I’d love to see 10 stoppers versus record chasers
The walls of the Lurgan Celtic Supporters Club base were adorned with photos of the legendary Lisbon Lions boss and other favourite figures in the club’s history.
It was there that a 10- year- old Lennon would meet his Lurgan Celtic Boys Club team-mates and wait for the mini-bus to go to away fixtures.
Little could the Irishman have known then that, four decades later, he would be immortalised like Stein after following him in leading Celtic to nine consecutive titles.
Another who shared Lennon’s Parkhead dream at that time was lifelong friend and former team-mate Gerry Taggart.
Spotted at Northern Ireland’s prestigious Milk Cup youth tournament, they were first picked up by Manchester City and later reunited at Leicester City where they became Wembley winners as wel l as being international team-mates.
And back in those early days growing up in County Armagh, the close pals’ weekends would be split between soccer and Gaelic football where, according to Taggart, Lennon was even more promising.
Taggart toasted the historic success of his friend after the SPFL took the decision to call the Premiership last week and award Celtic a ninth straight title.
And as the 49-year-old took a trip down memory lane for MailSport he said: “I’d meet Neil outside the Lurgan Celtic Supporters Club where the Boys Club was based.
“We’d go up into the bar area and there would be all these photos of Jock Stein, the Lisbon Lions and other legends such as Danny McGrain.
“A mini-bus would come and pick us up to take us to our game but, while we were sitting there waiting, we’d look at all those iconic photographs.
“We both dreamed of playing for Celtic back then and we travelled to Glasgow on a few occasions to play their teams – and we used to thrash them!
“It’s surreal to think that Neil is now up there in terms of matching Jock’s achievement of nine-in- a-row and I couldn’t be happier for him.
“It has been a lifelong friendship as we’ve known each other since we were 10 when we played for Lurgan Celtic. “At that time we also played Gaelic football for Clan na Gael on a Sunday. “Neil was a winger in those days and a half forward in Gaelic football, which is a similar position, and I was a midfielder in both.
“He was an unbelievable Gaelic player – I mean frightening. I always say he was better at that than he was at soccer.
“He was a very understated footballer but his reading of the game, knowledge of the game and positional sense were unbelievable. So many people played a huge part in our careers back then.
“There was a guy called Dessie ‘ Bunker’ McGuinness who was a legend in boys football. He would go round all the schools scouting and that’s how I was spotted.
“I moved on from Lurgan Celtic and at Under-14 level we were playing on opposite teams in the Milk Cup where we were both spotted by a Manchester City scout.
“We were meant to be in the same digs but he also had an offer from Motherwell and went there for two months before joining City so we were split up.
“And we were separated when we left City – he went to Crewe and I joined Barnsley before moving to Bolton. But we were reunited at Leicester City and also played for Northern Ireland throughout that period.
“We had a couple of years at Filbert Street before Neil followed Martin O’Neill to Celtic.
“When Martin moved there we were both hoping and praying we would go too but it didn’t happen at that time and we both signed new contracts at Leicester.
“Neil didn’t get on with the new manager Peter Taylor but I was playing the best football of my career.
“I had a call from Martin because he wanted to take me as well but I felt pretty settled so I gave up the ghost.
“But it became evident Neil ddidn’t want to play for Peter and eeventually he moved.”
Lennon’s appointment as BBrendan Rodgers’ successor wwasn’t met with universal aapproval by the Hoops support bbut Taggart says his success sstuck two fingers up to his critics.
He believes his pal has been uundervalued as a boss, having bbeen allowed to leave Parkhead ttoo easily first time around before f ighting fires at basket- case BBolton then his bizarre departure frfrom Hibs over an alleged bust-up aafter brilliant success in Leith.
Taggart said: “He’s had a bit of a rough time as a manager – and evene an unfair time.
“Even at Hibs it all seemed a bit unfair the way Neil left.
“But it just proves if you give someone like him a chance then he’ll come good.
“I’m glad he has proved everyone wrong and it’s two fingers up to Hibs and Bolton.
“And in a sense it’s two fingers up to Celtic for letting him go in the first place and to the section of fans who didn’t want him back.
“People in football have short memories and they forgot he got them to the last-16 of the Champions League in his first spell as Celtic manager.
“When Rodgers left for Leicester there was a bit of a cloud hanging over Celtic but they made a smart move bringing back Lenny – he steadied the ship.
“I’m not surprised at Lenny’s success – I’ve seen that fire in his belly when we first started playing together.
“Neil has always been a fiery little redhead, which has got him to where he is now, but he’s a very clever guy.
“He’s not your typical footballer who might be great on the pitch but, academically speaking, can be left wanting.
“He’s a clever guy and when you couple that with his winning mentality then things are going to happen.”
Paul Lambert came from a Rangers family but the Scotland midfielder was thrilled when he stopped the Light Blues making it 10 in a row in 1997/98.
He had starred as Borussia Dortmund outplayed Juventus in the Champions League final but with Lambert and his wife homesick for the UK, he jumped at the chance to join Celtic less than six months later.
The pressure to stop their arch-rivals from breaking Jock Stein’s record was intense but they got there in the end.
Now Lambert’s hoping the Hoops will set up Celtic’s greatest charity match with a 10th successive title.
He said: “The SPFL did the right thing by calling the Premiership season and naming Celtic as champions this week.
“It was absolutely the right thing not to render it null and void.
“I’m sure the Celtic lads would have preferred to have completed the last eight games and won the title on the pitch. Everyone knows it would have been only a matter of time before they did.
“What I’d love to see happen next year – assuming that Celtic retain the title – is a game between the team which won 10 in a row and the side which stopped Rangers doing it.
“The proceeds could go to charity and you’d raise a record amount if that could be organised.
“Can you imagine how many people would go to that? You’d need to build another Parkhead to accommodate the demand!”
Even now, 22 years later, Lambert believes that the first Celtic team he played in didn’t get enough credit for halting Rangers’ tilt at
10, with the focus at the time on how Gers had thrown it away. He said: “I’ve always said that the hardest title to win was in 1997/98.
“That was entirely down to the amount of pressure we were under and Rangers’ players will be feeling the same way now. Are they good enough to stop Celtic?
I’m not so sure.
“To be champions in 1998 was an unbelievable achievement, right up there with getting to the UEFA Cup Final in Seville five years later.
“We had a new manager in Wim Jansen, who’d never worked in Scottish football before and he had to build a new team from scratch.”
Celtic had a lot of rebuilding to do after losing the Three Amigos – Paolo Di Canio, Pierre van Hooijdonk and
Jorge Cadete.
Dutch gaffer Jansen brought in NINE new faces after taking over from Tommy Burns in the summer of ’97.
And they all played their part in winning the club’s first championship since their centenary season in 1988.
Jansen’s first signing was Darren Jackson, who arrived from Hibs, and he was followed by the likes of Lambert and the incomparable Henrik Larsson.
Lambert added: “They were a really top side and it wasn’t until Martin O’Neill came in 2000 that we were as good as they had been.
“We ruled the roost between 2000-05 and we were the best team in Scotland by a mile, even in the two years Rangers won the league on the last day.
“In fact, we were the only Celtic team outside the Lisbon Lions era to reach a European final, which isn’t bad.”