Lennon shows he’s still so nifty at 50
I cannot believe the attention that all this has stirred up
IT WAS the morning after the night before but Danny Lennon insisted he wasn’t feeling any ill-effects following his shock debut for Clyde — at the tender age of 50.
Pictures of the Bully Wee manager running out on to the Broadwood pitch to take on Celtic’s Colts had gone viral on social media following his side’s 3-1 victory in the Glasgow Cup on Tuesday evening.
And while it may just have been a 14-minute cameo for the former Raith Rovers midfielder, who once scored against Bayern Munich in a European tie, his first competitive appearance for 11 years certainly caught the public’s attention.
Clyde’s threadbare squad for the match had led to Lennon and 41-year-old goalkeeping coach Chris Fahey taking a place on the bench, with the boss then bringing himself on for Liam Allison in the second half.
‘There’s been a bit of madness and frenzy this morning,’ Lennon told Sportsmail. ‘I can’t believe the attention this has stirred up.
‘It was purely a last-resort thing
just in the way that the rules of the cup competition and the eligibility of players at our disposal worked.
‘We have got a few injuries and were really stretched, so we could only name two subs. The club managed to get myself registered as an amateur and tried to get Chris Fahey registered.
‘He ended up being on the bench as a trialist but he wasn’t required to play.
‘That’s how far we’re stretched at this moment in time. I was down as an amateur, which basically makes the minimum requirements for that cup competition.
‘The rigmarole with trying to bring in younger players that are connected with the club through the Under-21s and 19s is that they’re all in these youth programmes, so they’re not even amateurs. ‘You’ve got to de-register them, then register them as amateurs, then de-register them as amateurs and register again. ‘It was just too much hassle in such a short space of time.’ When Allison suffered a dead leg 14 minutes from time, Lennon found himself up against highly-rated Parkhead youngsters Armstrong Oko-Flex and Jack Aitchison — both over 30 years younger than him — but it did not stop his side seeing their victory over the line. And Lennon insisted the experience had no negative effects. ‘I’m feeling grand,’ he said. ‘I keep myself really fit for my age. ‘I go to the gym every day. It was going to take something like that to happen to young Liam for me to have to go on. ‘I was just delighted when I saw the clock go by the 25-minute mark of the second half. I said: “I can certainly last that”.
‘I did enjoy it, though, and it was good in several ways.
‘Sometimes, I think my team is a little bit quiet
‘But when I was actually in the match, individuals were speaking more than I can hear from the sidelines, which was a real positive.
‘To play against such an energetic side and young boys with good quality like Celtic was a fantastic test for my group to do the ugly side of the game well.
‘When you’re about to cross that white line ready to come on, the adrenaline gets going and the butterflies are still there.
‘It’s great that you never lose that. I used to have it every game as a player.
‘There is no doubt this experience is going to help me on the sidelines this season. We’ve made a significant jump up in leagues and the players are still finding their feet.
‘They’re learning every single week with that.
‘How we’ve got to take that on is continue to, like against Celtic, do the ugly side of the game well.
‘Being difficult to beat, difficult to expose and giving ourselves a platform to build on to try and pick up points and win games.’
And if needs must again, will Lennon be happy to get the boots back on in the future?
‘I am hoping that is just a one-off,’ he said.
‘Hopefully, come the next cup game, we’ll be in a healthier position.
‘If I’m not having to use myself, it means I’ve got a healthy group of players getting back to full fitness.’