WE ARE ALL NEIL LENNON
FROM BACK PAGE treble Treble. The skipper admits he was stunned at the manager’s shock departure for Leicester with the Hoops campaign in the home straight. Celtic fans are furious but Brown won’t bear a grudge.
The champions took a huge step towards eight titles in a row with last night’s last-gasp 2-1 win over Hearts at Tynecastle.
Brown said: “It’s always going to be a shock when a manager leaves a club. But we need to just continue what we’re doing.
“He has left us in a great situation. We’ve won seven trophies out of seven since he came in and now we need to make sure we keep going on for him as well.
“There’s always going to be a lot of stick but for me he was brilliant on a personal level and that’s what really counts. The fans were unbelievable today, singing for 90 minutes. Whether it’s Lenny or whether it was Brendan, they’re always following us.
“It’s never going to be a great time to have a manager leaving but he’s left us in a great place.
“I spoke to Brendan. I wished him all the best. He’s been unbelievable for me. I was written off this season, the season before, the season before, the season before – I just keep coming back.
“He realised I still had a couple of years left in my legs and he put a lot of faith and trust in me.
“It’s been very hard losing a top-quality manager. But it’s a top-quality manager who has come in.
“Brendan has been fantastic for this club. The club wasn’t in a great place two-and-a-half years ago. We were winning the league but look at the football we were playing.
“Brendan re-energised the whole club. He took us into the Champions League these last few years as well.
“But we have another great manager coming in who will build on what
Brendan has done and hopefully keep it going to the end of the season.”
Lennon spent just one hour with the squad before last night’s dramatic win and Brown was not surprised the man who started the run of seven titles in a row made such an immediate impact.
He said: “The gaffer is very positive. He just wants us to continue and keep doing all the things we’re doing.
“The gaffer is always positive, especially in the team-talks before the game. He’s won trophies here and that’s why we brought him back in.
“It’s similar to what Brendan did and it’s great because he’s come in and realised we’ve been champions for the last seven years and he wants to maintain that this year.”
Odsonne Edouard’s stoppage-time winner maintained Celtic’s eight-point lead at the top and Brown admitted the victory was massive in the difficult circumstances.
He said: “It’s huge. It’s a great win. We kept fighting and it was down to that never-say-die attitude. We keep going and we got a late winner yet again.”
Hearts bravely battled back from a goal down and Jamie Brandon’s firsthalf red card and looked set to snatch a point.
Jambos boss Craig Levein said: “It can be a cruel game at times. To lose it when I felt we had coped with just about everything Celtic threw at us was difficult to take.
“Give some credit to Celtic, they kept going right to the end and managed to nick the win.
“If we do all the things we did tonight on a weekly basis we will get our rewards.”