Neil Lennon

JAMES Forrest says that having Neil Lennon as Celtic manager ‘just feels right’ after he watched his interim boss celebrate his side’s last-gasp injury-time winner at Dundee yesterday with the visiting fans.

Lennon took off down the touchline in jubilation after Odsonne Edouard tucked away Forrest’s pull-back in the 96th minute to move the champions 10 points clear of Rangers at the top of the Premiership standings.

Forrest says that it was the perfect way to sign off for the international break after a turbulent spell at the club following the departure of Brendan Rodgers, and the winger believes that Lennon deserves huge credit for the way he has filled that breach.


“[The manager’s celebration] was unbelievable,” Forrest said. “He said at half-time that he’d take a last-minute goal.

“I think we had half chances, but it shows the resilience of the boys that we kept going and managed to get the goal at the end. You see that everyone is delighted and those moments are really good.

“It was massive that he came in. We had a big game against Hearts and then a tough game away to Hibs in the cup. He’s done really well and all the boys have bought into it straight away.

“You saw in the last minute there that everyone is buzzing and there’s a real togetherness in the squad and that’s definitely not changed. That’s a big boost.

“He’s been in a couple of weeks now and it feels as though he’s never been away. It just feels right him being at Celtic.

I think we had half chances, but it shows the resilience of the boys that we kept going and managed to get the goal at the end. You see that everyone is delighted and those moments are really good.

“It was massive that he came in. We had a big game against Hearts and then a tough game away to Hibs in the cup. He’s done really well and all the boys have bought into it straight away.

“You saw in the last minute there that everyone is buzzing and there’s a real togetherness in the squad and that’s definitely not changed. That’s a big boost.

“He’s been in a couple of weeks now and it feels as though he’s never been away. It just feels right him being at Celtic.

He’s been a massive character at Celtic and done loads for the fans, so I think the club acted really quickly and it’s worked out well.

 

Given the circumstances I think he's done brilliantly to come in with so little drama not not let Rangers get close. Most teams would stumble after a managerial change like that.

Whether he's the man for the job next season remains to be seen, and also depends massively on who's interested. I'd take him over Clarke though.

 

I cant believe some of the quite negative comments about Neil L. When you watch the managerial merry-go-round in the EFL and EPL you realise how lucky we were to get NL back when we did, particularly in the circumstances we found ourselves. He loves the club and the fans, he is one of us. He has the passion for Celtic we have.

Passion is a rare commodity now, its all about money for the clubs and for the parasitic agents that feed and encourage managerial moves and player transfers.

Its such a huge lucrative business the human qualities of passion or loyalty are now unimportant. Managers and players are just assets and underperforming assets are ditched with little ceremony. Most ( if not all ) managers welcome interest from a bigger or more glamourous club and make no secret of it.. How many times have I heard .."Ive always wanted to manage in the ( insert league of choice here) and would have to look at offers etc etc"

Neil has had four games ! If the Board and players back him and appoint him he will take us to 10 IAR and who knows... 15IAR ?, hopefully with Scot Brown as part of his team

 

Thing for me is all the players seem to have really taken to him. Forrest, brown, calmac and tierney are all close to him and proper Celtic men. I just think if someone differnt came in they might look to leave

 

I know hes inherited a very good side and hes touched on it himself that he doesnt want/have to change too much etc but i think he has and is trying to get his own style phased in.

But i always say with other teams as well , i wouldnt overly judge a new manager as the players arent his and weren't signed by him IF he where to get the job i'd be fully judging him after he makes his own signings , he alot more direct than BR ever was and we certainly dont have the players to do that

 

I want NL to succeed but some of his tactical choices yesterday were a bit off. I don't think we should be starting MJ much as I love him. Maybe bring him on later works. I would have had Olly on from the start. He also sticks with ML when it has been said that when at hibs he told his players to target him as he was a weakness. I hope that he doesn't start getting too loyal to players and looks for who is best to do the job. I guess we will know within a few months of him being in the job.

 

For some reason this has made me a wee bit uneasy. Since he came in it's like he's saying I'm giving JK free rein as he knows the team best.....I'll take a back seat and observe. Give someone enough rope springs to mind. It just doesn't all fit for me somehow and I'm not sure why.

 

He obviously sees something in wee Mikey in training. Aye, he wasn't up to much, but I don't think there's anything wrong with championing our own youth products nor playing any of our actual players as opposed to loanees who won't be here next season.

 

Agree with this. We're in a weird position of being at the business end of the season but with our manager not having a full knowledge of the squad. In normal circumstances a manager has a pre-season and minimum 8/9 months of knowing players strengths & weaknesses and can pick teams based on that. He's also inherited a squad that was on a run of winning games and conceding few goals and didn't want to upset things too much.

He's came in at a time when results matter much more than performances and so far has delivered brilliant results. People need to calm down a bit. I'm sure we will see better performances over the next few weeks once we have guys back up to full speed.

 

I’m honestly 50/50 with Lenny getting the job.. there’s pros and cons..

 

I think he wins both games against sevco and secures the treble the jobs his however i hope the club at least interview potential candidates

 

yeah i agree with that , could also be a case of too many cooks.....

i want it to work for him i'd be willing to give him a transfer window to get his own players to suit his style but in the mean time i would like to see the performances upped a fair bit

also i fully agree it must be tough for the players and everyone involved with judas just leaving like he did ,so i also take the current situation on board

 

i think they will BUT if he beats Sevco twice and delivers the end of the treble he will be hard to dismiss

 

Managing Bolton and Hibs isn’t a great precursor for the job..

Knows everything required to manage us tho.

 

But being a former Celtic manager with a very distinguished record like Lenny has, gives him a distinct advantage
I would suggest.

 

No convinced..

 

I love Lenny as he woul go to * and back for this club but I don’t think he is the man to take this club forward on the playing field with his style of football .

 

Not convinced either, but these are not his players (well mostly not). What do we do if he goes unbeaten till the end of the season?

 

But we could do a lot worse than someone with experience of navigating early qualifiers and taking a club that doesn’t traditionally go far in the CL to the latter stages.

If we had someone, who wasn’t Neil, in mind for us I think most people would be delighted about that.

 

If that happens, we shouldn’t interview.. he will have enough momentum to take into the summer and he should get the job. We need to be ready for the CL Qualifiers..