Neil Lennon

He also left saying he wanted a new challenge, thought it had gone stale without the huns. Make no mistake, Lennon will take the job if he's offered it. His venture in England failed (thus far) and now the huns are back to make it more exciting for him. It is tail between his legs from him, it was his choice to leave, boardroom difficulties or not.

 

I'm not defending the board but Lennon is not totally blameless here. He massively over-rated himself and his "reputation" in England. At the time, the Norwich job was free and I'm convinced Neil thought he would walk into it. He found out the hard way and all he could get was the Bolton job - you can't judge him on that as it was simply a poisoned chalice for any manager.

I think his behaviour in the last few days has been poor and he just looks desperate - clubs aren't exactly queuing up to hire him are they?

I really think we need a fresh start - despite Sunday's performance, we are a much better team than Sevco - we have a couple of years to get ourselves together (hopefully with CL money) and sort out the mess we are currently in.

I think that going back to Lennon isn't the answer (and people conveniently forget that he wasn't all that great tactically and the football in his last season was often very poor).

The only previous manager I would want back is MON and that's unlikely, Even if we can't get a Rogers or Moyes, I'd rather give a chance to a young hungry manager like Hartley than bring back Neil.

I genuinely wish Neil well but the truth is that he is out of work and he's hardly turning job offers down - I think that tells us enough.

 

No. I missed that advert.

 

I think Lennon would be in a position of power in terms of what he would get from the board if he was to return.

He left when there was no competition, as he had done all he could with us in that period and the board were selling his best players from under him(Ledley etc). The board thought they could take a gamble on Ronny who was originally meant to be Neil's number 2 if we believe what we hear, it's left them looking stupid and the fans wanting action. Que Lenny, comes in tells the board he can turn us around again but he'll need significant backing.

I can't see the board telling him the conditions are the same as they know their policy is failing(I hope)and the fans want something drastic done.

 

I like what Hartley is up too and he has the passion but I think it would be too big a job for him at the moment. Maybe in the future.

 

Totally agree with this comment. Look, Lenny did well here in his 3 year spell. he had highs and also lows. But he left here after only 3 years saying "he thought he could not take the team any further". Two years later, I think the team is actually better than the one Lenny left and with a decent manager some of the current players can come good. So if he feels he had already taken Celtic as far as he could then why come back.

The answer is....he is desperate. The lack of interest from EPL clubs surprised him and he had to go to Bolton and without any money, he failed miserably. Did not exactly do anything great whilst at Bolton, I recall most of their fans wanted Lenny sacked. Doubt he would get many more opportunities from other Premier league or Championship clubs. Thus he is desperate to come back here as he knows he made a mistake.
If he does get appointed, he will probably accept any condition from Lawwell, just to get the job.

 

Hope it's Desmond that chooses the manager this time around.

Pretty sure it was him that got MON signed up all those years ago?

 

We can probably hope for Roy Keane then:smiley-laughing002:


I wouldn't be totally against it, he's a big name, maybe toned it down a bit working with MON, would certainly fire a massive massive rocket up our heartless players arses but is he really a good manager?

 

Hey don't be so downbeat...we would have him until the next job came along.

 

Then he won't get the job. Either will Moyes or anybody else we'd rate, it'll be Yogi or Alan Stubbs in that case.

 

We had him for 15 * years :smiley-laughing002:

 

If he had done well down South, do you think he would be as keen to return, even if there was improved terms on offer? Which to be honest, I'm not so sure there will be.

 

No, I don't think he would be. That's not the point though, is it?

 

If Moyes was still at Man Utd would he consider going to us? If Rodgers was still at Liverpool would he consider going to us?

 

On the same token Lennon left, failed miserably, and as far as I'm aware, has no options on the table at present. He needs us more than we need him I think. He would have no bargaining power whatsoever.

 

No, but neither have been here before have they? So it's not like they would be coming with their tail between their legs, which Lennon would be doing I feel. If Lennon wanted to be here, he still could have been. He left for one reason or another, and now that it hasn't worked out for him down South, we are really his only option. Moyes and Rodgers will more than likely have a few options come the summer. For what it's worth, I don't think we will get either of them anyway.

 

Also Moyes & Rodgers will be itching to get back down to England from the very second they were appointed. 2 seasons maximum we would get out of them. We need a guy that is going to do at least 4/5 years here.

 

We need him far more than he needs us, he'll get work in the lower leagues, as a pundit for Sky etc etc.

We're currently in freefall without him.

I tend to think Moyes or Rodgers is pie in the sky. We need Lenny.

 

Would you have said the same to big Jock if he wanted to come back after Leeds?

Had Henrik asked to play for us when Man Utd were looking for him would you tell him to * off?

For many it seems playing for us for 7 years going on to manage us for another 4 through death threats and assaults on and off the field count for nothing if you are Neil Lennon.

How many other managers would have stayed through those conditions?

Three questions
For me Yes...Yes...very few if any

 

The bolded is very true, and not jsut for Lennon. A lot of ex-players, some of them brilliant contributors to Celtic, get it in the neck when they dare to leave, despite having no real ties to the club beyond the contractual.

The only reason I wouldn't want Lennon back is to protect him from the Glasgow bubble, and the hate filled bile that he will no doubt be subjected to. It's testament to his character that he would be willing to face that again. People are right to say we are as good as he's going to get for his next appointment, but lets not pretend we're just doing him a favour. He was tremendously successful here, and if any one of Moyes/Rogers/Keane etc can replicate his level of success, they'll likely be hero worshipped for it.