Despite assistant manager Johan Mjallby’s claims that the players trained well today and Fraser Forster’s ‘we’re focusing on Rennes’ statement, a blind man can see that all is not well in the Celtic changing room.

Rumour after rumour is coming out of Celtic Park and Lennoxtown about disagreements and bust-ups, mostly between Lenny and Kris Commons.

That’s off the field. On the field we’re lurching from one crisis to another. Who would have thought that we’d have to go to Fir Park in November having to win to keep in touch of the title race?

Should the players decide not to turn up, and who knows if they’ve enough professional pride to do so, the result will either hasten Lenny’s exit or some of the players’.

Maybe it is time for Neil to come out and name the players who are doing to him what certain players did before to Tony Mowbray?

As he said at the AGM, not only Sammy, but others might get him the sack.

Or how about Peter Lawwell coming out and making a statement that the manager is going nowhere, therefore letting Commons & Co know it will be them leaving the club, not Lenny?

Something has to be done.

Internal fighting among the players and management is ripping our club apart. No one, Neil Lennon, Peter Lawwell, Kris Commons or Beram Kayal for that matter are bigger than the club. They should never forget that.

Maybe it’s time for ALL Of them to go……

Sometimes I really wonder what planet certain members of the Celtic Board are on. Honestly, it baffles me.

Take Our Chief Executive Peter Lawwell for example. A few weeks ago he stated that Celtic would bring in ‘three or four players’ before the transfer window shut.

And so we did. So far so good.

Then he goes and undoes all that good work by making a fool of himself in front of a ‘baying press pack’ by having a cheap shot at the Govan Mob over their ‘phantom transfer enquiry’ of Jelavic!

Why should he bother about them?

Would it not be better using the platform to show unequivocal support for our manager Neil Lennon following the miscarriage of justice the day before?

There was an idea opportunity to tell the world that no matter how they treat us, we will NOT give in. That EVERYONE connected with the club will support Neil and that he’d like some answers from the legal profession by backing QC Paul McBride’s assumption that the verdict was the ‘most bizarre’ he’d ever heard.

Instead, Mr Lawwell thought it would be better to have a jibe at Dignity FC.

The only thing he has in his favour is the fact that he did actually speak. Which is more than can be said of his chairman who seems to have taken early retirement from his position on the Celtic Board.

Fraser Forster did Celtic a good turn last season, but we all knew he was a short term solution to what has become a long term problem.

Last summer we sold the best goalkeeper we’ve had at Celtic Park for decades, Artur Boruc. At the time we thought we had a ready made replacement in his fellow Pole Lucasz Zaluska.

Unfortunately, Lucasz didn’t step up to the plate when he needed to and Lenny was forced to look elsewhere. Hence Fraser Forster arrived in Glasgow.

Now there was always the chance that Newcastle and Pardew would play hardball when it came to bringing big Fraser back for another season so the Celtic board had a decision to make.

Back Neil Lennon with some serious money and get a first class goalkeeper that would be around for the next four or five years. Or keep scurring ouround to see if there are any keepers wanting to play for Celtic….on the cheap.

The first option was staring them in the face. Shay Given,  a former Celt and international stalwart was on his way out of Manchester City and looking for a new club.

A fee of around £4M would have secured his services and of course his wages would be way above the Celtic Park ceiling. However if that ceiling was broken to accommodate Robbie Keane, why not Given?

Someone of Shay’s class would be worth 10-15 points a season, usually enough to win the SPL, which would mean Champions League football and the chance to recoup some of the initial outlay.

I must admit I’m no financial wizz but two of our board members, including the owner are Billionaire’s in their own right. So why the deep pockets?

We’ve all heard Chief Executive Peter Lawwell tell us how supportive Dermot Desmond has been to Celtic Football Club. And we’ve no reason to doubt him.

