Brendan Rodgers has brought a “calmness and fluidity” to Celtic which will bring even more success to Paradise, according to former boss Neil Lennon…
Lennon believes a full summer under Rodgers has seen the side hit the ground running and if they can hold on to midfielder Matt O’Riley they will be in fine shape for the domestic and European campaign. He chats to ex-Hoops striker Frank McAvennie on the latest episode of the Let Me Be Frank podcast which is out now.
The Northern Irishman is now living and working in Romania as boss of Rapid Bucharest. The podcast was recorded last Friday, hours before the sad passing of his mother, Ursula. On the show, Lennon talks about life in Romania and gives his verdict on Brendan Rodgers’ second spell in the Parkhead dugout.
He gives his thoughts on the Matt O’Riley and Adam Idah transfers sagas, while also looking back on his own career at Celtic and reveals whether he’d ever consider becoming Scotland manager in the future. And he addresses being bizarrely accused of urinating near the training pitch in Bucharest.
On Rodgers and his Celtic return, Lennon said: “In the end I thought he did a great job and he had to go through a really difficult period and I thought he handled all the negativity around it brilliantly. I thought Celtic finished the season playing really well, playing some great football.
“He can now build on that. It’s always difficult when a manager like Ange who was really successful left and there was a huge hole to fill there, but Brendan’s an elite manager.
“Obviously with the way he left in the first place, acrimoniously, there was a lot of raised eyebrows but I think he’s loving it now. And with the whole summer of him being in control of things there will be a lot more calmness about the place and less stress regarding signings and stuff like that as well.
“Having that continuity and the players now know the way Brendan works when probably a lot of them didn’t know that when he first came back in. There was all this talk about his changing the style of play and all that rubbish, it just took a bit of time for him to get used to the players and vice versa.
“When they won the league at Kilmarnock the football was spectacular on a really poor pitch. You can just see there’s a fluidity about them now.”
However he believes important decisions need to be made before the summer transfer window closes and holding on to influential players like Matt O’Riley is vital.
Neil Lennon said: “It’s going to be difficult to hold on to O’Riley off the back of the season he had and the interest that was there for him in January and there’s definitely suiters for him again this summer.
“Business dictates and we don’t know what the kid’s ambitions are and there was interest in him in January from Atletico Madrid but you look at him pre-season and nothing seems to be affecting him. He got a couple of goals in America in a couple of great results for Celtic.
“The beauty of this summer is that Brendan is in from the start and there’s continuity off the back of a really good finish to last season so I’m hoping the club start the season really well this year. If the club hold on to him they have done brilliantly. Brendan will be working away in the background.
“I thought he had a stellar season last year, brilliant, even some of the assists he created in the Champions League, he showed his quality at that level. I was really disappointed for him that he wasn’t picked for the Euros. That beggared belief for me.
“So if we hold on to him that will be a massive bonus because he’s got goals in him.”
Let Me Be Frank is co-hosted by journalist Simon Houston.
Watch or listen to the latest episode of Let Me Be Frank, which is out now on YouTube, Apple and Spotify where Neil Lennon talks about life in Romania, Celtic’s season ahead and whether he’d take the Scotland job…
Apple Podcasts – https://shorturl.at/3EOPV
Spotify – https://shorturl.at/5WDB0
YouTube – https://shorturl.at/m7frL
