Head in Hands Neil Lennon, Three Nil Down at Rugby Park

It is ten years this week since Neil Lennon took his first steps into football management. Chances are Lennon was planning on doing just that, however he was thrown into a sink or swim situation when Tony Mowbray left his role as Celtic Manager following an embarrassing 4-0 thumping at the hands of St Mirren.

Whereby Lenny probably assumed he’d cut his teeth at a club of lesser stature and public profile, Neil Lennon, on an interim basis at first, found himself managing the biggest club in Scotland, one with a worldwide reputation and fan base and one in a bit of a state if the truth be told.

The rookie manager won his first game beating Kilmarnock 3-1, as we covered on The Celtic Star earlier this week. It was a club to become intrinsically lined to Neil Lennon’s Celtic journey. They were the opposition for that first game as well as the side Celtic defeated 6-0 to win Lennon’s first title, and sandwiched in between was Lennon’s sliding doors moment at Rugby Park.

On 15 October 2011, Celtic trailed Rangers by 10 points at the top of the league and First-half goals from Dean Shiels, Paul Heffernan and James Fowler had given the home side an emphatic half-time lead. Not since their championship-winning season of 1964-65, had the Ayrshire team beaten Celtic by more than two goals.

At half-time Celtic were boo-ed from the park and the pressure was on Lennon.

Speaking to the BBC’s Tom English, Lennon let it be known he puts his cards on the table in his half time team talk:

“That was a pivotal moment,” he said. “It’s a bit of a walk down to the tunnel and I was looking at our fans and I said to myself, ‘I’m not giving this up just yet’. The reality was that if we continued in the same vein I was going to get sacked. My personal pride and the pride I have in the club was hurting, so I got after the players a wee bit.

“I gave them an ultimatum, basically. I went in and said, ‘Look lads, see if you want me here on Monday, you have to turn this around because we’re embarrassing the club and the fans out there’.

Celtic fought back through two goals within three minutes from Anthony Stokes and a Charlie Mulgrew header with 10 minutes remaining. There was still time for a final scary moment when Killie’s Heffernan squandered a late chance for Kilmarnock to steal the points.

The level of spirit shown amid their recovery is worthy of note and an indicator that the Celtic players wanted their manager to succeed.

From a cup semi-final defeat against Ross County to winning Leagues, Cups and humbling Barcelona, Lennon’s first spell was a rollercoaster ride. Yet that Kilmarnock game was the moment that fortune favoured Neil Lennon and Celtic’s confidence grew alongside that of their manager.

Lennon pointed to the significance of that game when he said: “They got the draw and then won 17 games in a row and we won the league and we won it back at Kilmarnock, 6-0 on a gloriously sunny day.”

Ten years on and now in his second spell at the club Lennon – following stop-offs with Bolton Wanderers and Hibernian, Lennon was asked what he night say to his younger self if he could have a word in his ear. His comments make for interesting reading:

“I’d tell him that I admire his passion and his drive, but that he can’t do it all by himself. What I’ve learned is how to adapt to players rather than trying to get them to adapt to me. I’m far more rounded now than I was then. You just learn, don’t you?”

Neil Lennon faced a lot of pressure when he took on his first football job and that passion and drive carried him through a successful first spell with the club. This time around Lennon faced a different type of pressure, following in the footsteps of Brendan Rodgers a manager who had made Celtic Invincible.

If Lennon was concerned he didn’t show it. He more than steadied a ship charting troubled waters. Celtic won the league and Scottish Cup to seal a Treble Treble and were very much in line to make it a quadruple when Covid-19 put paid to the football calendar worldwide.

Lennon does appear to be more rounded now, 10 years of experience is bound to do that to you, but the drive and passion that attracts Celtic fans to his nature; and ensures players want to perform for him still remains.

Ten years ago it was sink or swim for Neil Lennon, this time out he’s dangling his feet in the pool, watching others thrash around in the water.

Niall J

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About Author

As a Bellshill Bhoy I was taken to my first Celtic game in the summer of 1987. It was Billy McNeill’s return to Celtic Park as manager and Celtic lost 5-1 to Arsenal . I thought I was a jinx, I think my Grandfather might have thought the same. It was the finest gift anyone ever gave me when he walked me through Parkhead's gates.

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