OPINION
Celtic finally have a permanent manager in the shape of Neil Lennon – although that will come as a surprise to very few people indeed.
The Northern Irish boss replaced fellow countryman Brendan Rodgers back in February and helped guide his former side to two trophies – the Premiership and Scottish Cup – to seal a third successive treble.
After that success, it seemed almost inevitable that he would be handed the job on a full time basis and after revealing he had been offered the position, Friday (31/05) saw him officially appointed on a full time basis, with a 12-month rolling contract meaning he could be on board for the foreseeable future.
However, Rodgers is not the only man who needed replacing at Parkhead, with Lee Congerton, who joined the former Hoops boss at Leicester City, leaving a void in the head of recruitment role.
Now, with Lennon having been on board since February, you would imagine that Celtic would have already had their plans for transfers in place for this summer and while Lawwell has revealed the ball is rolling on that, there is no one in place to take over from Congerton.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “Now that Neil is in we want to keep calm, don’t rush and make the wrong appointment too quickly. We’re going to sit down (for meetings), look at the structure of the footballing side, which will include a head of recruitment, and then go out to the market.”
That admission is a serious cause for concern for the Parkhead faithful, as it will surely leave their club chasing the competition when it comes to recruitment.
Lennon, who had John Park as his chief scout during his first spell, is not the sort of manager to do the work of a transfer team, hence why a chief of recruitment is crucial heading into the summer window.
Not having that position filled leaves a gaping hole to source and bring quality talent on board and Celtic do not even seem to have a clue as to how the structure of the club should be, let alone have a candidate ready to take over.
Celtic should have known Lennon was a prime candidate to take charge when he returned and these planned talks should have already happened – instead they are wasting time and leaving themselves playing catch up.