LENNY RULES HIMSELF OUT OF SCOTLAND JOB
Lenny rules himself out of running for national team... and urges the SFA to hire a Scot
NEIL LENNON believes a Scot should be manager of the national team.
The Celtic interim manager was linked with the job but isn’t interested and even gave the SFA some recommendations.
Lennon said: “International football has never really appealed to me.
“My own opinion is that the Scotland manager should be Scottish. I know that may seem an antiquated viewpoint on it.
“But it’s the national sport and if I was to manage my country I know how much that would mean to me.
“Aberdeen and Kilmarnock fans will not thank me for it but Derek McInnes and Stevie Clarke are two outstanding managers and candidates.”
THE leading six clubs in the Premiership when you add their totals together, have accumulated more points than the sum pooled by the other 10 clubs. Not the most remarkable of stats per se, but it could be taken as a mark of just how good the elite have become and it also points to how the level of consistency needed for a title challenge is getting raised every year. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the race to finish top of the pile which from the turn of the year looked to have just two runners, Hurlford United and Auchinleck Talbot, whose remarkable unbeaten ways ever since have merely reinforced this notion by allowing them to streak further away from any would-be contenders. Both teams are now entering the final straight, with Hurlford seven points better off (their lead could be stretched to 10 if Darren Henderson’s men win at Blair Park against Renfrew today) than rivals Talbot who remain most people’s favourites to be first past the pole as a result of having crucially played five games fewer up to now. That we still have a title race on our hands can be attributed to Hurlford’s players responding to the bitter disappointment of their Macron Scottish Junior Cup semi-final exit at the hands of Largs Thistle to string together three straight Premiership wins in seven days, the latest a hard-fought 2-1 victory away to Kilwinning Rangers last Wednesday night through goals from Lewis Morrison and Jamie Hilton. Manager Hendo admitted: “Everyone’s head was down, my own included, after the Largs defeat but I have to credit the guys for coming out of their corner fighting when we as a team were probably at our most vulnerable. “Nine points from a possible nine with nine goals scored and only one conceded is a great comeback and, in many ways, reminds me of the spirit shown last season when we stayed unbeaten to the end after losing to Talbot in the Junior Cup final. “It’s a bit of a tall order to expect a
“I love it that the players are not coming in after games and asking the Auchinleck score
repeat of that run however we are not falling into the trap of looking too far ahead and are simply taking things one game at a time, starting with Renfrew today, and see where it gets us. “And I love it that the players are not coming in after games and asking the Auchinleck score because it shows they know goings on elsewhere are outwith their control and are concentrating more on getting the job done. ”Look, there will inevitably be a few unexpected twists and turns before anything is decided and I’m pretty sure things will prove close to call in the end up however it has not escaped my notice that my players could go through a 30-game league campaign with only three defeats yet still finish 10 points behind in the runners-up spot.”