Craig Levein has told the Scottish Football Podcast that the ‘evidence’ suggests that Celtic can catch Rangers because of how well they perform during the second half of the campaign.
But the former Hearts boss admitted that as the weeks progress, he is beginning to ‘doubt’ whether Neil Lennon can fire his team to a historic 10.
It has been a nightmare start for those at Parkhead as they sit 11 points behind Rangers in the table with two games in hand.
There has been a lot of noise surrounding Lennon’s future at the club and Levein was asked whether the Northern Irishman could end up losing the dressing room.
“I think you can eventually [lose the players and your job],” said Levein. “But in a season, we are talking about quite a lot of experienced players here at Celtic, who understand what is at stake here and they are not performing.
“Evidence for me is, after the turn of the year, Celtic have been strong running into the end of the season. That’s the evidence. I think Celtic will spend money in January to improve the squad. Then I think some of the players Neil Lennon is talking about, whether it be they are ‘lazy’ or they are not doing what he wants them to do, they will be left to the side.
“The evidence during the last few seasons would suggest it’s possible. As weeks go by, I am starting to doubt a little bit whether Celtic have what it takes to respond. Before getting Neil Lennon out and getting somebody else in. I think he understands the club better than anybody and he understands what the season is about better than anybody.
“Winning the league is in Celtic’s hand [given their own games in hand and their matches against Rangers].”
Steven Gerrard’s side have looked faultless since the start of the campaign from dropping points in only two matches and having a rock-solid defence.
It begs the question what the current crop of Celtic players are thinking because this is the season of all seasons to write their names into the history books and become true legends.
If Rangers do stop the 10 then not many players, nor the man in the dugout, will survive that ordeal, nor will they be forgiven by the supporters.
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