Speaking exclusively to The Transfer Tavern, former defender Steve Howey revealed that he believes Celtic manager Neil Lennon will be shown to the Parkhead exit door, but not until the end of the current season.

Lennon to go at the end of the campaign

Lennon has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent days. Earlier this week, he held a press conference in which he appeared to deny Celtic did anything wrong with their trip to Dubai (Glasgow Live), even though Peter Lawwell had already apologised (BBC) for the incident.

The boss' time in the Celtic hot-seat does seem to be drawing to a close, but Howey believes he will last until the end of the campaign. He said:

"With a club like Celtic, you've got to win games, and you've got to win things, it's as simple as that and it hurts even more when it's their biggest rivals that actually seem to be coming up as Celtic are coming down a little bit.

Obviously, he's found it difficult. I have to be honest, I think his press conferences, he could have easily been a little bit more sticky with anybody, he's been quite upbeat, but still kind of had that little bit of nip in him, which has been good.

I mean, I'd like to see him stay on but at the same time, the people upstairs, they'll be like, 'kind of see the season out and we'll look to get somebody in', but who will replace him? We'll have to wait and see "

End is nigh

This had the potential to be a fabulous term for Celtic as they closed in on ten Premiership titles in a row. However, after 22 games, they find themselves 20 points behind league leaders Rangers. Even though they have two games in hand, it would take a huge turnaround for the Parkhead outfit to finish the season on top of the table.

It is not so much that they are not winning this term, but rather the manner of their failures that will likely lead to Lennon's downfall.

Relieving him of his duties now makes no sense - no manager in the world would fancy his chances of winning the title in the Bhoys' current position. At the end of the term, though, a managerial change is more than likely, as Howey himself suggests.

In other news, this pundit had named on key Celtic figure for the club's failings.