We’ve made McGeouch a great offer to stay at Hibs
SAYS NEIL LENNON
NEIL LENNON remains hopeful that Dylan McGeouch will now remain at Easter Road — with the Hibs manager seeing a ‘chink of light’ in ongoing contract negotiations.
Presently on route to Peru with Scotland, the 25-year-old was widely thought to have played his last game for the Edinburgh club against Rangers 11 days ago amid strong interest from Blackburn Rovers and Premiership rivals Aberdeen.
Lennon, however, has not yet given up hope that the midfielder could sign a new deal to remain in Leith as he approaches his peak playing days.
‘It’s an interesting one with Dylan because it’s not done yet. We are still in there fighting for that,’ said the Easter Road boss.
‘We’ve a small chink of light. The way he was after his last game we more or less felt that may be it, but there’s still some movement there.
‘The club have made him what we feel is a very good offer.’
Even if McGeouch (below) can be persuaded to stay, Lennon still faces a major rebuilding job this summer with Florian Kamberi, Jamie Maclaren and Scott Allan due to return to their parent clubs and John McGinn the subject of ongoing speculation.
‘We’re in negotiations with a number of the players on loan,’ said the Northern Irishman.
‘They’re ongoing and we’re hoping to get a positive outcome from one or two of those.’
Confirming that a proposal had been made to Swiss side Grasshopper to take Kamberi on a permanent basis, Lennon said: ‘We’ve made a pitch for him.
‘We have an option that expires on June 14 but I’m pretty sure we’ll have a response before then.
‘I can’t tell you too much about the Maclaren situation, but in terms of Flo we’re in active talks on a daily basis with his representatives.
‘Most teams would like to have Scott Allan in their side but, again, that is for further on down the line.’
Two weeks ago, Lennon admitted he was considering his future at the Leith club — a statement that was perceived to be rooted in a lack of backing at boardroom level. Since the end of the season, though, successive strategic planning meetings have changed his outlook and convinced him that everyone at Easter Road is now on the same page. ‘I’ve met the board and it was all positive,’ he said. ‘I had a four-hour meeting with my scouting staff which was very positive, too, so there is a lot of work being done in the background at the minute. ‘It was interesting, so if we can’t get some deals done with current players — then we’ve got a few decent ones lined up. ‘The meeting was quite lengthy and I should give more credit to my scouting department who have done a very good job, as they did in January. ‘They’ve been working away all season on getting things ready for the summer. Whether we lose players or not — and we’ve lost players before — I don’t think it’s a major rebuilding job.’ A fourth-place finish in the Premiership, combined with Celtic’s victory over Motherwell in the Scottish Cup final, means Lennon has the added carrot of European football to dangle in front of prospective signings. ‘We’ve earned the right to have a crack at it and it’s an exciting aspect of the season ahead,’ he said. ‘It gets the fans’ juices going already despite the season having just finished.
‘But it’s also an added dimension for the players.
‘We got knocked out by Brondby last season (2016) but it was very early days in my reign and I felt if the tie was two or three weeks later we could have come through it.
‘It surprised me and I felt after that tie we had a decent team.
‘To go to Brondby and win but unfortunately lose on penalty kicks was a respectable result.
‘It’s difficult because you’re back (playing) so early and you could get a team who are midway through the season — and I’ve had that with Celtic — but we’re in it to try and qualify.’
Meanwhile, Lennon could start the new Ladbrokes Premiership campaign sitting in the stand.
He is due to face a misconduct charge on June 21 after running on to the pitch to celebrate Maclaren’s last-gasp equaliser in a breathless 5-5 draw with Rangers on the final day of the campaign.
The former Celtic boss already has a suspended two-game ban hanging over him following a bust-up with referee Kevin Clancy at Rugby Park but he hopes disciplinary chiefs go easy on him.
‘There was no malice or harm in it,’ he said.
‘It was the last kick of the game that finished off an amazing game and an amazing season for us, so it was a little bit of over-exuberance and a little bit of fun.’
Neil Lennon was speaking at the SPFL Trust’s annual golf day at The Carrick. All proceeds raised will go towards mental health first-aid training in Scottish football in partnership with the Chris Mitchell foundation.