Thread by @Gaudd, The problem with removing Lennon is that the same people who thought [...]

The problem with removing Lennon is that the same people who thought bringing him back was a great idea, are the same people who will appoint his replacement. The board since McCann left in 1998 do not have a great track record. Lets have a look..

1999- John Barnes, a managerial novice, is appointed with Venglos removed after providing some of the best football seen at CP. Barnes goes on to predictably crash and burn and is sacked before the season ends.
2000 - Martin O'Neill. This is where Celtic diverged..

From the standard format. For some reason Desmond and Co were convinced the club would be walking into the EPL. O'Neill was appointed and went on a spending spree that had most delighted but baffled as to what the board were thinking. A year later the EPL door was nailed shut..

Never the less O'Neill's time was a huge success right up until the last season where he was persauded to stay on despite clearly wanting to leave. The reason being that the lined-up replacement wasn't quite ready.
2005 - Gordon Strachan. Arrived to a decidely mixed reaction..

Now Strachan's time cannot be considered anything but a success, however the decline from previous years was noticeable. Not only that, Strachan's style of football was about as painful as root canal work without anaesthetic. He left after 4 years with few tears shed..

2009 - Tony Mowbray. The classic example of be careful what you wish for. If many were pleased that Strachan was away, few were equally pleased over Mowbray's arrival. A questionable track record duly proved itself in a terrible season and he was sacked in March..

2010 - Neil Lennon. Following Mowbray's departure Lennon was appointed acting manager and showed what the fans could expect when he coached the team to a defeat by 1st Div Ross County in the Scottish Cup. During the summer the board claimed they were hunting high and low..

For a new manager, with Lennon all but begging live on air for the job. Having found no one else prepared to work with them, the board appointed Lennon as manager.
Season 2010-2011 saw RFC win the league by a point as the storm clouds of liquidation gathered..

Now it can be argued that RFC's financial collapse and then dying saved Lennon's bacon, as despite the league now being a one horse race he still contrived to pull of some remarkably failures - notably in the cup games and in Europe. Lennon left in May 2014..

2014 - Ronnie Deila. An appointment that at the time appeared to be utterly baffling, but was presented by Peter Lawwell as if he had pulled off the greatest football coup of all time. 2 years later after various European disasters and performance decline, Deila was out..

2016 - Brendan Rodgers. if Deila was a coup only in Lawwell's fevered imagination, Rodgers was the real thing. The Treble Treble can't be argued with. In 2019 after 3 successful seasons Rodgers left for Leicester and the support held its breath..

2019 - Neil Lennon (again). With Rodgers buggering off and leaving the club in the lurch, Lennon was appointed acting manager until the end of the season despite some deep misgivings from many about where this was going..

But the league was in the bag pretty much already thanks to Rodgers, and Lennon did see that successfully through including the Scottish cup final to seal the Treble Treble. The worst fears were realised when Lennon was appointed manager for the second time after the cup win..

Season 2019-2020 was curtailed due to Covid-19 but not before the writing was on the wall regarding Gerrard and RFC2. Celtic lost 2 of the three meetings that season with the single win being very much against the run of play. Three games were Celtic struggled..

And we all know how this season has gone. Simply put the board have a very patchy record when it comes to managerial appointments. Compliance rather than talent appears to be the main criteria for appoinment. I've not much faith in that changing.

Note. Yes I got the derby game totals in season 2019-2020 wrong. So let me clarify, the last two games saw Celtic totally outmatched by RFC2. If that wasn't a wake up call then what is? True to form complacency ruled. We just do not have a football minded board.

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