Neil Lennon's Early Failures Make His Success All The Sweeter

With one of his most recent successes, Neil Lennon cast aside a weight that pressed on Celtic's collective shoulders for years. When the final whistle blew in Moscow, I thought, "He's done it again."

Done what exactly? Exceeded expectations, I guess. We all remember when he failed to meet expectations. There was the memorable loss to Ross County, although one can't help but think that if Lennon's current team had stepped out into the Hampden sun that day, the scoreline would have been very different. There was the tragic loss of the title by a single point to Rangers (RIP) in his first full season. I was gutted. He was supposed to win the league, but * did he come close. Then there was Sion, Braga, Utretch, the league cup final against the perished.

I'm not going to lie, doubt began to creep into my mind. It's Lennon's first job in management after all. I still had hope for him though. I decided that he needed time to learn, but knew that he had to work fast, because time is a precious thing when you are in charge of a club like this. Could he have what it takes?

Then came the 1-0 against them at home to put us top. That was progress. That showed me that lessons were being learned. Then the gap opened to about 10 points before they even went * up. We strolled to the league, hammering the huns again on the way. It showed me that cogs were turning in that heid of his. We all know he has the right spirit and attitude. But fortitude alone could not bring Celtic back to its former glory.

It would take a brilliant show of development to go from the performance in Sion to the performance in Moscow in just over a year. But we did it. HE did it. I can't speak for everyone, but every stumble and mistake on Lennon's way to three points in Moscow made it all the sweeter, and only bodes well for the future. Expectations have been raised, but I'm sure Lenny will surpass them too!

 

I * love Lennon tbh.

 

I have been very vocal in my opinion of Neil Lennon. However, I feel it is time to eat the humble pie and say, he has proven me wrong.

GBNL.

 

That was a long road to get to praise Neil Francis

Agreed though, no reason why he can't be manager for many a year.

 

Serious question though, if he were never to be sacked, do you think NL could be at CP for an Alex Ferguson amount of time ?

 

After the rugby park horror show last season,I felt we could still win the league,but not with Lennon in charge.Deep down I never wanted him sacked cos the guys a Celtic legend,but us winning the league last season was far more important than keeping a guy who was failing, simply because he is a club legend.All I can say is thank * Forrest and Stokes dragged us to a point that day or it could have all been so different now

 

Yes.
He has backing from the board, has full support from the fans and he loves the club as much as we do.

 

Love him. I reckon he's here for the long run.

 

If I'm being honest,after all those * results and the bombs etc.I thought Lenny would have walked away with dignity.I didnt want to see the guy getting sacked or being told to resign.Some of those euro results were unacceptable,as was that collapse at Inverness.He has proved a lot of people wrong,myself included.
He has built a great squad of players,we are in the CL where we should be and he has got that euro away monkey off our backs big time.He will keep improving as a manager,and will also make some mistakes along the way but I hope Lenny is here for many years to come

 

I do.

Never a Willie Maley amount of time though.

I think out of all the managers we have had; I think Neil Lennon is the one that actually loves the club the most. Including Tommy Burns and Billy McNeill... controversial maybe but I don't think that love of Celtic would ever drag him away elsewhere. If he keeps improving? Sky's the limit for him. Turning into a very astute manager.

I was saying to Padmill the other day, there are 3 facets of management, Motivation, Man-Management and Tactical Nous. It is very rare you get a manager with all 3; infact I don't think we've had a manager with all 3 since Big Jock. Neil Lennon seems to have them though, he's still a very young manager... he could be here for a very, very long time.

 

I hope and pray lenny never leaves Celtic because there is not another man at the moment who cares about this club as much as him! Why?

Well look at all the * he's been through by being associated with this club and he still stands by us through death threats, assaults, uncertainty and his families safety.

If he left this club for whatever reason the club would suffer an almighty hangover, probably worse than the mowbray era.

The man is a Legend and the things hes achieved and the team he has built is simply a reminder of things to come.

O'neil used to be my favourite manager but for me Lenny is my number 1 over anyone simply amazing manager!

