Celtic finally announced the long-awaited change on Wednesday morning
Chris Sutton has criticised summer signings Vasilis Barkas and Albian Ajeti while sifting through the wreckage of Neil Lennon’s second spell as Celtic manager.
The curtain came down on Wednesday morning, with the club releasing a statement which confirmed Lennon’s resignation.
A season which was tipped to end in 10-in-a-row glory has been beset by a series of woeful results for Celtic, both domestically and in Europe.
Much was made of summer signings Vasilis Barkas and Albian Ajeti, who arrived in Glasgow for a combined £10m.
Neither player has delivered, however, with Barkas in particular representing a major problem.
Lennon has constantly chopped and changed in terms of his first-choice goalkeeper, with Conor Hazard having been given a run at one point and Scott Bain now considered his number one.
Ajeti, meanwhile, has scored just six goals in 27 appearances since arriving from West Ham.
Sutton says Lennon must ultimately accept responsibility, but insists that the players are also to blame.
Speaking to Record Sport, the former Celtic man said: “The team has been drifting for months and this is all on his watch.
“Players may have not wanted to be there and that hasn’t helped. There were some who thought they should have had transfers last summer and they were kept by the club and they didn’t help him.
“But he has been unable to get the best out of them and that has been inescapable.
“Neil knows the game. He’s not daft. I played alongside him for a long time and I know that he is fully aware of what is required to be a Celtic player and his team have not done it.
“It’s down to them as well. Many of the players are the same ones with which he managed to win nine and they have killed him this season.
“The recruitment team have also killed him. Some of the signings have been nowhere near it. Vasilis Barkas. Albian Ajeti. £10m on two guys who can’t get into the team.
“I wondered for long spells how much of that was down to him. I never felt he was able to get his own people into the building after he returned when Brendan Rodgers quit.
“It was almost like he’d come back with orders not to be himself. And not to have his own people.
“Where were the Johan Mjalllbys or Garry Parkers to tell him what was what? Who was signing the players for him?
“It was a job impossible to turn down, yet from the outside it looked like a club dictating to a boss from the outset as opposed to the other way around.
“Big game players have not responded within the Covid and empty stadiums, but that’s no excuse. His decision-making at times this season has been miles off and you carry the can as boss.
“That’s the bottom line.”
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