Neil Lennon

Exactly. Board hardly starting as they mean to go on if they’re trying to give us the impression they’re going to back the manager.

 

Quality.

You know it’s true but. Let the board away with “rolling contracts” (and Kennedy and Duff as the main backroom team) and see how much they care when you want to moan about the transfer budget.

 

You seem a good laugh at parties.

Moaning faced wee boy.

 

Wee boys don’t win arguments like I just have, son.

Fling your insults, if that’s all you’ve got.

We’ll see come August 31st who the wee boy is, when you’ve all let them away with this stuff yet again, but still think your greeting about transfers actually counts

 

Just because I’m no shouting from the rooftops.


Doesn’t mean I’m won’t be annoyed at things at the club.


You need to cheer up a wee bit.

 

Cut out the insults and debate without them.

 

Rolling contracts is nothing new, obviously isn't a concern for NL so shouldn't be a concern for us. Kennedy and Duff staying in their roles concerns me more. The fact NL accepts this worries me as it suggests he will not be in full control of footballing matters and PL will be having much more of a say in things.

 

Can't see it mate. Pretty sure Lennon could have brought his own backroom staff if he'd have wanted. I think he's happy with who he has.

 

I'm not so sure, Parker went with him to Bolton and was also at Hibs with him. Seems strange that NL wouldn't want him with him back at celtic when given the gig permanently. He will trust Parker more than Kennedy and Duff and given the importance of the coming season youd think he would want people he knows and trusts with him.

Doubt we will ever know the truth though.

 

I'm pretty much coming from the same place but I would disagree with one point.

A lot of the people who wanted Lennon from the start were saying that he is his own man and wouldn't take the job unless he was happy with the package on offer - wages, backroom team and budget.

That's fine - he has negotiated with Lawwell and agreed the terms - that's his decision and responsibility and his alone.

If things do not go well next season (hopefully not) - I'm really not interested in people coming on here blaming Lawwell or Lennon blaming the players or moaning about his backroom staff.

You can't have it both ways - he agreed the terms and got the job - as of now, the buck stops with him.

 

Hopefully out of the three of them they can work out than inswinging corners are the most dangerous, eye bleeding stuff when McGregor comes over to the left as you know he will either over-hit it or it will get cleared by the first man.

 

I"ll look forward to him proving you wrong.

Lenny's for the ten, you should relax.

 

Is it possible to have a pinned official ins and outs for the summer? Suspect we’ll have lots of changes...

 

NEIL Lennon has been working on strengthening the Celtic squad since he first returned to the club at the end of February. And that aim to bring some new faces in to enhance the group of players already at the club will gather pace now that he has been confirmed in the role on a permanent basis.

With the players due to report back for pre-season training on June 17, the Hoops boss is hoping that the work which has been ongoing behind the scenes for some time now will bear fruit.

“In every season, at this stage you’re looking improve and that’s what we’ll endeavour to do,” Neil Lennon said. “We’ll hopefully be bringing new players in and integrating them with the quality of player that we have. First and foremost, we’ll try to recruit as best as we possibly can.

“I’m excited to bring new players in and develop the kind of player we have. It’s always been the case. It’s important to get players in as quickly as possible because these European qualifiers come very quickly.”

It has been a momentous few months for Neil Lennon, and an incredible weekend as he led the team to Scottish Cup glory, which secured the Treble Treble, and was then offered the Celtic manager’s job on a permanent basis.

“Saturday was one of the best days of my life and, when the final whistle went, it was one of the best days of my professional life,” he said. “The enormity of what the players had achieved and what it meant to everyone associated with the club hit home.

“We will endeavour to win every competition we go into, so we’ll take it from there. Now we have time. We’re staying calm and we know what lies ahead of us and the positions we want to fill in there.”

 

NEIL Lennon allowed himself a wry chuckle as it was put to him at his unveiling on Friday that the blue side of Glasgow might be celebrating his appointment more than the green half. Because there was at least one Rangers supporter whose opinion Lennon values who was dreading him getting the job.

Former Ibrox boss Graeme Souness is in full agreement with Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell, who believes that the choice of Lennon as permanent boss spells bad news for his old team.

Like Souness, Lennon has proven he is a winner, and the parallels between the pair don’t end there. It might not be immediately apparent to the outside world, but both men have mellowed with age, and Lennon has revealed that the Liverpool and Scotland legend has played his part in any success he has achieved as a manager, or that he will go on to achieve.


And one of the biggest parts of that will be his ability to handle the pressure of the Celtic job much better than he was able to first time around.

