NOTHING SWEETER THAN SILENCING ALL THE DOUBTERS
Silencing the doubters makes latest title joy that extra bit sweeter in the eyes of Lennon
IF Neil Lennon was needled by the negativity which greeted his permanent appointment as Celtic manager 12 months ago, he did not show it. He certainly could not have missed it. Many of the doubters and detractors among the wider Celtic support were fairly vocal in expressing views varying from downbeat to displeasure.
Several were quite vicious in their scepticism, such is the modern, online way. To them, the all-embracing ‘We Are All Neil Lennon’ mantra from his first spell in charge was conveniently forgotten.
After dining out on the dominance established by the slick Brendan Rodgers regime, swathes of Celtic fans supposed that blue-chip bosses Rafa Benitez and Roberto Martinez may be within their compass.
Or that hot tickets Michael O’Neill or Steve Clarke were preferable to what was perceived to be a cheaper option. There was also the inevitable, brief, spike in hype over crowdpleaser Henrik Larsson returning. Generally, there were lukewarm
responses from a divided support between a champagnedrenched Lennon learning in the Hampden dressing room from the Celtic suits that he’d got the gig and he and Peter Lawwell being parked together in the Jock Stein Lounge for his unveiling a week later.
Much of the sniping at Lennon’s credentials was unfair, misguided and altogether ignorant to the leaps and growth made by their former midfielder as a manager and personality in the period spent away from Celtic Park.
Cute enough to adopt his ‘walkingon-eggshells’ policy to nurse rather than nag a Rodgers squad towards the title and Scottish Cup in the interim period, there was already an obvious sign of managerial maturity.
Lennon was calm in the face of the pessimists and cynics, too. Two more trophies and an historic Europa League group campaign later, he is now able to acknowledge and address the reaction that greeted his permanent deal a year ago.
In doing so, he admits to using the scepticism as more of a stimulus than a setback for his outlook to improve on the work of his feted predecessor.
Lennon said: ‘Listen, you always have to prove yourself. Coming in off the back of what Brendan had achieved, by being perfect in terms of winning domestic trophies, was a huge undertaking when I came in as interim manager before we won the treble Treble.
‘Then, when I got the job on a permanent basis, there were a lot of naysayers and doubters at the time.
‘That was a good motivation for me to prove those people wrong. A year down the line, I think I have silenced them all, really, and I am quite comfortable and happy with the progress that we have made.
‘We did improve in terms of our performances on the pitch. And that isn’t a slight on Brendan in any way. It’s just looking at the stats from the season just finished to the one that came before.
‘That was something we looked at in the summer. I thought we could be more potent and more penetrating — and we have been. In Europe as well, obviously, our home record in the group was fantastic.
‘We actually lost only two games away from home in all competitions and that was to Livingston and Cluj. I think that is pretty impressive.
‘Without getting too carried away, I am really delighted with what we have produced over the last 18 months or so.’
The perfect fit was under their noses all along, with Lennon’s strength of character considered crucial as grander and more exotic names were forwarded to the hierarchy.
‘A man that can take the pressure’ was how Lawwell described Lennon after the comeback victory over Hearts at the national stadium on May 25.
Whatever stress was felt on Lennon’s shoulders in 2019/20, the 48-year-old harbours no concerns about carrying the potentially greater burden of achieving the unprecedented 10 in a row.
Lennon painted himself a changed man a year ago, admitting that his aggressive nature and penchant for picking fights with the world may have proved detrimental to his ability to do the job.
He has been true to his word so far and believes his improved temperament for the task will be tested by a reduced level of strain.
Lennon said: ‘For me, getting the ninth title was massive. So to get that over the line, the pressure has lessened a little bit for next season.
‘Whether it has increased for the players, psychologically we will have to wait and see. We won’t talk too much about the number and focus on what we’ve been doing for the last nine years — and that’s being consistent and winning the league.
‘Nine was a great season for us and we are really happy with how that went. We want to build on that and try to improve.
‘We want to make inroads in Europe as well, so that and the league are the priorities for us. There will be a lot of talk and anticipation going into the new season, so hopefully we can get back to playing soon.’
The target of 10 proved out of the reach of Scottish football legends Jock Stein in 1974-75 and Walter Smith in 1997/98. The rate at which Lennon is gathering mentions in the game’s annals should make the challenge of going into territory those greats did not conquer feel less daunting.
Lennon’s nine trophies and counting takes him clear of Billy McNeill to become the most decorated Celtic boss since Stein. Only McNeill, Lennon, Alex McLeish and Davie Hay have won all of Scottish football’s major honours as both player and manager.
Lennon is the first manager of a Scottish club to top a European club competition section in the group stage. They won four games, the highlight being a dramatic victory in Rome over Lazio as Lennon became the first Celtic boss to boast a European victory on Italian soil.
The potency and penetration he targeted were there to see while his own signings, Christopher Jullien — scorer of the last-minute goal at home to the Italians — and Fraser Forster were among the stand-outs.
‘Absolutely, I feel it is my team now,’ he stressed. ‘There is still some structure from Brendan’s time with the players’ routines and organisational things. We kept all that in place.
‘But we tweaked a few things in terms of our training sessions and with the way we wanted them
I am really delighted at what we have produced in the last 18 months
to play. We obviously then looked at things in January and changed the formation and that worked really well for us. ‘While people might deem it as a gamble, it was a calculated gamble and it worked out perfectly for us.’ That roll of the dice during the winter break resulted in the revitalisation of Leigh Griffiths in a front two with Odsonne Edouard.
Griffiths was on form, struck a hat-trick and promised more to follow at Ibrox the next weekend after Celtic’s 5-0 thrashing of St Mirren on March 7. However, Griffiths was stopped in his tracks along with the rest of British football when placed in a coronavirus cold storage and held ever since. So Lennon turned for his first football fix last Sunday, taking in the Bundesliga action as Cologne and Mainz played out a 2-2 draw.
He will continue to watch with interest in the knowledge that whenever Celtic do return to play competitive football, the attendances will match those in the German top tier.
‘I enjoyed watching the Bundesliga and I saw Cologne v Mainz, which was a really good game considering there were no fans,’ said Lennon. ‘It was good to see live football back.
‘But the main ingredient missing was the atmosphere. I felt players in all the games I watched over three days made it a good spectacle but the novelty might wear off.
‘It’s a bit surreal and it has a training game feel to it despite the fact they are important, competitive games.
‘I’m not sure how long that scenario would last before people demand the gates are open again for fans.
‘As for us, we’re taking it day by day, week by week. With all good intentions of getting back to some sort of normality.’