‘LENNON’S LAST DAY AT CELTIC’
Dingwall defeat final straw with manager set to make exit today Parkhead board forced into crisis talks after months of pressure Assistant Kennedy to take the reins until end of the season
NEIL Lennon is set to depart Celtic within the next 24 hours. The quadruple treble winners lost 1-0 to bottom-placed Premiership side Ross County in Dingwall on Sunday and are 18 points behind leaders Rangers in the league table.
Lennon received two votes of confidence from the Parkhead board after a run of disappointing results at the end of November and beginning of December.
A statement following a 1-1 draw with St Johnstone at home in the league said the Scottish champions’ directors would review his position “in the new year”.
Lennon appears poised to leave this week and be replaced on an interim basis until the end of the 2020/21 campaign by his assistant John Kennedy following boardroom talks.
The 49-year-old has been under intense pressure in recent weeks as Celtic’s hopes of completing 10-In-A-Row have ended with many supporters calling for him to be sacked.
Elsewhere, the Joint Response Group will ‘await further clarification’ from the Scottish Government after Nicola Sturgeon revealed her route map out of lockdown.
The First Minister addressed Holyrood yesterday afternoon and provided an update on the potential easing of Covid restrictions across Scotland.
But there was no specific mention of what the latest rounds of changes will mean for our national game when they are implemented in the coming weeks and months.
Under the proposals that will see council areas across the country return to the tier system that was previously in use last year, supporters could return to grounds before the end of the campaign if the current timetable of an easing of restrictions by the last week in April remains in place.
A JRG statement read: “The Joint Response Group notes the First Minister’s road map out of lockdown outlined at Holyrood today. We await further clarification from ministers in the coming days on the implications for Scottish football.”