Neil Lennon

Giving squad time off when he didn’t feel like coming in was another one


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...wQFnoECA0QAQ&usg=AOvVaw0fnwz5BKfZSZGyGmrPErKA


NEIL LENNON

Omonia FC, 2022

Football’s been my life since I was seven years old.

I left home in Northern Ireland at 16 to join Manchester City. In the 36 years since, I’ve been totally engrossed in football. No matter where I’ve been, my enthusiasm for the game has remained.

I was a leader as a player, and count myself lucky that I was a number six. A lot of top coaches played a midfield role where they could see the whole pitch – Pep Guardiola, Xavi, Carlo Ancelotti, Didier Deschamps and, at times, Gareth Southgate. As a six, you are always engaged with what’s going on, with your strikers, distances with your centre-halves, your full-backs. You are the fulcrum of the team.


Lennon was a key part of the Leicester City team that rose to the Premier League and won two League Cups under Martin O'Neill Allsport UK /Allsport
Sometimes managers said to me: “Stand still. The ball will come to you.” So I became really brilliant at standing still! It was an all-round picture I developed on the pitch. My game intelligence matured, and I took that into coaching: all that experience of big games, opposition, title runs, relegation battles, playoff finals. I’m not saying I have all the answers, but that knowledge is certainly beneficial.

There are a lot of changes in the game and you have to evolve with that, even if the fundamental basics are the same. A lot more teams are playing out from the back now. I find the risk and reward of that really interesting.

"IT WAS FANTASTIC TO WATCH – THE ROTATIONS IN MIDFIELD AND THE UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE STRIKERS"

I’ve watched a lot of games where teams are trying to play out and they cut their own throat. Recently, I watched a game where a team conceded two goals from losing the ball in really bad areas, having been in the ascendancy. There has to be a balance.

You can play out from the back at times, but play through the lines as quickly as you can. In the current game, I would look to play a 3-5-2 shape. It gives you that defensive structure. When I went into coaching at Celtic, we used a back four – 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 – and we had great success. In Scotland we were the dominant team, and it worked for us, but I do like two strikers in a team.


Lennon is enthusiastic about the impact of technology on coaching and management Wattie Cheung
When I took Celtic into the last 16 of the Champions League, we played Juventus with Antonio Conte in charge. They played a 3-5-2 and it was fantastic to watch – the rotations in midfield and the understanding between the strikers. Conte brought it back into vogue, because a lot of teams were going with one striker.

It does help when you’ve got good players. Conte had Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba, Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Gigi Buffon in goal, Carlos Tevez up front. But the way they implemented it was brilliant. I like the fluidity of that formation when you get it right.

"I ALWAYS LOOK AT A PLAYER WHEN THEY’RE LOSING, AND WHAT THEIR CHARACTER IS LIKE"

Whatever level you’re managing at, recruitment is vital – getting the right players, specific to the way you want to play. Have they got football intelligence? Do they see things before the ball comes to them? Are they scanning? What’s their movement like?

At Celtic, I brought in Gary Hooper from Scunthorpe for £2.4m, and the club got around £6m for him three years later. I knew after 20 minutes that he was the type of player I wanted. Hooper had everything for a goalscorer – with his back to goal he was brilliant, and he was a fantastic finisher. With Fraser Forster, I liked his size. He could make saves other goalkeepers couldn’t. I got him for £2m and he was sold for £10m. Virgil van Dijk was a no-brainer at £2.4m. I watched Jeremie Frimpong play in a bounce game at Celtic’s Lennoxtown training ground, and saw a lot of potential. He was fabulous for me for a year, and then he was off to Leverkusen.


Congratulating Fraser Forster on his display in a Champions League victory against Barcelona Stu Forster/Getty Images
When I was at Bolton, the bottom fell out of the club financially. Players were being sold, we couldn’t bring many in, and we had to use youth players. We brought in young players like Zach Clough, who did really well, and Rob Holding, who went to Arsenal. We brought Gary Madine in on a free and he went for £6m, so we were bringing money in, and talented players, but it just wasn’t enough. The Championship is an attritional league, it’s very unforgiving. That was a different aspect of the job that I learned from.

Sir Alex Ferguson told me one thing he always looked for in a player was enthusiasm for the game. That’s one thing I look for straight away. I always look at a player when they’re losing, and what their character is like. Some players can be sulky and streaky, while other players just love the game and challenging themselves. The good ones come to the fore, regardless if they’re winning or losing.

"FOR ALL THAT THEY ARE TOUGH AND OBSESSED WITH WINNING, THEY HAVE A HUMAN SIDE"

In my first spell as Celtic manager, I emailed Sir Alex to see if we could have a look round Manchester United’s training ground. He said: “We’re renovating Carrington at the minute, but I’m going to be in Glasgow in a couple of weeks. I’ll pop into Lennoxtown.”