But this time he’s missed the boat. Let’s hope our title chances haven’t gone with that decision……

Note:

The Celtic support are being asked again to dig deep for another Nike kit launch, the second of the close season. Wouldn’t it be nice to see a ‘marque’ signing pulling one of the new jerseys one!

How fitting that manager Neil Lennon signs his new one year rolling contact at Celtic Park……on my birthday! I won’t divulge my number in years, all I will say is Lenny’s a good few years younger than me.

I can’t think of a better way to celebrate. This is a Bhoy who has had to contend with the most horrific intimidation and abuse, more than anyone else I know of. Yet he stays committed to the cause.

He appreciates all the support from the fans, because in essence, he is one.

Lenny lives and breathes Celtic and we are lucky to have someone like him manage our club. Both Neil and Peter Lawwell know what’s best for this great club of ours.

Personally, I can’t wait for the new season to begin, to cheer the Hoops on once again. Bring it on!

While managing Celtic from the touchline on Wednesday night at Tynecastle in Edinburgh, Neil Lennon was attacked and assaulted by an idiot who jumped the perimeter wall and ran twenty yards to get to him.

The guy who was later named as John Wilson, 26, of Stenhouse in Edinburgh was remanded in custody after being charged with breach of the peace aggravated by religious prejudice and assault aggravated by religious prejudice.

These are FACTS.

So why does The Herald use the words ‘alleged attack’ in their lead column?

Would it be too much for them to tell the truth?

Flimsy reporting like this is typical of the Scottish media.  Are they frightened to upset their readership by reporting the facts?

When Peter Lawwell spoke yesterday of Scotland’s Shame I’m sure he meant the media too. They aggravate these situations at every opportunity, simply to sell newspapers. The society in which we live are fed by newspapers who have their own agendas.

Most of these people can’t make up their own mind. So the press do it for them.

Just look at some of the pictures from Wednesday’s game.  The most used pic is of Lenny standing over the thug. Not what you would call a ‘picture of truth’. Like the ‘shame game’ pics, none of McCoist at the Celtic dugout, only the one’s of Neil having his say. Distortion of the highest order!

What I’m saying is be careful what you read, we know the truth.

When I wrote yesterday about the ‘Bigotdome of the East’ little did I expect our manager Neil Lennon to be the victim of an attack on the touchline.

Swinecastle is, and always will be a cesspit of bigotry, and I know, I’ve worked there. The club, like it or lump it is riddled with an anti-Catholic bias. That’s a fact. The idea that this bigoted stance is a West of Scotland thing, is pure rubbish.

And it wasn’t just Neil who were targeted at Swinecastle, the Celtic board were also victims of abuse according to Peter Lawwell.

The attack is a latest in a long line of personal attempts on his life.

Yet somehow he is still portrayed as being to blame for the despicable acts of mindless bigots who just can’t stand what Lenny stands for. Because if we look at it honestly, without ‘trying to offend’ as the mainstream media do, Neil is a target because he’s a successful Irish Catholic who loves his club and speaks his mind.

Lenny won’t keep his head down. Why should he? He speaks up for Celtic. By doing so he’s proved that a referee lied to him. By doing so he’s help expose the incompetence of the SFA.

These are the things that rile the bigots. And the Establishment.

If the SFA, SPL and the new SNP government want to rid this place of the sectarian society we live in then the sentences to those arrested at Lennoxtown, Kilwinning and Tynecastle MUST be severe.

Or else we’ll just plod on being blamed for sticking up for ourselves. Just like Neil does.

P.S. Jim Jefferies still managed to attach the blame for the incident to the linesman. Apparently Obua didn’t swing a punch at Charlie Mulgrew. Well that makes Sky Sports culpable too!

As Nike would say, Just do it!

Whatever the reason for delaying the inevitable, I hope it’s a good one.

There doesn’t seem to be any concrete reason why Lenny hasn’t been officially appointed unless Peter Lawwell pull of something spectacular like Guus Hiddink or Martin O’Neill.

