Danny: It is time to focus on ensuring a complete campaign for 2021-22
At a time when Neil Lennon is reacquainting himself with life outside football, namesake Danny is growing increasingly concerned his own break from the game could stretch into 2021-22.
Scottish football has been suspended below Championship level since the beginning of January as part of the government’s measures to control the coronavirus.
It is a pause that has put Leagues One and Two, the Highland League, West of Scotland and Lowland Leagues, the SWPL and the Scottish Cup into cold storage.
“I think we are all finding the current situation very disappointing and frustrating,” said the Clyde manager.
“These are unprecedented times we are living in just now and, of course, everyone appreciates that health must come first for the players, supporters and all the people who work in the frontline.
“At the same time, everyone is desperate to get back playing again as soon as it is safe to do so.
“Everyone loves the game and we all want to be out there getting involved again.
“Listen, we have all become Zoomers since Covid came along. Some of us maybe were beforehand, but that is a different story.
“So we keep in touch, we stay connected as best we can with discussions a couple of times a week.
“And in these sessions players keep asking me when will our games be back and I feel like I am repeating myself over and over with my answers because the clarity is not there from those in charge.”
Lennon’s fear now is that time will run away from the lower-league clubs to the point where completing the 2020- 21 campaign will not be possible.
“If you look where we are just now, we would be looking at having to fit 19 games into eight weeks,” he said
“That is a huge amount of football to be played, and just when are you supposed to get conditioning into the boys?
“You can’t just say: ‘ They will be keen to make up for lost time, let them get on with it’. Do that and you are going to end up with a load of injured players on your hands. “So it is a very tough one.
“People are making all sorts of suggestions – talking about extending the season or of cutting the fixture list.
“I would not be keen on the latter. We all agreed to a shortened 27-game campaign at the start but I don’t think we should be chopping it down any further.
“That is not fair when there are promotion and relegation issues involved.
“Personally, my view would be that it would be better to focus on making sure we get a complete 202122 campaign.
“If we have to write off the rest of this season, and I can see big logistical problems in getting the Scottish Cup completed, then so be it.
“But having got us to agree to the 27-game season in the first place, the onus is on the League to sort it out.”
In the meantime, the 51-year-old has been keeping himself busy.
“When the football went off, I worked out all the things which needed doing and have got cracked into them,” he said.
“I do socially-distanced training with kids whenever I can and have been doing an in- depth analysis of our coaching programme and methods, which is something we maybe would not have time to do in the normal run of things.
“As a club, Clyde have been trying to keep as connected to our fans and to the community in general as much as we possibly can.
“That might be a wee phone call or a message of support in times of bereavement of difficulty, whatever is needed.
“So it is busy and as a result I can honestly say that the days and weeks are just flying in for me right now.
“Given where we are with football and the virus, that is no bad thing really.”