Lennon is back where he belongs and he’s aiming to make most of it
He may only be filling the boots of Brendan Rodgers for now but something about Lennon belongs here, as if he was born to this manor.
A little later, as the TV crews pack up, a slightly flushed Lennon settles into a seat in a corner of the No.7 Lounge.
He’s struggling for breath after running up the stairs from his photo shoot in the stand outside.
“I’m out of shape,” he gasps with a self-deprecating smile.
Well, it’s been a while. The last four-and-a-half years may have been spent away from Celtic but they have been typically eventful.
He got his fingers burned in Bolton but secured promotion in Leith while gradually rebuilding his own reputation.
Mayhem followed his every step until he was booted out the back door by Hibs with his career apparently back on the line.
Now here he is just a few short weeks later, catching his breath.
The bank balance is in the rudest of health after the paying up of his contract at Hibs once an internal probe cleared him of any misconduct.
To cap it all, he has just become the Celtic manager all over again.
As he settles into that chair, Lennon says: “I wouldn’t call it unfinished business.
“It’s not about me. Later on if I were to get the job permanently then we could maybe call it that.
“But for the time being it’s just about protecting the legacy that Brendan has built.
“My plan was to look at things in the summer but when an opportunity likes this comes up you’ve got to take it. You are lucky to get an opportunity like this once. I’ve had it twice so I’m very fortunate and very grateful – and I mean that sincerely.
“I just want to make the most of my time and try to enjoy it.”
There’s a heavy emphasis on the word ‘try’. Lennon is only too well aware of what he’s just got himself involved in.
Along with the slurry of sectarianism he’s about to step back into, he knows he could wind up in big trouble with his own supporters should he fail to lead Celtic one more title closer to 10 in a row.
He could be the man who makes this history, or the man who blows it. Lennon nods: “Exactly, but that’s the risk you run. Listen, if I wasn’t going to do it then I’d be sitting watching somebody else do it, so I might as well. “I get it. Things could go awry. With the things that are in place here we hope that’s not the case. “There’s going to be a period of adjustment for the players simply by the fact that Brendan is not there. That leaves a huge void. “They also have to get adjusted to me and I have to adjust to them but we can’t afford that to take too long.
“I’m just grateful for the opportunity to work here again. I’m a bit nervous but I think that’s natural.
“When you are younger you’re fearless. The more experienced you get the more you think about these kind of things. I don’t know if it’s down to age. It might be.”
Add into the mix the manic backdrop of Lennon’s last stint in charge and the sinister, putrid collateral that came with it.
It’s suggested to him he must be mad to take all this back on.
He smiles and says: “I am mad. You know I’m mad. You need that bit of madness but I have to curtail it a little bit. You’re older and wiser and you know the ramifications sometimes. You just mellow as you get along.”
Is Lennon seriously saying he has mellowed?
Without hesitation he replies: “No! But I’ll maybe try to let the other coaches do all the jumping around this time.”
‘In the documentary Being: Liverpool there was a portrait of Rodgers in his house and that says everything. If he was chocolate he would eat himself’