Lennon: I am a very good manager and I am hoping to prove that at Hibernian
OVER a cuppa after a cup tie at Pittodrie, Neil Lennon and Derek McInnes will be able to share stories of picking the wrong club to join in England. When they break from title-challenging hostilities at Falkirk, the Northern Irishman will be able to find out from Peter Houston how similar Leicester 10 years ago was to the impossible job he embraced at Bolton.
Lennon was itching to dart south after concluding that his time at Celtic was up.
Two months into the 2014/15 season, he accepted the task of replacing Dougie Freedman at the toiling Trotters.
He returns to Scottish football — like McInnes did after Bristol City and Craig Levein and Houston did following sackings at Leicester — burned by the experience of trying to enhance a reputation in England while operating with at least one hand tied behind his back.
So, as Alan Stubbs sets out to see if Rotherham United provide the launchpad for his career in England, Lennon is confident his own standing as a manager has not taken a hit for failing to halt the slide at Bolton.
No managerial miracle worker could have contained the financial meltdown at Wanderers, where the fiasco of neglecting to cut cloth accordingly in the wake of dropping out of the Premier League and owner Eddie Davies revoking his personal funding of the club led to, in spite of Lennon’s best efforts, another relegation.
‘It was difficult,’ said Lennon. ‘You really challenge yourself then you’re thinking: “Am I doing the right thing? Why am I not getting results?”. Then, when I left, they lost eight games in a row so I’m thinking maybe I wasn’t the problem after all.
‘We didn’t have any backing to put a team together that would have been competitive in that league, which is what I was assured would happen when I took the job.
‘If I knew that would be the case, I might have left in the summer after keeping them up. But I wasn’t aware how bad the finances were until maybe a month or two into the season.
‘Then, do you walk away? How would that reflect on you?
‘So I tried to stick it out and make the best of what we had, but it became increasingly difficult. There was an embargo and we couldn’t sign anyone, even free transfers.
‘We were on the brink of administration and they were selling huge parts of the training ground, offices at the stadium and parts of the car park to make ends meet.
‘Players weren’t being paid at one stage, so keeping them happy was difficult, but it is an experience and one that will hopefully stand me in good stead. So people might say I kept them up one year but couldn’t maintain it. Others might look at results and say: “What’s happened there?”. But there were other factors to it.
‘I still think the perception of Scotland is a problem. My stock was quite high. Not many managers in Scotland had been in the Champions League last 16. Even Gordon (Strachan), when he left, got the Middlesbrough job.
‘You do all you can with Celtic, which is what I felt I had done after four years at Celtic, and Bolton came along. I thought the infrastructure was there — but the owners stopped putting money in after two months and nobody told me!
‘I was looking at Brian Clough’s career the other day. He has 44 days at Leeds, the champions of England. He left to go to the First Division with Nottingham Forest. Eddie Howe left Burnley to go to Bournemouth and he hasn’t done too badly.
‘Rafa Benitez was managing the European Cup winners at the start of the season, now he is in the Championship. You just don’t know where your career will take you next. I still believe I am a very good manager and I hope to prove that at Hibs.’
Bound by the manacles of that severe financial climate, Lennon couldn’t have brought John McGinn to Bolton, even if he had wanted to. And he probably did.
The new Easter Road boss identified one of his inherited stars as a potential signing target some time ago, while he was Celtic manager and McGinn impressed as a St Mirren teenager.
Now Lennon is intent that the 21-year-old Scotland international remains a pivotal figure in next season’s promotion charge as Hibs brace themselves for the annual round of interest in their young talent.
‘I’d always liked John McGinn,’ said Lennon. ‘I’m very pleased he ended up at Hibs because he is definitely a Premiership player. It was a great bit of business to bring him here. John can improve here without moving on. And he is not moving on. Give me something to work with, for God’s sake!
‘Although I think he would naturally improve anyway, regardless of who took over here, because he is only 21. For him to get a Scotland cap playing at this level speaks volumes for his season and I believe there is far more to come from him. I think he can weigh in with a few more goals but his overall game is very strong at the minute.
‘He is stronger than he looks. Scott Brown, I thought, improved under me. He was a great prospect here then under Gordon but then he matured and his football got better. Broony is a top player and if John should look at anyone then he could look at him as a good example of where he can get to.
‘I think Jason Cummings will definitely play at a higher level, Dylan (McGeouch) has potential and Darren McGregor, although he had some injury problems, looked a very good prospect at St Mirren.
‘Paul Hanlon can play in the Premiership. He is certainly a player I would like to speak to. He’s a stalwart at the club, a very good player and I’d like to keep him here. I hope I can attract a good standard of player here, too.’
LENNON’S homework sessions are already underway, poring over footage of last season where a mini slump in mid-season cost Hibs valuable Championship momentum. Hearts and Rangers have set a ferocious pace to claim automatic promotion in the past two campaigns and it is a similar impact Lennon hopes to see Hibs make en route back to the top flight. Hearts were crowned champions after 29 games and only one defeat. ‘Hearts, when they went up a couple of seasons ago, were really convincing,’ he said. ‘That’s a really good template to look at. We’ve been discussing what they did and how they went about it. They recruited well, had a settled team and won the league convincingly in the end.
‘It was seamless and that’s what we’re going to try to do here. They did it without a lot of fuss. If we can do that we’ll build from there. But we’ve got 36 games to go first. It’s important we make a good start to the season.
‘We went through the squad on Wednesday night with my head of recruitment. We’ll go through DVDs of games lost, in particular, to see what we can do better.
‘From what I can gather, we have the majority of possession in games at home. We dominate teams and need to see how we can break them down.
‘Away from home, we can probably improve a bit. There was a spell around the turn of the year without a win that cost us in the long run. There will be ups and downs but it’s about how we deal with the negativity or losses. That’s down to me getting the mentality right.’
Hearts’ promotion was almost seamless and that is what we will try to do here