LENNON WE’LL REBOOT A FAILING SYSTEM

Lennon can accept criticism but insists club will rebuild their recruitment process

HAVING greeted their side’s elimination from the Champions League in stunned silence on Tuesday, the delayed reaction from Celtic supporters in the subsequent days could have drowned out an erupting volcano.

Across the airwaves and the blogosphere, there has been almost universal consensus on one point.

An inability to successfully navigate the qualifiers for the second successive season and the fourth time in six years — on each occasion to a team with an inferior budget — points to a fundamentally flawed strategy at boardroom level. One which seems increasingly hard to fathom given the club’s unprecedented cash reserves.

Widespread dismay with when the club opts to invest in the side these days has been matched by disillusion at how its money is being spent.

For every Virgil van Dijk, there have been two Marvin Comppers. For each Moussa Dembele, umpteen Derk Boerrigters.

No club gets them all right, of course. But aside from the poster boys who have been flogged to the English Premier League, Celtic’s boom for their buck hasn’t been nearly good enough.

‘We do have a rebuilding job on the recruitment side — there is no question of that,’ admitted Neil Lennon (below).

‘We are trying to do that and Nick (Hammond) is working to rebuild the recruitment department.

‘Lee (Congerton) left in the summer and that created a void.

‘Nick will hopefully be in permanently and can build his own ideas there. That’s what we are looking for him to do.

‘It’s been difficult with so much change and that’s the part the public don’t see. We are working really hard in the background.

‘If people want to be critical about the recruitment, then that’s fine. I understand that. We have brought in some very good players over the years and are hoping to do that again.

‘It’s an issue at the minute because a void was left and it’s not been filled yet.’

Quite why it took Celtic so long to get Hammond into the building, only they could possibly say. Despite having a dismal track record, Congerton only followed Brendan Rodgers to Leicester City three months after the manager’s sharp exit in February. The fact Hammond didn’t start work on a temporary contract until July 1 meant Celtic went seven weeks without having someone specifically assigned to recruitment.

For many, the correlation between this dereliction of duty and Tuesday’s costly reverse to the Romanians is direct and inexcusable.

On this matter, though, Lennon is clear. Accepting as he is of the fact that scattergun criticism spares no one in such circumstances, he feels the players who were at his disposal should still have had enough to get the job done.

‘We had enough to go through — I am sure of that,’ he countered.

‘I don’t know about how much money we’ve got. You can analyse it to death but we had enough to get through but we didn’t.

‘We had chances in Cluj, too, that we could have made the most of. On Tuesday, we had them by the throat and just gave them oxygen through freak incidents.

‘Look at the third goal. We had enough bodies back and we should deal with it.

‘It wasn’t like the game was open. I actually thought Cluj were more dangerous in the first half than the second.

‘The fourth goal is academic. We were throwing a Hail Mary in at that point.’

If the evening provided fresh ammunition for those long weary of their board’s inscrutable policies, it was also the first time Lennon’s critics have had to draw their knives.

The deployment of Callum McGregor at left-back, a measure taken to get Olivier Ntcham into the team, did not have the desired effect. But neither, in Lennon’s view, was it the defining factor on the night.

‘I understand people wanting to look at the Callum McGregor situation — that wasn’t the reason we lost the game,’ he added.

‘It didn’t really have a huge bearing. He set up the first goal. He almost scored in the second half. He played quite well. ‘In terms of being on top of the game, we were 2-1 and 3-2 up in the second half. At that stage, the selection is justified. We didn’t do the basics at important moments, the nuts and bolts of the game. ‘It’s the platform you build a team from. Then you let the flair players express themselves.’

What is beyond debate is that Boli Bolingoli, the man who was dropped for McGregor, will need some reassurance from the man who signed him.

‘Yes, we’ll have a chat,’ said Lennon. ‘We’ve had one previously and we’ll have another.

‘It’s an acclimatisation period. I don’t think he realised how intense life was going to be and the expectations of the club but he’ll grow into that.’

Ahead of what’s likely to be a low-key Betfred Cup tie against Dunfermline today, Lennon will remind the wider squad that one bad night was at odds with how they have started the season. They cannot afford to let it bleed into the rest of the campaign.

‘There is a little bit more hysteria these days,’ he said. ‘You have to keep a level head and a sense of perspective.

‘We have the makings of a very good team here. Up until Tuesday, we were all delighted with the start we had made.

‘This is a setback — we have to lick our wounds, come back and keep improving. Because we still have a bit to do.

‘I am excited about this team despite losing to Cluj.

‘Domestically, it’s certainly the best start I have ever made as a manager.

‘Albeit it’s only two games but we had also been very good in the European games. We just had one bad half of football and it’s cost us.

‘I am excited about this team. There’s real talent. For half an hour on Tuesday, some of the football was breathtaking.’

Bolingoli and Christopher Jullien are in contention to face the Pars. Although Scott Bain will make way for Craig Gordon after sustaining a hand injury which will keep him out for an unspecified period of time.

‘He’s had a scan,’ said Lennon. ‘They are going to make a splint for his thumb but, hopefully, he won’t be out for too long.

‘It doesn’t require surgery from what we gather, so we’ll gauge that as we go along.’

Asked if a loan move for Fraser Forster would come into his thinking in the event Bain’s injury is worse than first feared, Lennon smiled: ‘There’s talk of David de Gea. I’m not going to talk about names. But we’re looking at areas to strengthen. We have to because we want that strength in depth for the rigours of the season.

‘We might have to change targets now (because Celtic are no longer in the Champions League) but, in the main, I think we’re on the same path — resale value in some and, hopefully, the right quality as well.’