they will be hurting. If you weren’t hurting there would be problems. I don’t think there are any two better leaders than the manager and the captain to take the club forward.”
If the draw at Pittodrie on Sunday felt reminiscent of a day nine years earlier at Rugby Park when Lennon’s team reversed a 3- 0 deficit at the break to leave Ayrshire with a point and a manager still in a job, Mulgrew believes it is the same level of grit required now to recover from the damage done over the last month.
Captain in Ayrshire that day, Mulgrew recalls expecting to get his “neck wrung” when he went into the dressing room only to find a manager who may have been inwardly seething but who shied away from letting rip.
“He didn’t go crazy,” said the 34- year- old. “He could lose it at half- time.
“You are just waiting to get your neck wrung basically. You are devastated. We all knew that so there was a respect and a fear factor there. But he never did it at Kilmarnock because he knew how low we were.
“He just said, ‘ score the next goal’ and told us we could turn it round. He spoke positively and reassured all the players. You saw the response in the second half. I remember Anthony Stokes and James Forrest were unbelievable.
“They dragged us through and we managed to get a draw. Rangers also drew that afternoon and that was the turning point for that season.
Around Christmas we ended up going top of the league
[ after being 10 points behind] and we stayed there.”
Despite the ferocity of the criticism that Lennon has endured in the aftermath of the defeats to Rangers and AC Milan and the draw with Aberdeen, Mulgrew doesn’t expect that the Celtic manager will have been blindsided by the weight of pressure that he finds himself under now.
To some observers the lack of currency that Lennon has among the Parkhead support is notable as he tries to navigate his side through arguably the most testing point of his Celtic managerial career.
“I’m not really surprised because that’s what it’s like to be at Celtic,” said Mulgrew. “Has there ever been a manager in Celtic’s history who has lost two games and drawn one and still had the full backing of everybody?
“Brendan Rodgers won a double Treble and was unbeaten in his first season and even then there were whispers about his style of football and he wasn’t doing something right. So I don’t think he’ll be surprised. I don’t think he’ll be hurt.”
One player who is new to the environment is Shane Duffy. The Republic of Ireland internationalist has so far failed to live up to his billing at the aggressive and commanding centre- half that Celtic were crying out for.
“He’ll be feeling it,” said Mulgrew. “He probably won’t know what’s happened, feeling the intensity and scrutiny on him. It takes a special mentality to play for Celtic and Rangers and often it’s not about ability. It’s in your head. If he didn’t realise before, he’ll realise now.”