ROMAN CONQUEST SILENCES LENNON CRITICS AGAIN
NEIL Lennon could be forgiven if he constructed a large stage at the entrance to Celtic Park tomorrow afternoon. The Celtic manager might fancy an hour or two of loudly dishing out the serving spoons and bowls as he goes around the significant numbers who might need to indulge in a little humble pie.
His former manager, Martin O’Neill, once revealed he kept swathes of letters from irate Leicester City fans in the difficult opening weeks of his tenure as they called for his head. Stuck in a bottom drawer, O’Neill revisited every single one of them as the Foxes enjoyed a period of success with promotion to the English top flight and the delivery of the League Cup.
Each author received a mischievous call – at all sorts of times around the clock – from the Irishman to question whether or not they had had cause to reconsider their stance.
If that story already feels vaguely antiquated in the modern climate of a febrile social media environment, its theme retains much relevance.
Lazio vaffanculo? Lennon, had he been so inclined, might have wanted to change his twitter handle to give out a similar message to some of his dissenters last night.
In the aftermath of Celtic’s historic treble treble this summer as Lennon steered the club over the line and into the history books, there were plenty who had much to say about the impromptu appearance of Peter Lawwell and Dermot Desmond in the Hampden showers to give Lennon the job on a permanent basis.
A fair bit of pearl-clutching ensued in the hours and days that followed. There were those who shouted from the rooftops that the announcement had poured cold water on the celebrations of a third successive treble – one does wonder just where they might have been the night there was dancing in the streets of Raith – and there is no question that there was a sizeable percentage who regarded Lennon as a cheap downgrade on Brendan Rodgers.
It seems barely credible now. Having taken Celtic into Europe beyond Christmas with two games to spare, the first time a Scottish club has the luxury of preparing for February knockout games three months in advance, there was also the small matter of Celtic’s first ever win on Italian soil to consider on Thursday night with the win over Lazio adding to the fact that for the first time in the club’s history they have now gone six consecutive European away games without defeat. Lennon has been no slouch.
For all that the Europa League is a level below the prestige of the Champions League, there is no question that there is significant credibility in beating Lazio. Theirs was an error-strewn performance but a team who have won in the San Siro this season and who had been unbeaten on home soil until Thursday night this term still have something about them.
Lennon seems more muted in the dug-out and certainly in the media room than he was during his first spell in the Celtic dug-out but his teams certainly play with some of his energy. For 20 minutes in the Stadio Olimpicio they looked lost and forlorn as Lazio came at them repeatedly.
Celtic were nervous and passive yet found a confidence as the game wore on. There has been a tactical maturation in Celtic and in Lennon, as well as a flexibility when it comes to changing what is not working.
With Rangers’ win over Porto complementing what was one of those rare Scottish nights in Europe with much to sing about it offers an intriguing question about the season that lies in wait. Porto, quarter-finalists in the Champions
League last season, have a significant level of prestige of their own.
The received wisdom is that it is impossible to have to a successful Celtic and Rangers in the same campaign but the Rangers that returned to Glasgow on the back of a defeat to Progres in 2017 are unrecognisable from that Rangers that turned over the Portuguese outfit on Thursday night.
Certainly, there is pressure on the Ibrox side to halt the dominance their counterparts at Parkhead have enjoyed but there is ample evidence to suggest they are far better equipped to contemplate that than at any other point in recent years.
There is an argument within Celtic circles that European progress would be sacrificed for the record-equalling nine-in-a-row and record-breaking 10. Lennon might have enjoyed Celtic’s most historic away European win this week but there will be no relenting in the intensity of the league campaign.
Whatever happens in the course of the next few months one thing is certain; Celtic fans were not short changed with Lennon’s appointment this summer.