Neil Lennon gives reason why Celtic haven’t sacked him

Neil Lennon has opened up on why the Celtic board have decided not to sack him despite immense fan pressure after a disastrous start to the season.

Over their last ten games, Celtic have managed just two wins. As a result, they have already been knocked out of Europe as well as the Scottish League Cup, a competition they had won the previous four seasons. They also find themselves 11 points behind the Rangers in the league table with the two games in hand being their only saving grace at the moment. Yet, Neil Lennon still finds himself in the managerial hot seat.

The fans want the club to show him the exit door and bring in a new manager before it is too late to salvage the season. Many will argue that it is already too late. Whatever maybe the case, it just feels like not sacking Lennon now is just pushing back the inevitable.

But that is exactly what the board have decided to do. And Lennon himself seems pretty confident that he can turn things around.

As reported by the Daily Record, the Celtic manager said:

"“I am very grateful. I’m grateful they gave me the opportunity the first time, and they’ve given me the opportunity again.”“You know, he [Desmond] bases his decisions on rationale, on values, on durability. He doesn’t make knee-jerk reactions either. And neither do the board.“It’s not a question of, ‘We’re keeping Lenny in the job in spite of everybody’.“They’re keeping me in because they know I can do the job to the standards we set last year. They know what I’m capable of.“We haven’t moved on from last season in terms of performances and results. Not every season is the same and we’re going through a difficult spell. Hopefully we can find that standard again this year.“This club doesn’t sack managers just for the sake of it. They think about it deeply by looking at the philosophy.“The board are being very, very patient with that as well and, from my point of view, that’s comforting.“We talked about it on Friday and we’ve talked about it since then.”"

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One has to question though whether a stretch of ten games is a small sample. When you think about it, it is one-fifth of the season. So can sacking a manager based on these results, especially at a club like Celtic which demands you to win almost every game, be considered as a knee-jerk reaction?

The most disheartening thing about all this is the fact that the performances are not getting any better. In fact, they are getting worse with every passing game. It is understandable to lose against teams like AC Milan. But the Ross County defeat at the weekend to crash out of the second round of the League Cup was surely the lowest point of the season.

You have to wonder whether some of the players have downed their tools already. It sure does look like so judging by their recent performances. And if that is the case then the board might have no other option but to sack Lennon, no matter how much they believe in him.