Chris Sutton has described Celtic’s defeat to Rangers on Sunday as “dreadful”, but insisted that it would not affect Neil Lennon’s tenure as manager.
Goals from James Tavernier and Scott Arfield meant Steven Gerrard’s side have beaten their bitter rivals twice at Ibrox, with the most recent meeting the fourth between the sides this season.
Writing in a column for the Daily Record, however, Sutton claimed that while Sunday’s defeat to Rangers was a damaging one, Lennon will be safe in his job.
“Neil Lennon will be frustrated by Celtic’s display and wounded by the result,” the pundit wrote. “But losing to Rangers at Ibrox should not damage his chances of landing the manager’s job on a permanent basis.
“I can assure you this is no old pals’ act. Yesterday’s defeat was a dreadful display from start to finish and it will leave Lennon facing a tough time to win over the doubters.
“It would be harsh to judge him on this game though. This is not Lennon’s Celtic team. He inherited a side who were already showing plenty of signs of being on the slide and he managed to drag them to their main objective.
“What was Neil’s remit again? Win the league. It wasn’t win the title and beat Rangers.”
OPINION
Sutton is exactly right; this defeat should not leave a stain on Neil Lennon’s great history with Celtic. After Brendan Rodgers left Parkhead for Leicester and another crack at Premier League football, the Hoops were in trouble and they needed to make sure that they finished the season strongly. So who else would have been better to bring in on an interim basis than Lennon, given his success with the Bhoys in recent years? And to be fair to him, Lennon has done a stellar job. His main objective was to come in, steady the ship and deliver Celtic another league title, while keeping them on course for a historic ‘treble treble’. As regards that famous run of collecting silverware, surely Lennon will be remembered as the man that finally delivered the treble treble if he can lead his side to victory against Hearts in the Scottish Cup final later this month? That wouldn’t be a bad way to bounce back from a defeat to Rangers, would it?