Celtic assistant manager John Kennedy says the club’s summer transfer plans are well underway and Neil Lennon is involved in discussions, as reported by The Daily Record.
The speculation surrounding Lennon’s future has rumbled on after the weekend’s disappointing goalless draw at home to Livingston, with fans growing more concerned that he might not be the man to lead the club forward into the new season.
Kennedy though has revealed Lennon is already heavily involved in summer planning and taking to the job as if he is going to be given the nod by the Hoops board.
As quoted by The Daily Record, the assistant boss said:
Neil has come in and he is looking at the squad. We have sat down and we have had meetings about next season, if everything goes to plan, and what it might be.
He’s involved in terms with, from his perspective, what the club might need, giving his opinion on things and the club has good support behind that who will continue to work and whatever it throws up in the summer, there will be enough options there that whoever is making the decisions will be able to do so.
There is a bit of work to be done, there’s no getting away from that.
Neil has been terrific since he’s come in. He’s in a position where you don’t know what the final outcome is going to be and it’s the same for myself.
In football, you never know what can happen, so, ultimately, myself, Neil, Damien [Duff] and Stevie Woods just have to go out and deliver in terms of results, leagues and, hopefully, the cup.
But Neil has treated the job like he’s going to be in it and doing all of the work he can.
It sounds to me like Celtic are happy to give Lennon and his current coaching staff the job if they can do the hard work in the tail-end of the season and deliver the treble that fans want.
Kennedy’s comments are at least hinting the club are leaning in that direction. Would there be much sense in changing the manager if Lennon achieves all he can over the next six weeks or so?
Fans may still have a problem. Plenty want to see the club embark on an extensive recruitment process that asks the question of big name managers across Europe, with or without a treble.
Peter Lawwell and Dermot Desmond can’t be seen to short-change supporters of that process, it’ll lead to a divisive debate that puts Lennon under serious pressure.
Do you think Neil Lennon should be given the Celtic job? Have your say in the comments below…