Anything less and we’re just wasting valuable time in getting a squad together for a really crucial season ahead.

Or will we have PL telling us the Board got it wrong again this time next year?

C’mon Peter put us out of our misery……

During Thursday’s successful ‘meet with the fans’ hosted by the Celtic Trust, and featuring caretaker manager Neil Lennon and Peter Lawwell, our Chief Executive uttered three words that had the audience waiting with baited breath.

‘Worth the wait’ was how he described the lengthy process of appointing a full-time successor to Tony Mowbray.

We certainly hope so, Peter!

Unfortunately whoever gets the job, and we still say it will be Lenny, its going to be hard to please everyone. The obvious criticisms that will come the Boards way are the usual ‘cheap option’, and ‘yes man’. (Probably from the same folk who booed Lenny for keeping possession!)

Neil Lennon thankfully is neither of those two.

Lenny himself did come out with a frank quote that highlighted just what’s expected from the Bhoys who pull on the Hoops. “They owe us” was how Neil put into perspective last season’s performances.

You bet they do Lenny, and you’re just the man to keep reminding them!

P.S. Celtic Fanzone had an enforced, wee pre-season break, but we’re back now, raring to go for the new season!

While we’re waiting on Peter Lawwell and Dermot Desmond making Neil Lennon’s appointment official we have to ask ourselves what do we  really want from our managers?

The reason for asking follows a conversation I had last night with one of my pals Charlie.

We were discussing who should get the Celtic job over a pint or two.  As I’m firmly in the Lenny camp, I suggested appointing Neil right away. Although Charlie doesn’t have anyone specific in mind he reckons that Lenny’s not ready…..yet.

Of course the subject of the last eight SPL games came into play. Charlie somehow thinks that these games were no more than friendlies as there was nothing to play for. His words not mine.

I then pointed out to him that the Derby game was by no means a friendly and that Murderwell, Hibs and Dundee United were all playing for a European place.

This didn’t get much approval. So we agreed to disagree.

But the whole conversation got me thinking.

Remember when WGS was manager? After some abject performances he would duly tell us on TV that the game was great and his players were the same. Of course that didn’t wear with the Faithful.

Nope. The support demanded the manager tell the truth and stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

Enter Tony Mowbray. After winning 2-0 at St Mirren, Mogga publicly slated his players and told the fans the performance wasn’t good enough.

What happened then? the whole of Timdom was up in arms. How dare he publicly slag off his players, they cried!

So, on the one hand we want honesty, and on the other we don’t want to hear what the manager has to say.

Damned if they do, damned if they don’t!

In true O*d Firm week fashion a row has broken out about Celtic trying underhand tactics to influence the match official ahead of Sunday’s game.

A ‘mole’ from the club has ‘leaked’ information about a meeting between the SFA and Celtic regarding officials’ handling of Celtic matches this season, in general.

For example:

• Two penalty kicks denied at Ipox
• A perfectly good goal disallowed at Celtic Park in the last derby
• Sammy ruled offside against Falkirk, wrongly again
• Goal chopped off at home to Hibs two weeks ago
• Niall McGinn penalty denied against Hertz
• Aiden & Darren booked against the Sheep for kicking the ball away but McLean NOT

and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

We could go on about the FAVOURABLE decisions that have gone the MM’s way, but I’ve only got an hour!

No doubt the media will make a real mountain out of this meeting, and will themselves put pressure on Dougie McDonald before a ball is kicked.

But let’s not get too carried away by thinking we’ll get a turn from DD.

McDonald officiated in the match at Easter Road after the Eduardo diving fiasco, and promptly sent Aiden off for diving! (wrongly again!)

Anyway, cast your mind back to the first derby match of the season when Judas Miller was all over the papers telling us how the refs were out to get the MM. Is that not putting pressure on the ref before the game?

Craig Thomson obviously read his comments and decided poor Kenny and his team needed a hand, by denying us two stonewall penalties!