After Thursday night’s disaster in Europe it’s clear that something needs to change at Celtic.

I’m still not entirely sold that it should be the manager but with two wins in nine games it would be hard to argue if it was and Neil Lennon will know that.

If Celtic do decide to back him then a change is needed both at Lennoxtown and Celtic Park as they can’t continue to prepare and play the same way and expect results to change. A lot has been made about my comments on what happens and what doesn’t happen at training this week and as a guy who got Foundation English I’ll try my best to explain it through my column.

I love training as a player. I think it’s where you build team spirit some of my best memories are from. Whether it’s Charlie Mulgrew hitting Danny McGrain flush on the back of the nut from 50 yards with Danny not knowing if it was Pancake Tuesday or Sheffield Wednesday, or Paolo Di Canio and a youth team player have a personal dual of smashing each other constantly in a small-sided game for 20 minutes, the training ground is a magical place. I probably loved it so much as I was what you would call a TGI (a training ground internationalist) where if I could take my form during the week in front of no fans into a game at the weekend I could have gone on to play for Italy due to my sensational ability – and very handsome Italian ancestors.

I really enjoyed Neil Lennon’s training for the short space of time I had him at Celtic. It mirrored himself as a man and a manager and was fully built on how his teams played. Tough, competitive, demanding, with no room for being lazy or sloppy. These two things weren’t allowed in training and you would quickly be told (no matter who you were) if it happened once too often.

It created an atmosphere where everyone had to be on their game from the first minute to the last. With this there was also a big element of it being simple and enjoyable. This is the side of him people don’t see and along with his back-room team they would have the lads in stitches at some of their one-liners and quick wit. “It’s a ball, not a bomb!” was one of my favourite shouts to a player who had panicked under pressure.

There was no fancy drills or messages but a simple understanding of what he wanted from you and the team. His Celtic team the first time was so successful because of the atmosphere and competitiveness they created from a Monday to a Friday and I just hope that’s still being allowed to happen as I believe the message on the training ground is the most important thing when it comes to winning games on a Saturday.

When I look at his team now I don’t see that. That’s what leads me to believe that something has changed from his first spell Monday to Friday. People say I stick up for him too much but it’s only because I know the effect he can have on players as I still hear his voice in my head when I give a sloppy pass away on a Saturday and my high standards come from guys like him. I also still use the wee pointers he gave me when trying to get my fat arse in between the ball and opponent in a tight midfield.

Don’t tell me a guy that has beat the best Barcelona team of all time and many others in Europe doesn’t know tactics or shape. He was one of the best at being hard to beat and getting results against big teams on that stage. This is why results and performances this season make me wonder what is going on. His record was there to see not only in terms of results but also developing players. You can’t say Victor Wanyama and Virgil van Dijk never got better under Lennon’s management first time round. Everyone now gets hung up on fancy drills and having a certain philosophy and that’s fine if that’s your beliefs but it doesn’t mean to say it’s the only way to do it. If that was the best way then Man City would win every trophy every year but they don’t because there’s more than one way of coaching and playing the game. The most important thing is that it’s the manager’s way that’s being preached every single day.

And that’s my point: just because a certain style of playing and coaching worked for Brendan Rodgers (who lost 2-0 on his last trip to Easter Road by a Neil Lennon team), it doesn’t mean it’s the only way to win with this team.

This group of players under a world-class coach in Rodgers had drawn with St Mirren and lost to Kilmarnock at this stage of his last season and I never saw the hysteria that I do now. As I said earlier, Pep Guardiola is seen as the messiah of modern-day coaching but his Bayern Munich team have gone on to be a more successful side with a so-called lesser coach playing a completely different way. I just hope Neil doesn’t underestimate his ability to get the best out of players doing it his own way just because it maybe isn’t as easy on the eye as Rodgers.

Tommy Burns had Celtic playing the best football the club has seen and I never saw him doing one of these. What his team had was his personality and beliefs in football pouring out them due to him being in their ears every minute passing on what he wanted from his team on the training ground. From what I saw when I had Neil Lennon as boss, he had the same effect in his first spell. And along with his ability to handle pressure, I still believe he’s the best man to try and peg back this very good Rangers side.