Neil Lennon or Malkay Mackay for Celtic? Our survey says...

The power of the Scottish football media is once again manifesting itself in terms of all things Celtic,

yet another reason for depriving the smudged ink brigade publicity.

Of course such a statement always leaves room for the response that, by writing about them, you are fuelling the notoriety that you are advocating denying them. However, the alternative is to write in such obscure terms that very few people know what you're talking about.

So, let's cut to the chase and mention two new “candidates” for the Celtic Head Coach's job – one that our esteemed hacks seem to have forgotten is not actually vacant.

Firstly, we have Keith Jackson touting Neil Lennon for a return, now that he has been mutually consented out of Bolton Wanderers.

Jackson is as much a friend to Celtic as he is of truth, literary style and sartorial elegance. However, his idle speculation that Neil might be on for a second spell as Head Coach is, for some reason, being taken seriously.

Let's be clear. Neil has been a great servant to Celtic, both on and off the field (as well as the balance sheet, Mr Desmond!). He endured abuse and intimidation that no one should ever have to experience, far less because of his association with a football club.

For that reason, his standing rightly remains almost unassailably high; a position that could only be threatened by – say – co-operating with someone from a contemptible rag in order to shoehorn himself back into a job that he left voluntarily. (That's not to say that he has entertained Jackson and I hope he would not).

Let's not forget that Neil left for his own reasons, one being that it was no longer possible to have a team punch above its weight sufficiently to share the same space as a decent European team. It wasn't Neil's fault that the club was already on a downward trajectory before he left but then neither is there any evidence that the circumstances have improved in any way, rendering his return illogical.

I won't try to communicate that type of logic to anyone currently earning their living at the Record.

Then you have the absurd notion of Malky Mackay, one that was only put forward by Hugh Keevins, who matches Jackson in conceited absurdity while adding a splash of thinly-veiled bitterness.

Keevins was his usual attention-seeking self in proposing a candidate who he knew would instantly be savaged, if he was ever appointed, due to controversies around him. He has also faced accusations of wasting transfer cash, something that would immediately exclude him from the position.

Celtic's strategy needs to change – that much is clear to all but the most zealous board apologists. But, until that is done (which might well necessitate the replacement of Peter Lawwell, both in terms of allowing a new approach and regaining lost trust) coaches who have managed “down south” but currently find themselves short of options need not apply.

However, this is simply another illustration that Celtic fans should step up their efforts to smother what is left of the struggling mainstream news titles.

When these stories become widely circulated, their originators are often forgotten allowing malicious, destabilising myth to assume the status of rumour “from those in the know”.

We need a dignified discussion about the potential for our current coaching team – and these are not the types of conversations typically originated by self-promoting scribblers.

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