CELTIC winger Jonny Hayes has told any Parkhead supporters irked at performances in the latter stages of the season to turn their frustration on the players rather than Neil Lennon.
Lennon was offered the managerial role in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s William Hill Scottish Cup final as Celtic clinched their third successive treble, but it is an appointment that has not been met with unanimous approval.
A section of the club support has been vocal on social media about their reticence to see Lennon take on the role left by Brendan Rodgers in February with fingers pointed at a perceived slip in standard since then.
READ MORE:
In itself, it does not stand up well to scrutiny: Celtic took 24 points from their final 11 league games – one more than Rangers – and widened their lead at the top from eight points to nine. Of every challenge that was presented to Lennon, he negotiated his way through, including that pivotal first week in the job as he engineered victories at Tynecastle and Easter Road.
The defeat at Ibrox may have blotted his copybook but for Hayes it was a result borne of chronic fatigue rather than managerial failings.
“Some of our performances have probably looked a little lethargic and the manager has been getting the blame for that rather than the players,” said Hayes. “But when we haven’t been up to scratch – like in the recent defeat to Rangers at Ibrox – then it’s been the players who have had to shoulder the responsibility for the way we sat off the play.
“The way we have set up to play, the way we’ve trained, has been identical to the successful methods established by Brendan. The new gaffer has simply continued with that work so any blame for the fact we have not been winning games 3-0 or 4-0 would be put down to the fact that the likes of Kieran [Tierney] and Callum [McGregor] and James [Forrest] have been playing continuously for three years. Most of us get three weeks off – they get less – and then we’re back in for pre-season training and for Champions League qualifiers.
“It’s a big ask and, especially towards the end of each season, fatigue does show. We’re not robots – people think because we win trophy after trophy that you can just go out and pummel Livingston – we got stick for a 0-0 draw – but you just can’t do that every week.”
There has been a feeling since Lennon assumed the role hastily vacated by Rodgers that he was auditioning for the permanent position. The 47-year-old has been wary of making wholesale changes to both training and playing methods with the expectancy being that might change as he takes full control now.
With a number of players set to leave the club and uncertainty over others it is anticipated that there will be changes afoot this summer. Hayes, though, sees no reason for Lennon to change too much now that he doesn’t have the uncertainly of his long-term future hanging over him.
“I think the one we’ve seen up until now is working fine because we’ve just won three trophies again,” said Hayes. “He’s picked up where Brendan left off – I’ve got loads of Celtic fans in my family and they weren’t too pleased when he moved to Leicester City but he deserves a huge amount of credit for what he built here.
“But John Kennedy has given us some continuity and Damien Duff also worked under Brendan for a short time and everyone has been a little ingredient in our recipe for success.”
The ribbons had barely been tied on the Scottish Cup when odds were distributed by the bookies quoting Celtic’s chances of a quadruple treble.
However absurd it may seem to be continually looking ahead, the pace at Celtic is such that there is little time to stand and stare at the silverware on offer.
“That’s part and parcel of being at a big football club,” said Hayes philosophically. “We have the best team in the league and the best squad as well. Our rivals will try to close that gap and I’ve been in that situation at Aberdeen where the shoe is on the other foot and we were trying to get better every season in order to catch Brendan’s team.
“So now we need to improve because everyone else will and, at Celtic, trophies are expected.”
If there were some in the Celtic support who weren’t happy about Lennon’s appointment, Hayes was not one of them. It says much about the dressing room’s reaction and the manner in which they celebrated with Lennon when news emerged immediately after the trophy presentation that he had been offered the post and Hayes has applauded the effect he has had on him since his arrival three months ago.
“I’ve just said to him – and, from a selfish point of view, he’s been great for me – that he’s been brilliant for the team,” he said. “His enthusiasm is infectious and it’s great to have him around the place.
“We’ve spoken about this in the dressing room but he probably doesn’t get the credit he deserves. We’ve played something like 180 games in the last three seasons and you don’t get to take your foot off the gas so there is a bit of fatigue in our dressing room.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here