Lennon looks to follow in footsteps of legend Clough
NEIL LENNON hopes he’s taking a leaf out of Brian Clough’s book by becoming Hibs manager.
There was some surprise that the Irishman was prepared to take a job in the Championship.
It’s very rare for a former Old Firm manager to take charge of another Scottish side, especially one outside of the top flight.
But a difficult spell at Bolton Wanderers left Lennon with limited options – though he did turn down lucrative options in Saudi Arabia and China to return to Scotland.
The 44- year- old looks at the way others have taken a step backwards before having tremendous success.
In justifying his decision to move to Easter Road, Lennon can point to men who won major European trophies.
He said: “I was looking at Brian Clough’s career. He had 44 days at Leeds United, the champions of England, and then he left to go to the First Division with Nottingham Forest.
“Rafa Benitez was managing Real Madrid at the start of the season, now he is in the English Championship.
“Eddie Howe left Burnley to go to Bournemouth. He hasn’t done too badly.
“You just don’t know where your career will take you next.
“I consider Hibs as one of the top five clubs in Scotland. I wouldn’t have gone below that. There are Premiership clubs who aren’t as big as Hibs and that wouldn’t have appealed to me.”
Lennon hopes his own reputation
–winning three consecutive titles with Celtic and taking the club to the last 16 of the Champions League – will help lure players to Easter Road.
He said: “I hope I can attract a good standard of player here.
“I think the majority of players who worked under me at Celtic enjoyed it and what we achieved.
“I have worked with great managers – Martin O’Neill, Gordon Strachan, Dario Gradi. You bring all that to the table along with your own personality.
“I want the players to thrive in that environment.”
Life hasn’t always been easy for Lennon in Scotland, but it’s a place he now regards as home.
You would hope he won’t experience the unsavoury incidents that plagued him during his years at Celtic. There were death threats, attacks in the street and an attack by a fan at Tynecastle.
Will he be able to concentrate on purely football now?
“I don’t know – that’s the honest answer,” he said. “I had four great years as manager at Celtic. It was a rollercoaster, chaotic, exciting, intense.
“You want the intensity, otherwise it becomes just another job. There’s an excitement and a feel-good factor here, but also a pressure.
“I’m used to that before so I’m looking forward to that challenge again.”
The task of getting Hibs back to the top flight has proved to be a tricky one, and Alan Stubbs failed in two attempts before departing for Rotherham United.
Lennon will take inspiration from his new club’s greatest rivals in trying to assemble a promotion-winning side.
“Hearts, when they went up at the start of the season, were really convincing. That’s a really good template to look at,” he said.
“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 and 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. It’s going to be tough – and at times it won’t be pretty.”
For that journey, it appears Lennon could have Liam Henderson on board.
It’s understood the midfielder, who was on loan at Hibs from Celtic this season, has been advised by Brendan Rodgers that he’s unlikely to see firstteam action with him next term, so he may stay on loan at Easter Road.