TAKE HEART FROM HISTORY
LENNON FINDS INSPIRATION IN 2011 FIGHTBACK WIN THAT WAS PIVOTAL TO NINE IN A ROW
YOU can’t change the past. But you can learn from it. And derive i nspiration from it. ‘I’ve said to the players I’ve been i n this situation before as a manager,’ said Neil Lennon.
‘The Lille game was the ninth anniversary of us playing against Hearts. Fraser Forster saved a penalty and we could’ve been maybe ten, 11 points behind our rivals at that stage of the season.
‘And we turned it around that season. So there’s evidence we can do it — and the players need to buy into that and understand that. I think that’s a huge motivation for them moving forward.’
Back in 2011, that one-goal win over the Tynecastle side proved to be the sixth in an extraordinary run of 17 consecutive l eague victories for Celtic.
Coupled with the implosion of Rangers, by mid- March t he Parkhead side could almost reach out and touch what would be the first of nine successive titles.
Nine years on, with the Ibrox men now a model of consistency, it’s incumbent on Lennon’s players to produce an equally spectacular run. If they don’t, aspirations of reaching the Holy Grail of ten in a r ow wil l go unfulfilled.
‘ We can’t affect other results,’ added Lennon. ‘But what we have to do is find that l i ttle bit of swagger we had.
‘It’s been apparent we haven’t had that from last year when we were rampant. We need to pick that up and have a little bit of belief in ourselves and chase it down.
‘I think that’s very exciting for us as a club and group of players. It would be an amazing achievement if we could do that.’
It was not just the fact that the club’s annual general meeting was held virtually yesterday that made the affair slightly less spicy than it might have been.
On the back of the board publicly backing their manager, Lennon’s side have produced two impressive vi c t ori es against Lil l e and Kilmarnock. In football, nothing douses the f l ames quite l i ke positive results.
As understandable as much of the outpouring of anger has been of late, the strength of ill-feeling in s ome quarters t owards t he manager has been striking.
When the scattergun is being unloaded, Lennon needs no one to tell him the boss is always among the prime targets.
But, given his history with the club both on and off the park, he may justifiably have felt he had a little more credit in the bank with some self-appointed diehards.
‘I have been a Celtic fan all my life and I’ll be a Celtic fan for the rest of my life,’ he said.
‘So this means more to me than any other thing apart from my family and my life. I’ve been part of this club on and off for the best part of 20 years.
‘I haven’t done it all myself. I’ve played with great players, great managers, I’ve worked with great coaches and I’ve had great players underneath me. So it’s been a concerted effort.
‘I’ve also got a great CEO in Peter Lawwell, who has brought unrivalled success to the club. And we want more. We are hungry.’
Against Lille last week, Lennon turned out his pockets and spun the wheel. By the end of the night, the displays of Conor Hazard, Ismaila Soro and David Turnbull had reaped a much-needed victory and a hint of hope.
Sticking largely by the same side last Sunday, his players not only defeated Kilmarnock but did so with a degree of style.
After a wretched spell that owes at least something to the pandemic, Celtic are hanging i n there. Lennon’s intuition tells him the worst may be over. Whether a Celtic resurgence is combined with Rangers finally blinking, though, we shall know soon enough.
‘It means everything to me,’ he said of a potential turnaround. ‘My own personal pride, the reputation of the club, the reputation of the players. It’s been difficult, but we’re starting to see signs of things really improving.
‘ There have been situations where we’ve lost players to Covid. There’s been an anxiety with the players, I think. There’s been no respite for them this season in terms of pressure on every game and I think they’ve felt that a little bit. Some have been trying too
This club means more to me than any other thing apart from my family and my life
hard, overthinking their play a bit. And, sometimes, there’s that overall fatigue. They’ve looked leggy.
‘That just comes more from the mental pressure they’ve been feeling rather than physical.
‘We look at the physical data. It’s pretty similar to what it was this time last year in terms of our performances.
’It’s just probably a little bit antsy in the final third. Once we overcome that, we’ll be absolutely fine.’
Despite the side’s lamentable run through October and November, Lennon has been backed by his paymasters. That confidence in his ability cuts both ways.
‘I believe and I’ve proven I can do it,’ he said.
‘In this run of nine (titles), I’ve contributed to five of them.
‘No one wants i t more than myself. But I can’tt project that sort of desperation per a ti onto the players. It has to be calm, it has to be consistent, we have to do it bit by bit, we can’t look too far ahead.
‘We have to play in the present. My record speaks for itself when it comes to winning championships, as a player and a manager.
‘I’ve won ten here in my time as player and manager. There aren’t many who have achieved that before.
‘I firmly believe with the backroom staff, our training ground and policies, i t’s the winning way. And we’ll find out.’
The record books will claim Sunday’s Scottish Cup final as last season’ s, but it will solely be determined by the current players and coaches of Celtic and Hearts.
For all a Celtic victory would under s co under score the club’s domestic dodominance since 2016, for Lennon, it would also represent a piece of personal history. No Celtic man has yet won the clean sweep as a player and manager.
‘You’re talking about trying to win a fourth Treble in consecutive seasons. That’s monumental,’ he said. ‘And I think it would mean so much to the players.
‘From my own personal point of view, it would mean a hell of a lot.
‘We’ve put a lot of work into the season, even though i t’s now overlapping into this season.
‘ Since 2000, we’ve won f our Trebles. Incredible — and this could be the fifth. And I don’t think we’ll ever see the likes of it again.
‘So it’s one to look forward to and I think the players are very much motivated by it.’