Lennon still hopes to keep Mcgeouch
● Hibs boss has Uefa sanction hanging over him as well as likely domestic ban
Neil Lennon has expressed renewed hope that Hibernian could retain their major players – including Dy la nMcgeouc h–for a t win assault on the European and domestic fronts next season.
Lennon had cast doubt on his future as Hibs manager in an emotional outburst following the derby defeat by Hearts a fortnight ago that ended the Easter Road club’ s prospects of finishing second.
However, following a four- hour meeting at the club last Friday that centred on recruitment, Lennon is ready togo again. He has been heartened by the belief the widely anticipated departure of Mcgeouch is not a given. Blackburn Rovers and Aberdeen are understood to be interested in the out-of-contract midfielder but Lennon believes he could still sign a new deal with Hibs.
Meanwhile, discussions continue on tying up Flo - rianKamberi, Jamie Maclaren and Scott Allan on permanent deals after all three impressed on loan in the second half of the season. In addition, no official bids have been received for influential midfielder John Mcginn, who has a year left on his Hibs contract.
“Whether we lose players or not – and we’ve lost players before – I don’t think it’s a major rebuilding job ,”
There will be one familiar ele - ment when Hibernian embark on their Europa League quali f y i ng c a mpaig n on 1 2 Ju l y. Neil Lennon will be restricted to watching his team from the stand – a hangover from the four- match Uefa ban received for remonstrating with a refe - ree when he took charge of the club for the first time as they faced Brondby in the competition two years ago. “Feck, I’d forgotten about that,” said the Hibs manager yesterday when reminded of the punishment. “I’ll just have to deal with it… my staff are well used to it by now.”
Hibs’ shot at Europe through f i n i s h i n g f o u r t h i n t h e Premiership was confirmed courtesy of Celtic winning the S c o t t i s h C u p l a s t S a t u r d ay. Lennon believes no- one could begrudge his club the opportunity following an outstandi ng f i r s t s e a s o n b a c k i n t he top f l i ght f ollowing a t hree - year exile.
A n d t h e I r i s h m a n r e f u s - es to consider t hat his team should expect to suffer the fate that t ypically seems to befall S cottish clubs in the qualifie r s of t he c omp e t i t i on. The aforementioned Brondby tie, wherein his team won 1- 0 in t he Danish s econd l eg af t er l osi ng t he f i r s t by t he s ame margin at Easter Road before being edged out on penalties, is what gives him grounds for optimism.
But it will be tough, with four r o u n d s n ow r e q u i r e d t o b e negotiated to reach the group stage, when a mere one or two rounds has tended to see off Scottish entrants.
“It’s brilliant to have Euro - pean football,” Lennon said. “It was obviously out of our hands until we knew the result of the Scottish Cup final but I t hi nk we deser ved i t . We’ve e a r n e d t h e r i g h t t o h ave a crack at it and it’s an exciting asp ect of t he s eason ahead. It gets t he f ans’ j uices going a l r e a dy d e s pi t e t hi s s e a s o n having just finished.
“But it’s also an added dimen- sion for the players. When we got knocked out by Brondby l a s t s e a s o n i t was ve r y e a r - ly days in my rein and I felt if the tie had been t wo or three we e k s l a t e r we c o u l d h ave come through it. It surprised me and I felt after that tie we had a decent t eam. To go t o Brondby and win and unfortunately lose on penalty kicks was a respectable result.
“It’s difficult because you’re back so early and you could get a t eam who are midway through the season – and I’ve had that with Celtic – but we’re in it to try to qualify. It’s a financial boost for the club.”
Lennon i s war y of making p r e d i c t i o n s a b o u t h o w h i s t ea m wil l f ar e domesticall y next season after they fell just shor t of making good on his b ol d s t at e ment t hat s e c ond place was their target.
He seems pretty sure of one thing, though: that he will also begin the season with a Scottish touchline ban after running on to the pitch and jigging around with aeroplane - st yle arms to celebrate Hibs’ addedtime equaliser in the 5- 5 draw a t h o me t o R a n g e r s o n t h e final afternoon of the league season.
S ent off for the reaction by referee Bobby Madden, Lennon knows full well the t womatches suspended that came with a three- game ban he was given for going berserk in the face of Kevin Clancy at Kilmarno ck t hree months ago will now be activated.
“I expected the SFA charge after the last game of the season because them’s the rules,” h e s a i d . “We’ l l c r o s s t h a t bridge when we come to it. It was a spontaneous moment. A bit of fun. The last kick of a ver y good season so nobody should look too much into it. I moved so quickly I pulled my hamstring…”
U n t i l L e n n o n c a n a s s e s s a ny s u mme r s q u a d c h a n g - es that take place in the next f ew months, he will reser ve judgement on what could be reasonably expected of Hibs in the next 12 months. “The aim is for more of the same next season. If I make a prediction now and we do it then I’m a genius and if not I’m an idiot,” he said.
“I felt we were good enough to finish second and we nearly were. I haven’t got a squad together so I might be cleare r o n t a rg e t s a t t h e s t a r t o f the season.” ● Neil Lennon was speaking at the SPFL Trust’s Annual Golf Day at The Carrick at Loch London. All proceeds raised will be u s e d t o ward s ment a l h e a l t h f i rs t a i d t ra i ni ng i n S c o t t i sh football in partnership with the Chris Mitchell Foundation. For more information visit www. spfltrust. org. uk. Lennon s a i d . “We’r e not sure on Dylan Mcgeouch. That’s one that could come back. There could a positive on that because there’s no f i r m a nswer on what he’s doing.
“H e’s n o t a d o n e d e a l anywhere as f ar as we’re aware. That might change b u t t h e r e’s a n i n k l i ng o f h o p e t h e r e b e c a u s e we were under the impression [ his depar ture] was done and dusted but t hat i s n’t the feedback we’ve had. He was quite emotional after t he R angers game and i t l o oked l i ke his l ast game but you just never know.”
Lennon hopes the three loan players will be around next season but must strike a d e a l wi t h t h e i r p a r e n t clubs, Grasshopper Zurich ( Kamberi), Darmstadt 98 ( M a c l a r e n ) a n d C e l t i c ( Allan).
“We’r e s t i l l i n n e g o t i a - tions with Kamberi,” Lennon said. “We’ve held positive talks with him and his r e pr e s e nt a t i ve . We have a n o p t i o n t h a t e x p i r e s on 14 June but I’m prett y sure we’ll have a response before then. The talks are s t i l l ongoi ng a nd i t ’s t he same with Jamie Maclaren and Scott Allan.
“T h e r e’s n o u p d a t e o n t hem. I t ’s s t i l l e ar l y days and they’re all difficult to do in their own individual ways. I’m cer tainly not writing any of them off but there’s a bit of work to do which we always assumed would happen.
“We had a good, lengthy m e e t i n g [ w i t h t h e H i b s b o a r d ] . I t wa s i n t e r e s t - i ng. I f we c a n’t g e t s ome d e a l s d o ne wi t h c ur r e nt p l aye r s t h e n we’ve g o t a few decent ones lined up. I s hould give more cr edi t to my scouting depar tm e n t w h o h a v e d o n e a ver y good job, as they did in Januar y. They’ve been working away all season on getting things ready for the summer.
“I t might b e dif f i cult t o improve last year but not impossible. There’s a wage for cer tain positions and players that we can go to now t ha t we c oul dn’t do this time last year and that gives you a lift.
“It’s very early days in the pro c e s s and s ome of t he g u ys a r e away f o r a wee break but when they come back we’ll be hoping to get a couple over the line. But we have plenty of options and players to look at.”