He came up one Sunday morning, we got him some crumpets, and he sat with me and my staff for two hours. It was like having 20 years with somebody else. He shared his experiences: coming through at Aberdeen, specific, big moments at Manchester United, how he felt, how he dealt with things. He would always go out of his way, and I can’t thank him enough for that.

When I was going through a difficult period during the pandemic at Celtic, José Mourinho was one of the first to contact me. These are things that people don’t know about these managers. For all that they are tough and obsessed with winning, they have a human side; they understand what you’re going through, because they’ve gone through it themselves. The higher up the food chain you go, you’re going to have great successes – but you’re going to have huge disappointments as well.


Victory in the 2020 Scottish Cup final gave Lennon his 10th trophy in charge of Celtic – the most by a Hoops manager since the late, great Jock Stein Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
In 2020, at Celtic, I became the first person to win a domestic treble as both player and manager. It was a great achievement, but also surreal. Due to the pandemic and postponements, we didn’t actually secure the treble until the December of the following season – and there were no fans there to see it. It’s really hard to celebrate something like that. You have to have fans in the stadiums, particularly at big clubs like Celtic, Liverpool, Rangers – it makes such a difference.

Going through the Covid season, we had lots of problems that were not football-related. How to deal with a pandemic and a lockdown is not in the manual. To have no fans there was almost like playing a bounce game every week. Then there were players going down with Covid, protocols being broken – just zero momentum.

We suffered, and I resigned because it wasn’t great for the club. Previous to that, we’d won five trophies out of five since I’d come back – we were absolutely flying, but the momentum was curtailed by the pandemic. Having said all of that, there were things going on around the world that were much more important at the time.

"I HAD A GREAT ANALYST, WHOSE WORK WAS FANTASTIC FOR ME GOING INTO AND AFTER GAMES"

After leaving Celtic, I took the chance to work outside of the UK for the first time, with Omonia in Cyprus. I spoke to the owners, the chief executive and the director of football – who was very supportive – and looked into the background of the club. They’d won the league the previous year, under Henning Berg, and had some really good players. It was a challenge I could get my teeth into.

When I arrived in March 2022, they were seventh in the league and lacking confidence. The brief was to go as far as we could in the Cypriot Cup and build for next season. The players responded brilliantly to what we asked them to do. They needed to be more physical, quicker with the ball, more attack-minded, and they bought into that.

We went on a really good run in the league and got through the cup quarter finals. In the semi finals we played Anorthosis, who were a really good team under Temuri Ketsbaia, over two legs. We played out of our skin at their place, beat them 2-0, and got through the tie 3-1 at our stadium in Nicosia.


Lennon set Omonia up to be defensively sound but positive for their matches with Erik ten Hag's Manchester United Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
I absolutely loved the challenge of the technical side. You have different coaches – Spanish, Scandinavian, Slovenian, Greek, Cypriots – and they all play a different style. I had a great analyst, whose work was fantastic for me going into and after games.

The technology in the game now is incredible. I like to go and watch the opposition if I can, but sometimes you don’t have that luxury. If you look at the way the coach’s role has evolved, you’ve different departments now: medical, sports science, analysis and coaching. Players like to know what they’re doing before every session, and why. Back in the day it would have been: “Right, we’re doing this, let’s just get on with it.” Now, I’d get the players in a huddle before the session, or maybe do a bit of analysis on the opposition beforehand, and then go into a specific session for what I’ve just shown the players. There’s always an understanding there.

We went on to beat Ethnikos in the cup final. It was the first time Omonia had won the Cypriot Cup in a decade, and the fans gave us a spectacular reception. Victory earned us a Europa League qualifier in August against Gent, who’d won the Belgian Cup. I was able to go and watch them, and felt with a bit of physicality and speed we could hurt them. We won 2-0 in Belgium and 2-0 back in Nicosia. The place erupted.

"MY PRINCIPLE IS ALWAYS: HOW DO I WIN THIS GAME OF FOOTBALL? NO MATTER WHERE I GO, IT’S ABOUT RESULTS"

Then we got an unbelievable draw in the group stage: Manchester United, Real Sociedad and Sheriff Tiraspol. It was a group of Champions League quality. A year or so after leaving Celtic, there I was walking out at Old Trafford, going up against Erik ten Hag.

There was no chance we could play 4-3-3 against United or Sociedad. We’d have been murdered down the flanks and in midfield. We needed a good defensive structure. I had three good boys in midfield who had the legs, and an out ball down the flanks with my strikers, who were powerful and could run the channels to give us a breather. But you have to try to score, no matter who the opposition are. Even against superior teams, you have to be positive in your approach, not passive.

When I was at Hibernian, the first time we played against Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic, I went with one striker. I didn’t do it again. They played out through us too easily, so I changed the formation to stop their two centre-backs dominating the ball. We pressed them quite high and forced them to kick long. They didn’t have a physical presence up top, so we were able to recover the ball, or play 50-50 football, rather than be passive and have them play through us. You learn.


