Lennon admits the Cup heroes have made Easter Road life easier
NEIL LENNON believes that inheriting a dressing room full of ‘legends’ has made for a smooth introduction to life as Hibernian manager.
The Northern Irishman has enjoyed a perfect start to life in the Championship and admits the team is feeding off the feelgood factor surrounding the club since May’s Scottish Cup Final victory over Rangers.
Blips have materialised in early exits from both the Europa League and the Betfred Cup, but the overriding goal is promotion and the supporters are responding to their team.
‘The supporters have had to endure that long wait for the cup and the banter that goes with it,’ said Lennon. ‘Now that hoodoo has been lifted.
‘It’s created a good feeling among the players — all of a sudden they have become legends at the club for what they achieved in May.
‘It gives them that wee bit of gravitas and you can see they are carrying that very well. They are quite bullish and I think it’s important they capitalise on that and maximise our opportunities this season.
‘I know it will change with one or two bad results. But it’s important we try and maintain the start we have made.’
Lennon was in charge of Celtic when Hibs made their previous Scottish Cup Final appearance in 2013 but, although he was aware of the pressure on Pat Fenlon and his players as they By Graeme Croser sought to end the pursuit of the old trophy, he concedes the true scale of that search was only revealed to him since he joined the Leith club. ‘Winning the cup was massive for the support,’ he continued. ‘I knew it was important to them but maybe not to the full extent. ‘Even in my time as a player and manager we played Hibs a couple of times in cup finals and you didn’t want to be in the team that succumbed to that or the manager responsible. ‘The depth of feeling — they are still talking about it now and will do for a long time to come. ‘Just speaking to supporters you realise how much it meant to them. Probably more so than winning the Championship.’ Lennon’s move to Hibs has seen him reunited with a couple of familiar faces. Neither Dylan McGeouch nor James Keatings managed to establish themselves at Parkhead but both are now key players for the manager. ‘If Dylan is honest with himself, he’d admit he probably didn’t show enough at Celtic,’ expands Lennon. ‘He’s come here and is now a very important player. He’s had his injury problems, we are trying to get to the bottom of that, when he plays well he makes us a better team. ‘At Celtic we tried to blood him as a fringe player and it didn’t materialise for him. Keatings went through the same thing. ‘Sometimes you have to go away and try again.’
I knew winning the trophy was important, just not to what extent