Celtic boss Neil Lennon has come out all guns blazing amid stinging criticism of himself and his side – and Rangers fans are convinced its evidence he’s feeling the pressure.
Our Parkhead rivals are without a win in three matches with a defeat to Rangers starting a dismal run which could continue yet amid a difficult fixture list.
Rangers are now six points clear in the Scottish Premiership – albeit Celtic have a game in hand – and Lennon believes that the furore is nothing more than media “hysteria”.
The feisty Celtic boss has also claimed there is “no justification” for calls for him to be sacked and claimed he is the victim of a media agenda.
“There’s a clear lack of respect because of one bad week,” he said [BBC Scotland].
“We’ve lost one game in the league and pundits are talking about me being two games away from the sack. Players getting singled out, abused, criticised, it’s absolutely shocking.
“It’s media-driven, there’s no question. I have seen two newspapers run polls on whether I should get sacked or not. I have never seen it before in 20 years I have been here.
“There’s no justification for me to be sacked. None whatsoever. If things start to deteriorate rapidly, I’ll hold my hands up and say, ‘this isn’t working, we need to look at something else’.
“But at the moment we’re nowhere near that.”
Lennon also came out in defence of stumbling centre-half Shane Duffy who has been the subject of much criticism from ex-Celtic players.
The Celtic boss claims the criticism of some of his players is “totally unbalanced, unfair and hysterical”.
Some Rangers fans believe that the fact the Celtic boss has come out barking amid the furore is evidence that both he and Celtic are creaking a little:
https://twitter.com/BaldyBarisic31/status/1321117496850685952
https://twitter.com/SergioGeorgino/status/1321101431831756804
https://twitter.com/IbroxStandard/status/1321106118274392068
https://twitter.com/Rangers_1872__/status/1321144622450618369
https://twitter.com/tacomonster_/status/1321129940578914307
https://twitter.com/Rninety6/status/1321113328790523909
Whilst it’s relevant to look across the city amid their poor run of form, Rangers must retain focus as Celtic weigh up their immediate future after a huge summer of investment.
As ex-Ibrox boss Alex McLeish says, this is about 55 and the focus must always remain on what we’re doing in Govan rather than what they’re doing in Parkhead.
