Angry Lennon blasts back at former Celtic ace Nicholas

NEIL LENNON last night aimed a stinging rebuke at Charlie Nicholas after the former Celtic striker launched an outspoken attack on the club’s hierarchy.

Nicholas has blamed major shareholder Dermot Desmond, chief executive Peter Lawwell and chairman John Reid for what he claims is the worst squad he has ever seen at Parkhead.

Desmond came in for the worst criticism, with Nicholas accusing him of treating Celtic like “a toy” and failing to invest properly in the playing staff.

Caretaker manager Lennon has a close relationship with Irish benefactor Desmond and reacted angrily to Nicholas’ outburst.

“I’ve been here 10 years, 10 years, right; I’ve never seen Charlie Nicholas walk in through the door,” he said. “So what Charlie knows about this club, I do not know. If he’s criticising Dermot about Dermot’s input into this club then he doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about.

“And I’m really annoyed that I have to give somebody like Charlie – who does nothing but bang away at Scottish football, bang away at Celtic – any press time at all. It irks me.”

Celtic’s supporters have also vented their anger at the board during what is set to be one of the most miserable seasons in the club’s recent history.

But former Hoops captain Lennon, who stepped up from his role as reserve team coach following Tony Mowbray’s sacking last month, insisted the Parkhead powerbrokers could hardly have done more. “The board have been very supportive to any of the managers that I’ve been associated with,” he said.

Lennon’s players endured most of the fans’ wrath in the wake of Saturday’s shock Cup defeat to Ross County and Celtic Park was less than a third full for Tuesday’s SPL win over Motherwell.

Lennon, whose side host Hibernian today, believes the key to getting supporters back through the turnstiles is simple.

“You can only do that by putting on performances on the pitch,” he said. “Getting results and entertaining the people, obviously word spreads quickly. The game was live (on television) the other day; it’ll be live tomorrow.

“People who stay away will probably watch it on TV and it’s up to the players. They’re the only ones who can convince the fans to come back. In the long term, it’ll be down to what happens in the summer.”

Failure to win would give Rangers the chance to wrap up the SPL title with four games to spare.

Lennon said: “I said to the players, ‘Make them sweat as long as we can’.”