Chris Sutton has refuted claims that Neil Lennon would jump at the chance to take the permanent manager’s job at Celtic.
The Northern Irishman took the helm at Parkhead for the second time during his managerial career after Brendan Rodgers left for Leicester City earlier this year, but Sutton has suggested that his former Hoops teammate may not stay beyond the end of the season, even if he is offered the role on a full-time basis.
Writing in a column for the Daily Record, he said: “Neil Lennon has a big decision to make on his future.
“If you think him becoming the next permanent Celtic manager is down purely to whether or not Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawwell want to give him it, I would be willing to bet you are wrong.
“Everyone thinks he will just jump at the chance to be the next boss and is walking around day on day waiting for the call from the hierarchy to confirm him in the post to succeed to Brendan Rodgers.
“If he is, it’s not the Neil Lennon I know. I cannot for one second believe that Neil would just roll over and accept the job without being given proper assurances that the transfer fees and the wages will be there for him to make the improvements he needs to make.”
OPINION
This is a big claim from Sutton. The general consensus has been that Lennon would bite the Bhoys’ hands off for the full-time role, but very few people have stopped to ask themselves about the actual logistics of that decision. Sutton raises some pertinent points in his column. First of all, Lennon is clearly a very headstrong character, and for all he clearly adores Celtic, that doesn’t mean that he would just bow down before the powers that be without any assurances of support going into the transfer market. Lennon will only want the role if he is convinced that he can do it justice, and without the right financial backing, he won’t be certain of that at all. Rangers are only going to get stronger over the next year or two, and with every small progression they make, the task for a Celtic manager gets tougher and tougher. Whether Lennon would be offered the job remains to be seen, but whatever the future holds, it’s going to be an interesting summer at Parkhead.