Lennon's Omonia keep Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford at bay at Old Trafford James Gill/Getty Images
My principle is always: how do I win this game of football? No matter where I go, it’s about results. Always results. If you stick to the same philosophy and it’s not working, then that’s on you.

Away at Sociedad in our second group game, we got to 1-1 but conceded in the 80th minute. In the next game we took the lead against United in Nicosia, but they edged it 3-2. We played really well at Old Trafford, and it took a 93rd-minute goal to beat us. We were just a little bit short. We just didn’t have that little bit of game management that more experienced and well-rounded players would have.

"I’VE HAD ALMOST 600 GAMES AS A MANAGER. AN AMBITION WOULD BE TO GET TO 1,000"

We were playing away in Europe on Thursday nights, and then in the league on Sunday, and that was hard on the boys. In league matches after our group games, we won three and lost three. It wasn’t disastrous – we lost a couple 1-0 where we played well and should have won. But the owners were a bit antsy about the league form, and decided to make a change.

In Cyprus, they have a culture of chopping and changing very quickly. Yannick Ferrera came in after me, and he is a very good coach, but he lasted three months. Anorthosis had three managers that season, and APOEL have had 20 managers in 10 years. I knew going into it that there was a problem with short-term thinking, but I loved the experience and the culture. I view my time at Omonia as a success. To win a cup, get into Europe, draw Manchester United and bring the crowds in, it was spectacular.


Refreshed and ready for the next challenge, Lennon's desire to be successful is as strong as ever Wattie Cheung
At 52, I’ve had almost 600 games as a manager. An ambition would be to get to 1,000, but I don’t take anything for granted. I’ve been offered a couple of jobs and was grateful for the interest, but it wasn’t the right moment for me. I owed it to my family to spend a bit of time with them, having been away for so long.

I’m now ready for my next challenge. I know I can make clubs better, make teams better, and I certainly think my best years are in front of me.


NEIL LENNON

Author: Craig Bloomfield

 

Had to stop reading that after slabbering on about his transfer dealings.

Reads like a cringe job interview you've been prepped for by the job center for your 80th interview that month.

Whoring himself out, believing he can get a modern gig with tales of ancient football and dinosaur outlooks.



Sent from my M2012K11AG using Tapatalk

 

HIBS have made their first move to bring Neil Lennon back as manager.

Barely 48-hours after sacking Lee Johnson the Easter Road board has immediately identified their former boss as their number one replacement.



SunSport understands they’ve sounded out Lennon, 52, and the Gordon family owners are keen to gauge his feeling over a possible return to the capital.

The Northern Irishman is looking to get back into management 10 months after being axed by Cypriots Omonia Nicosia, despite winning a trophy and guiding them into Europe within just weeks of taking his first post abroad.

Lennon was a big success in his first stint in Leith between 2016-19.

He led them back to the top flight by winning the Championship at the first time of asking then stunningly secured a fourth place finish in the Premiership which put them into Europe.


But the two-times Celtic manager dramatically left the club in January, 2019, after being first suspended over an alleged internal matter and then sensationally cleared with a club statement emphatically stating he hadn’t been guilty of any misconduct or wrong-doing.

But Lennon still exited and, incredibly, he went back to Parkhead following Brendan Rodgers’ departure for Leicester City.

Now, he could be on the cusp of a remarkable second stint in the Hibs hot-seat.

Johnson was dismissed on Sunday and 24-hours later Lennon went public to confirm his interest in the vacancy.


He told PLZ: “Of course, because I’ve been there before, it’s a big club with potential.

“Whether they approach me or not, it might be worth a conversation.

“There will be loads of applicants for the job, I’m sure, and it’s important the board get it right

 

Lucky Hibs

 

Ah great . Can't wait until he comes back and takes over from BR again

 

* hope he doesn’t btw, I don’t think BR ever got a result against a Lennon Hibs. Defo no in Edinburgh anyway.


The team they have just now under Lennon I think could be annoyingly good against us, they have a good set up to counter attack rapid.

 

Looked really well and could tell he was loving that today. Can’t help but still love him

 

Aye, enjoyed his presence today for the commentary.

 

If he makes Hibs dangerous, that's the end of Rangers being anywhere close to us this season. TBF, he could cause us issues like StJ and Kilmarnock did

 

Loved him today. Trolled the sky huns like a boss

Skickat från min SM-F926B via Tapatalk

 

Enjoyed him calling it the Glasgow derby.

 

Lenny and Broony management team at Hibs?

 

Time (and wins at Ibrox) is a great healer. Love ya Neil

 

Could tell he was enjoying himself today. It was nice to see.

 

My IPTV has run out and no able to renew it the now due to lack of funds, so be good to find a full replay of the game to take in all of Lennon/Suttons thoughts in proceedings. Any help appreciated x

 

Sky Sports Scotland twitter account posted clips of the after match stuff yesterday.