Former Celtic manager, Neil Lennon, has opened up about what went wrong for the Hoops as their attempt to win a 10th consecutive Scottish league title ended up in a disappointing season, as they finished 25 points behind the Rangers.
When Brenden Rodgers left Celtic for Leicester City in the middle of the 2018/19 season, Lennon returned for his second stint as the club’s manager. And for the most part, it did go quite well.
Lennon guided Celtic to their Treble Treble before going one step further the following season and securing the Quadruple Treble, thereby also completing a record equalling 9th straight Scottish league title.
Thus, they had the chance to win a historic 10IAR and that is the season where everything went wrong. Lennon though feels that some players had just reached the end of their road at the club and were not up for the task. As reported by The Scottish Sun, the former Celtic manager said:
"“We’d won nine titles in a row — four Trebles — and some players just got to the end of the road.“You could see it pre-season, the body language, they weren’t with us. You could smell it.“Some players were, I wouldn’t say feigning injury, but they could have played and didn’t.“This eats into the dressing room.”"
Celtic’s form did drop off considerably in the 2020/21 season
There were quite a few players who looked completely out of form in the previous campaign and in hindsight, the club did need to make more changes to their squad over the summer, whether it was outgoings or incomings, than they did.
Lennon had a successful career at Celtic both as a player and as a manager. But his time at Parkhead will be defined by the 2020/21 season and the failed attempt to win 10IAR for the foreseeable future.
What is done is done though and now, Celtic’s focus must turn towards the future. Ange Postecoglou is now the manager of the club and they find themselves in the middle of a transitional season at the moment.
Hopefully, they will be able to turn things around over the course of the season and return to the top of Scottish football once again in the not too distant future.