Lennon’s Celtic doing well for a ‘downsizing’ club

CELTIC are downsizing again. We know this because the Green Brigade wrote it on a banner.

In fairness to a fans group who don’t always get it right, they were speaking for the majority that day who found it difficult to accept no Champions League football because, it was stated time and again, the club weren’t willing to spend money.

The new signings weren’t good enough, there weren’t enough brought in and the thought process was that the manager and squad were worse than a year ago. A bit of patience and understanding might have been the best way to deal with one bad result and a lack of transfer activity, rather than loud and public ranting.

And now? Well, Lennon is manager of the month. Celtic won at Ibrox. They are top of the league. Group stage European football has been guaranteed. And those new players are better and the squad is stronger.

“I think we are healthy,” said a happy Lennon. “We have spent some money and brought some quality players in shrewdly. We’ve also made a really good sale of a top player and we got top dollar for him. It’s been a very good window. I think we are strong.

“We lost some quality players and they are difficult to replace. Eventually these guys will put their own stamp on the club. There’s good experience in there as well as talent.

“Greg Taylor [inset], for example, has been one of the best and most consistent players in the league for the past two or three seasons. So much so that he’s now an international player and he’s had 112 or 113 games. When I was manager at Hibs I watched him and I liked him.

“He’s got a calmness and he’s a steadying influence. He will complement Boli Bolongoli in that position very well. Moritz Bauer is a £6m player. You don’t lose your ability. You sometimes lose your way a little or you lose a bit of confidence. Mohamed Elyounoussi would come into that category as well.

“It’s up to me, John Kennedy and Damian Duff to get the best out of these players.

“I think Jeremie Frimpong can go into the first-team squad. I saw him in a development game up here recently and he really caught my eye. I was really impressed with him. I will have a look at Lee O’Connor. The market is different now. You have to find them earlier and develop them into the players we hope they can be.”

There are some who probably won’t even have Lennon as Celtic manager no matter what he does. He knows this as well.

Asked what it would take for this legend, a living icon of Celtic, to be accepted by all, he said: “I don’t know and, to be fair, sometimes that gives you a bit of an edge – and that’s good because you should never get comfortable in this job.

“It makes you work that little bit harder and this is a results-driven business and, if you can get the performance and the result, even better. There’s no question that I have a good background team here. John Kennedy and Damien Duff work very hard on analysing our opponents and I’m a great believer that tactics do help you, but it’s players who win you the games.

“It’s all very well setting them out but they’ve then got to go and perform and it’s just about getting that balance between the tactical side and the psychological side.

“The players also handled the Rangers game brilliantly and you could tell after only five minutes that we were very comfortable.”

Lennon admitted that the home loss to CFR Cluj has not been shrugged off by the club. The Romanian champions happen to be in Celtic’s Europa League group, which the Celtic manager is happy about. He does want to make up, in a way, for that dreadful night.

However, the team Cluj will meet next will be better.

Lennon said: “I think we’re good. When you look at the defenders we lost in the summer – big personalities like Mikael Lustig, Dedryck Boyata, Filip Benkovic and Kieran Tierney – it was important to replace them and, slowly but surely, we’ve done that.

“We’ve brought good right-backs and left-backs in and the centre of defence is strong as well, allied with super midfielders and forwards.

“We’re going to need that depth as the season goes on. I’m pleased with the business we’ve done.”

Maybe that should be put on a banner.

We lost some quality players and they are difficult to replace. These guys will put their own stamp on the club