Neil Lennon has spoken out for the first time since Brendan Rodgers walked back through the famous doors at Celtic Park today. The Irishman’s fellow countryman has been, like himself, somewhat persona non grata amongst sections of the Celtic support following Brendan’s departure from Glasgow back in February of 2019.

A shock to the system for Neil Lennon too, it caught the Lurgan man somewhat by surprise, but he is still in no doubts as to the quality of manager that the Celtic hierarchy have landed yet again.

Speaking to talkSPORT earlier on today, the Treble-winning former Celtic boss said: “First, I was bit surprised, just with the way Brendan left the last time for Leicester. What the board do is they try and go out and get the best candidate for the job. Brendan ticks all the boxes, he’s a fantastic manager. He’s been there before and had fantastic results the last time.

“I think, from his point of view, Champions League was a big lure for him. They have already qualified for the Champions League. He will really want to get his teeth into that. He will endeavour to win the league and endeavour to further Celtic’s reputation in Europe.

27 May 2017 Hampden Park Scottish Cup Final 2017 Celtic v Aberdeen. Celtic win the 2017 Scottish Cup – Manager Brendan Rodgers lifts the trophy

“With the quality of teams and quality of managers he will come up against, he will relish it. He will be, initially, you can’t get way from that, it was quite acrimonious with the fans in the way he left. The Celtic fans are so emotional and just love the club and don’t understand why anybody would want to leave. So it was a tough time for everybody around the club.”

Neil Lennon added: “It will be important for him to recruit well. If he is going to make inroads into the Champions League then they have to get some quality in there and will probably be one of the major talking points he had with the board over the last few weeks.

“He did great things at Leicester in the first seasons he was there. Almost got into the Champions League twice, won the FA Cup. I think he was put in a difficult position because they didn’t invest in his last season there.

“He is his own man and he will have his own ideas of what he wants to do. He will have great belief in himself and how he wants to go about his job. How it might look from the outside looking in, to other people, it might look a step back but, for me, Celtic is a huge club and managing in the Champions League, you don’t get that at too many clubs and he will relish that environment.”

The man who both played for and managed the Hoops also insisted that Michael Beale and theRangers will still have it all to do next season to get near the Scottish Premiership Champions and Treble winners. He explained: “Well, (the)Rangers finished the season pretty well.

“The only problem Michael had was he couldn’t get one over Celtic win it really mattered. They finished the season with 92 points. There is a rebuild there with Morelos, Kent and McGregor gone, big personalities around the club.

Michael Beale, Manager of Rangers, reacts during the Scottish Cup Semi Final match between Rangers and Celtic at Hampden Park on April 30, 2023.. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“Michael will want to put his stamp on the squad. Cantwell finished the season well. I think Kieran Dowell is a good signing, Butland will improve the goalkeeping department. He’s still got a massive challenge on his hands.

“With the fact Brendan, an elite manager manager is going in there, and Celtic being dominant over the last couple of seasons, it’s a huge challenge for Michael and theRangers team but I am sure one they will be looking forward to,” Neil Lennon said.

Paul Gillespie

READ THIS…You traded mediocrity for immortality – Never a fraud, always a Celt

HUGE SAVINGS IN THE CELTIC STAR’S SUMMER SALE!

The Celtic Star’s book promotion has been so successful, with hundreds of books at great prices being posted to Celtic fans all over the world, that we’ve decided to continue with the sale until the end of July. We’ve reduced all six books currently available from their usual retail price of £20 and prices are as low as £6 (see below).

All books are high quality hardback, with some signed by the author. And it’s also worth noting that you only pay postage on one book, so it’s free for the second, third and so on. ORDER HERE or click on The Celtic Star image above…this is how it feels to be Celtic!