“[Souness] did change as he got older and I have spoken to him about it time and time again,” Lennon said.

“I don’t think he will appreciate me saying this, but we are sort of cut from the same cloth. We have a lot of ties to the city. I think he is a brilliant pundit anyway but as a footballer and a manager, I have great respect for him.

“He has had a good influence on me. We talk about the game a lot, off screen, on screen. I worked with him for two years in Ireland and he was a pleasure to be with. I respect him totally because he has done this, and he knows how difficult it can be.

“It is exciting [to be manager of Celtic again]. There will be dips, there will be lows, there are no grey areas with this job but listen I am well used to that and so are the board.


“I am nowhere near as aggressive as I was [the first time I had the job]. I wanted to take on the world back then and prove a point and that kind of stuff. That might have been detrimental to me occupationally-wise, so I have learned to deal with that and my temperament is a lot better for the job.



I can do it, I have done it before.”

Lennon has learned that maintaining a degree of detachment from the non-stop scrutiny that comes with the territory in the often-madcap world of the OId Firm will be a key factor in maintaining his cool.

“You just have to park it because a lot of it is not real,” he said. “When you are in a public position you are going to get criticised one way or another. Whether you are a sports person or a celebrity or whatever. You can’t take it too personally.

“I have learned to stay really focused and in the present as a manager. I think that is really important as a manager, that you don’t get caught up in any of the hype. Which I probably did so when I was younger. That has been a real lesson learned.”

Stepping into the dugout knowing and understanding everything that comes with the job was undoubtedly a factor in Lennon landing the position. But it is not only the lessons from his first spell in charge that he is still carrying with him.

A nagging frustration at throwing away the league title in his first full season in charge, when his side finished a point behind Rangers having led the way at the top of the table, still clearly annoys him, and partly drives his will to succeed.

“I didn’t think there was much pressure on me [first time around], going up against a man [Walter Smith] who had been there and done it,” he said. “Because the expectation wouldn’t have been for me getting anywhere near to him.


In the end, we missed a penalty at Ibrox to go five clear and that would’ve been game, set and match. So that would’ve been a * of an achievement. He’s been one of the greatest managers in Scottish history, so I didn’t feel pressure because of that.

“The pressure is different this time because you’re more experienced. You’re off the back of winning the Treble, playing a part in winning a Treble so everyone is going to be coming for you. It’s natural, we expect that. You want to be at the front.

‘That season still nagging me. It’s the one that got away. I want to win it back.’

 

Irrespective of its relevance...

Would be an easier read without the Souness appreciation.

 

Never ever trust a Hun.

 

IT is nine years since Neil Lennon first took over as Celtic manager. That, too, was initially on an interim basis, taking charge following Tony Mowbray’s departure in March 2010.

That summer he was confirmed in the role, and over the next four years he went on to win three league titles and three Scottish Cups.

This year, he once again stepped in when the club needed him, becoming interim manager following Brendan Rodgers’ move to Leicester City. Last week, he took up the role on a permanent basis, describing it as ‘a great privilege’.

Now 47, the Irishman is relishing the opportunity to manage Celtic again, and with plenty of managerial experience under his belt in the intervening years, he believes it will be beneficial going forward with the Hoops.

“I’m older and a bit more wiser,” Neil Lennon said. “Last time I was a rookie manager, if you want to call it that, and now I’m 10 years down the line. I’m back on familiar territory with great backroom staff who were here under Brendan.

“We’ve kept that progression and familiarity going. John Kennedy will be assistant manager with Damien Duff as first-team coach and Stevie Woods as goalkeeping coach.

“I am different, there’s no question of that. I’m more rounded and looking forward to the challenge again.”

Celtic are on an impressive run of success, having sealed their eighth league title in a row with this year’s success. It was Neil Lennon who kicked off the title triumphs, winning the first three leagues, and his focus will be on winning No.9, a feat not achieved since Jock Stein’s legendary Celtic side of the 1960s and ‘70s.

“It’s important for the club, so that means it’s important for me, the supporters and the players,” he said. “I’m going to try and bring nine, first and foremost, aligned with the domestic cups.

“Obviously we want to make inroads into the Champions League, which is a difficult thing to do, but not unsurmountable.

“Winning a treble is a very difficult thing to do. In my first season here as a player, we won the treble under Martin O’Neill and that was the holy grail. These guys have won three-in-a-row. We will endeavour to win every competition we go into, so we’ll take it from there.”

 

Who * wants some, I’ll give it ye :lenny1: