John’s on the periphery of the game now and media life is easy. He says I should lose my job but that means nothing. Peter’s opinion is what counts at Celts... he’s fully behind me
NEIL LENNON insists pundit pals plunging in the knife means nothing to him as long as Peter Lawwell still has his back.
It was only a matter of time before the under-fire Celtic boss came out swinging and 10 days in the house have left the Northern Irishman with plenty of pent-up frustration.
The national scandal over the disastrous Dubai trip was one thing. The queue of critics lining up to take a pop was another.
Even his closest allies are scarpering as the season sinks, with Lennon’s old team-mate John Hartson claiming it is time for the Hoops boss to go.
The man in the hotseat believes otherwise.
But crucially he is convinced the power brokers at Parkhead still agree with him. The rest just don’t count. Lennon said: “John has an opinion, like more people on the periphery of the game. You either take it on board or you don’t. It has no impact on me. It means nothing.
“When he’s praising me, it means nothing. When he’s talking about me losing my job or being removed from my job, it means nothing to me.
“John feels he has a job to do. Yeah, he could have rung me first and had a chat about it.
“But when you are on the media side – and I’ve been there myself – it’s an easy life.”
Lennon is having anything but an easy life right now. Draws with Hibs and Livingston while he was isolating mean it’s now just eight wins in his last 21 games – one more victory than in his final 21 matches for Hibs.
Lawwell promised a review of the management staff at the tail end of last year and while there was an upturn of results before Christmas, defeat by Rangers plus more points spilled in the wake of Dubai have put the manager’s future right back on the agenda.
But Lennon said: “Yes, they’re fully behind me. I’m in contact with Peter daily.
“There has been no talk of any change or any difference to my position. I’ve always been appreciative of the support Peter and the board have given me. They have been absolutely wonderful.
“It’s only a month ago that we won the Treble. Since I’ve come back, we’ve won five trophies in a row.
“That seems to have been forgotten very quickly by some people. It’s not an easy thing to do. I think I’m the first person ever to win the Treble as a player and manager.
“So I’m not saying the
performances have been good this season. They haven’t. I’m not shying away from that.
“But, you know, we’re going through a difficult period. We’re going through a bit of adversity. And you need to be strong.
“I’m completely the right man for the job. I have the backing of the board and the players.”
It has been a testing time, in all respects. Spending almost a fortnight in the house wasn’t what the doctor ordered.
Lennon said: “Your heart sinks, of course it does, because you can’t do your job for 10 days.
“We had two very important games against formidable teams and you want to be able to do all you can.
“It was very frustrating, it wasn’t easy. I was constantly on the phone to the dugout.
“You don’t get a real feel for the game and see the whole picture. It was very difficult and frustrating because you can’t do your job properly through no fault of your own.
“I understand what the public are going through at the minute. I understand their frustrations, having gone through it myself.
“It’s not an easy thing to go through because you know you’re healthy, you know you’re well. But you have to adhere to the rules.
“It’s awful what we’re living through at the moment. And that has been interesting, as well, watching news loops and seeing how it’s affecting the public not just in the UK but around the world. It’s horrendous.
“And yes, we are privileged to be doing our jobs at the minute. I can guarantee there has been no abuse of those privileges.”
Lennon came out fighting and insisted the players who were in the same boat have returned with a vengeance as well.
The league may be gone but no one is admitting defeat around Lennoxtown.
Lennon said: “Well, we’ve got to win every game. It’s as simple as that. The players are capable of doing it.
“We were really going well, played well at Ibrox and were the better team. And then this has happened.
“So we just have to galvanise ourselves and go again. This season has been totally disrupted constantly. We’ve had very little room for momentum building.
“You had the Boli Bolingoli incident at the start of the season. Then four guys on international duty ruled out, that disrupted our preparations.
“And then we’ve had this (Dubai), the whole fallout, which I think has been completely over the top.”
If things were not hard enough, it’s Livingston again up tomorrow, four days after they caused problems at Parkhead.
Lennon said: “Davie (Martindale) has done an outstanding job since taking over.
“They’ve been a real success story, Livingston, over the last four or five seasons.
“Davie Hopkin, Gary Holt and now Davie – it’s been outstanding recruitment and outstanding results. This run they’re on is fantastic so it’ll be very difficult for us. It hasn’t been a great ground for us but there is extra motivation for us now to win it.”
We’ve won five trophies in a row. That seems to have been forgotten NEIL LENNON ON CELTS’ SUCCESS SINCE HIS RETURN