 

Providing he is successful and doesn't get sacked then i don't see him anywhere other than us. I just couldn't imagine him going anywhere else if i'm honest. How far he has brought us since the dark days of Tony Mowbray has been nothing short of incredible. Its even more amazing how little time he has done it in. A bit of inexperience cost us a few games at the beginning i think. I'm not sure what any of you guys think, but this season for me, Lenny has matured greatly as a manager. His tactics and substitutions are a lot smarter. I don't think there is anyone more capable of getting the team fired up for games either, and that is a big issue with the manky mob not being with us any longer. I think John Park has to receive a lot of credit also, some of the signings for the money we have spent have been top drawer. Overall, it is looking very good for us in the future. GBNL.

 

TBH when u 1st signed up I thought you were very harsh on Lenny and you wound me up something stupid on the matter especially with you comming accross with the attitude he brought his troubles on himself. Fair doos

 

Aye, think we both agreed in that discussion that Lennon is fast becoming an all-round manager, more so than the likes of O'Neill and Strachan (even if he has modelled himself through the experience of working under both managers).

Apart from those traits, we know for a fact that Lennon has a great deal of backing from the board, apparently has a great working relationship with Lawwell, has the backing of imo almost every Celtic fan out there, and is fast building a worldwide reputation as a hardened manager capable of building exciting young teams that can compete.

I like the notion of us having a Ferguson-type manager i.e. someone at the helm who can bring us success for many years to come........but one immediate spanner in the works right now concerning that idea is that Lennon doesn't even have a long-term contract at the club. I'm sure this will be something that will be rectified very soon - although I'm hoping that the board would not be stupid enough to offer Lennon a Pardew-like deal of an 8 year contract

Personally, I have a belief that the downfall of a certain cheating bunch of zombies may just be the catalyst for a major shift in terms of Scottish football as a whole. I believe that there will be major reconstructions, and if Celtic can continue their form on the European front, then we WILL be the flag bearers for Scotland, and continue to shine - thus enhancing the reputation of this country's footballing quality.

Now, over to the rest of the top-flight teams to get their own houses in order.

 

The thing that will be very, very interesting for me is if we get into the group stages next year as well. Lenny will have a budget to spend and it will be a good one.

 

I'll be honest, I think that will be a major challenge for Lennon if/when he is given a substancial transfer balance following any successful progressions into CL.

My questions would be:

Does Lennon continue with his so-far successful obscure scouting routine i.e. un-earthing raw gems like Wanyama, Hooper, Commons etc. on the cheap?

Does he mix and match i.e. adding a few quality CL-ready players on huge wages and huge transfer fees as well as a few gems?

Does he blow his budget on a few top players and sells off a few off his assets to cover the costs?

I don't know how it will pan out, but judging by his "big-money" signings so far, they have been pretty poor - with the exception of say Forster and Hooper.

 

I think he will go on with what he is doing just now; I think he will go after the ones on the bigger budget list that John Park has sitting. Considering Eden Hazard was on that when he was 15/16... I think that's where money will go. Players we think will be guaranteed quality but at a young age and then have it interspersed with his signing policy just now. Looking at the likes of Lassad and Miku. Proven players, with a bit of experience. I think he's learned off of the likes of Juarez.

 

I think he has learned from this, but given that he is not even Lennon's most expensive signing - we can forgive him on this part.

The likes of Miku is a deal that was a no-brainer in all honesty, and when the option of signing someone like Lassad on a freebie comes along, then you can't really pass that up.

Not even the greatest managers of our time have gotten away with not signing expensive/inexpensive flops i.e. Veron at both Chelski and Man Ure, Forlan, Chygrinski at Barca etc. Bearing this in mind, I've no dount Lennon will potentially end up with a couple more expensive flops in his time, but I will hope this would not turn into a regular occurance.

 

I've always said, good scouting trumps big money. Good scouting coupled with big money though beats anything.

 

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <wunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <wontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> I don’t really consider Ross County as a failure on Lennon’s part. The players are to blame for that monstrosity - Samaras and McGeady being the two worst culprits that day.

I’m not sure about Braga and Utrecht either. We won both games at home and lost both away. In this respect, he replicated both O’Neill and Strachan who also fell at these notoriously difficult early qualifying stages on account of poor away performances.


Losing the league in his first season was painful, but then there were exceptional circumstances. Has any other manger in Europe had to deal with a campaign of terrorism?

For me, the worst stain on his report card is the League Cup final loss to Kilmarnock last season. There are no excuses. That was embarrassing. The Scottish Cup semi final loss to Hearts wasn’t great either.

We need to do better in the cups.
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]-->