It was fate .. I turned into petrol station & saw future through Clyde Windows
SAYS DANNY LENNON
Danny Lennon had only turned on to the Whitburn back road because his petrol warning light was down to one bar.
But he’s convinced it was a moment of fate.
As he pulled into the Shell garage to fill up, the big white lorry in front of him was surely a sign.
The red writing on the back screamed out: CLYDE Windows. And seconds after paying for his fuel, he got the call he’d been waiting on.
It was from Broadwood chairman Norrie Innes, offering him the manager’s job.
For anyone who knows Danny Lennon, it’s a classic Danny Lennon story.
But the moral is that you just can’t keep the 48-year-old down. He’s one of football’s eternal optimists.
Remember, this was a guy who lifted the Scottish League Cup for St Mirren at Hampden in 2013.
Yet here he is, at home with his laptop. Devising a plan to counter a 4-1- 4-1 system – for one of Bathgate’s local amateur sides.
After his success at Saints, Lennon admits he developed an ego. But two years after his last proper stint as a gaffer at Alloa, it’s now been ditched.
Up against a host of out-of-work managers, he’d already lost out on gigs at Inverness Caley Thistle, Falkirk and Scotland Under-21s.
So he’s ready to get his hands dirty again, back where he started as a part-timer in League Two with the Bully Wee. And he couldn’t be happier. Lennon endured a traumatic time after his St Mirren exit, with son Keilan seriously ill in hospital.
Now, with his family and football life sorted, he’s ready to climb the managerial ladder again.
He told Mail Sport: “Recently, I spoke with a friend of mine, Gary Gilfillan, and a sports psychologist who I’ve used in the past, Stevie Turnbull.
“They made me think about taking a step back to go two forward. Going back down the parttime route, which is where I started as a coach at Cowdenbeath.
“Stevie is brilliant. He had a chat with me and used Jim Duffy as a prime example of a top manager who has built himself back up in the lower leagues.
“You think football clubs owe you a turn. But the reality is they owe you nothing.
“At Cowdenbeath, I was a raw coach with so much enthusiasm.
“After being out of the game so long, I had to realise that I was still that manager with all the enthusiasm – but with 10 years’ experience alongside it.
“That’s why the Clyde job caught my eye. They’ve been in the bottom tier far too long. I think they need me and I need them.
“You do lose a bit of confidence when the phone doesn’t ring. You start to doubt yourself.
“So the biggest thing was to feel wanted again.
“As I pulled in to that petrol station on the Whitburn road that
It took time to get rid of my ego. You think the next big job is around the corner
day, the big lorry read Clyde Windows. “Moments later Norrie called to offer me the job. It must have been a sign, it was incredible. “Maybe it’s fate?” Lennon knows he can’t dwell on his achievements at St Mirren between 2010 and 2014. It wasn’t just the League Cup triumph or taking the Buddies to their highest top-flight finish in a generation. The development of youngsters like Kenny McLean, John McGinn – and even £10million Premier League ace Aaron Mooy – satisfies him even more. But it’s gone now, and Lennon has to look to the future.
He said: “I’m a quick healer. Of course, I was disappointed at how it ended at St Mirren.
“But maybe as time goes on, our achievements there look even better.
“The top managers enjoy a bit of success and move on to the next one.
“But after the League Cup win at St Mirren, it was tough for the players to do that. They weren’t used to success and maybe didn’t know how to handle it.
“They achieved something they probably thought they couldn’t.
“But over the piece, I have no regrets about that time. The players were brilliant for me.
“When I got the job at Clyde, the letters I received from St Mirren fans with their best wishes were overwhelming. “I got more letters from Saints supporters than from Clyde fans. “You miss it when you’re out. “And when you’ve had a bit of success, especially when you’ve punched above your weight in terms of budgets, you have a bit of an ego.
“It took me a bit of time to get rid of that. You think the next big job is around the corner. You expect the phone to ring and you’re going to be the man. But there are so many managers out there now scrapping for the same jobs. And the calls never came.”
Aside from a temporary, sevengame gig at Airdrie when ex-gaffer Eddie Wolecki- Black took ill, Lennon’s last job was at Alloa where he rescued them from relegation.
Initially, it was difficult for Lennon to accept going back in at that level.
But by the end of it, he did something that won’t catch on in manager ial circles. He quit a job purely on the basis that he felt it was the right thing to do.
Lennon said: “Before Alloa it was difficult not being involved in the game. It was hard looking in from the outside, seeing everyone that you used to rub shoulders with.
“But probably for the first time in my career my family were the priority. That’s what football does to you – it takes over.
“You always think they’re the priority. But it’s only once you’re on the other side that you realise they’re waiting for you.
“They see the real you and pick you up when you’re down. That’s one of the biggest things I learned.
“But I went to Alloa because of Mike Mulraney – it’s that simple, he’s a fantastic chairman.
“It was tough after what I’d achieved in the top f light. No disrespect to Alloa or that level – but I thought I was better than that.
“If I was going to be in the Championship, I thought my record stacked up to suggest I should be at a full-time club.
“But I’m a humble guy and saw it as a challenge.
“They were on the brink of relegation but we put a run together and reached the play-off finals.
“But the following season was the first time I’d ever came unstuck.
“We had very few resources and our best players were cherry-picked. Our squad was torn apart.
“I did everything I could – but I was stuck. I had too much respect for Mike to hang around.
“I held my hands up to show other chairman that I wasn’t the type to dig my heels in just for the money.
“I was willing to admit that it was going wrong.
“It’s difficult to explain to your wife that you’re coming out of a job just because you feel it’s the right thing to do.
“But I’m a man of integrity and probably too honest at times.”
Now, after knocking back a sunshine lifestyle in Tenerife working at a pal’s football academy, Lennon is in Cumbernauld.
And along with long-time friend Allan Moore, he believes they can get them out of the bottom tier.
He said: “I did a few club studies at Malaga and Tenerife. Then I had a week in Gibraltar with the national team coach Jeff Wood.
“My friend has an academy Soccer Experience in Tenerife so I helped with that and the lifestyle was good.
“I loved coaching the kids but they were at all different levels.
“There was an offer on the table that wasn’t life-changing money but very tempting.
“We actually cut trip short in the summer to fly back for an interview at Inverness.
“I thought it went really well but I didn’t get it. That was another kick in the teeth.
“So hopefully Clyde can be a starting point to getting back to a higher level.
“It’s a difficult job in part-time football. You’re trying to do a week’s work in four hours.
“But I still have my ambition and drive. The club have great foundations and I want to build a team again.
“And if the players respond we can get into the play-off positions. That has to be the aim.”