The Celtic Thread

McNeill may have been seen as a puppet in '87, it certainly isn't my take on it, but others may, but his sole purpose during that time wasn't to deliberately deflect from mismanagement of the club. The club was certainly being mismanaged and it was clear that McNeill was trying his best in difficult circumstances and he left in the right way. I don't think he spent the season making excuses, blaming players or giving press conferences that made himself out to be the greatest football manager the world has seen either.

The PLC stuff certainly isn't an excuse, as can have been seen at every protest that has happened outside Celtic Park this season. The anger was directed at Desmond and Lawwell as much as Lennon. The reason the opinion of Lennon has changed is as much his compliance with them as the results. 

I also never said Rodgers wasn't vilified, nor would I ever in a million years say that, nor did I. It would be silly. It is now becoming clearer yhat why he left and when are down to the way the PLC ran Celtic and many Celtic supporters realise that now. 

If you want to think it is toys out of the pram stuff then fine. I can really only speak personally, but Dubai was the moment where the disconnect between the PLC and fans was irreconcilable. I think a lot of people are angry because of that disconnect, even if the anger is seemingly based on results. Like a lot of things in the world, people don't always put their finger on why they are angry at the start, so those that see they are angry, from a far away distance, assume it is the most obvious thing to them.

As for the 'Brexity' stuff... I am afraid that's the sort of thing that leads people to stop taking you seriously.

He was appointed permanently on the basis that they won the league when they already top by miles under Rodgers, and they won the cup when they were already in the final, if that's the criteria needed to be a Celtic manager then I cannot actually think of a Manager who would of failed in that scenario.

Aside from the result against Lazio, which part of his 2nd reign will you remember? The part he got Celtic 15+ points behind Rangers. It was a bad bad appointment which should never of happened.

It was no secret why Rodgers left, it was the way he left. A midnight flit on the eve of an important game, whilst almost clearing the full back room staff, is why he was vilified. 

This wasnt Lennon's first rodeo with Lawell, he knew what he was getting into when he agreed to join the second time. 

I do feel that some player unrest was partly responsible for this dire season. Hopefully this can be disclosed.

Whenever a bigger club comes knocking than the one he's currently at he's off before you can Whatsapp him. You can argue his choices have been vindicated considering where Leicester are now but you just know if ever an elite European club came knocking he's back to old tricks.

It isn't a defence of Rodgers as I never liked Rodgers as a man. He comes across as a creep! Leicester are only bigger in the sense that they have more money due to globalised nature of modern football, but I think how he left and why were as a result of the arguments he had with the board the previous summer.

You can say what you want about Rodgers but he is a good coach and a supremely confident one. I am certain that he felt he could improve Celtic in Europe while remaining domestically dominant and then have moved on to bigger and richer pastures, or at least have waited until that summer.

There's no one doubting that he will always  come first to Brendan Rodgers,  but the timing and manner, not mention the fact that he has always wanted to paint himself in a good light and didn't here, leads me to think there's more to it; especially in light of what has happened at Celtic since. 

Clubs are quick enough to sack managers, so we can hardly be surprised when/if managers are equally quick to seize their chance in return.

And we can see with hindsight that thanks to their owner, Leicester offered much greater potential to BR than other apparently comparable mid-table clubs in the PL. (He was never going to get offered a genuinely "big" club at that stage).

So that if Leicester weren't prepared to wait until the end of season - v.likely imo - then Rodgers had to take his chance when he got it.