Ange Postecoglou hit 50 not out as Celtic manager yesterday, and from Andrew Smith writing in the Scotsman today an interesting statistical comparison has emerged, with Postecoglou now keeping company with the likes of Jock Stein, Martin O’Neill and twice with Neil Lennon!
“The Australian now boasts a 70% success rate, underpinned by a 29-game domestic unbeaten run that has produced 25 wins. Only three permanent Celtic managers in the club’s 144-year history have topped that mark: Martin O’Neill, who leads the way with a 75.53% rate across his five years from the summer of 2000, the incomparable Jock Stein, on 70.14 for his 13 glorious years that began in 1965, and Neil Lennon.
Yes, Neil Lennon. The shamefully undervalued Irishman, even with the form nosedive last year, retained a 70% win rate for his second, two year, spell. His first stint, from 2010-2014, led to him posting 70.04% for this measure.”
Postecoglou’s figures of course are drawn from a far smaller sample size than the other three managers, however, it is still a mightily impressive return from a manager who had, to put it politely, his work cut out, when he inherited the previous season’s shambles.
And if you look at the figures alone it also appears Cypriot football could be getting themselves a bargain if Neil Lennon, as reported in Daily Record today, accepts an offer to replace former Ibrox defender Henning Berg as boss of Omonia Nicosia in Cyprus.
Omonoia Nicosia spokesman Andreas Dimitriou is quoted as saying this:
“I can say that the process is at a very advanced stage. We have a shortlist of three outstanding coaches. We have done the interviews and a decision is imminent. In the next day or two, the new manager will be announced.”
Lennon of course has been out of work since leaving Celtic thirteen months ago and has been linked with Jobs in Scotland and England, including Aberdeen and Sunderland in recent weeks. Yet the former Celtic boss has always indicated he’s keen to have a go at managing abroad, and in truth when you consider the baggage Lennon carries, after overseeing last season’s title collapse at Celtic, perhaps a move abroad would allow him to get on with the job in hand without the scrutiny and media circus that may follow him should he accept his next job north or south of the border.
Considering Ange Postecoglou is gaining platitudes for his winning record being on a par with Stein and O’Neill it would be churlish not to recognise the job Neil Lennon did for Celtic, not once but twice as manager of the Hoops, as it bears scrutiny with the best manager’s the club has had.
There will of course remain a cloud hanging over the Lennon as Celtic manager, given the importance of the season that unravelled, but it’s difficult to offer praise to Ange Postecoglou for a fine record after 50 games and not recognise the overall success Neil Lennon also had as a Celtic manager.
And whilst Omonia Nicosia may seem a strange destination, it would give Neil Lennon a shot at rebuilding his reputation in management, and perhaps it may allow wounds to heal in his absence, and Lennon’s legacy as Celtic manager to be recognised as the success it was, bar one dreadful season.
Niall J
