Neil Lennon is the longest serving manager in the SPL!
As the Celtic boss prepares to celebrate the third anniversary of his first game in charge- a 3-1 win over Kilmarnock on 27 March 2010- Lennon has outlasted all of his peers at the time.
Jimmy Calderwood was in the opposite dug-out that day with the Kilmarnock job being occupied by Mixu Paatelainen and Kenny Shiels since then.
Managers have come and gone at an incredible rate with Peter Houston’s decision to leave Dundee United leaving Lennon as the longest serving boss in the SPL although Craig Brown did jump ship to join Aberdeen from Motherwell while Terry Butcher was in the First Division with Inverness Caley Thistle when Lennon took over from Tony Mowbray.
In three years at Celtc Lennon has taken the club from struggling with Dundee United for second place to the last 16 in the Champions League as the management business becomes even more precarious.
Down south the casualty rate among managers is even higher with 33 sackings since the season started.
The Premiership is relatively stable but with record moneies available from the top flight there has been 17 sackings alone in the Championship with Blackburn responsible for three of those decisions.
Commenting on the sackings Richard Bevan, chief executive of the League Managers Assovciation said: “I’m not sure where the arrogance of football comes from that we don’t have to behave as any other industry.
“It’s embarrassing for the game that all of those sackings are unfair dismissals. The volatility is undermining the profession.
“We need to work as a group – the Premier League, the Football League, the Professional Footballers’ Association, the LMA – to ensure that we have better training not only for managers, but also an understanding of how you run a football club.”
Asked about the Blackburn situation, where Michael Appleton followed Stevie Kean and Henning Berg out the door Bevan added: “Everything in business is about communication.
“Michael told me he had no conversation at all during his tenure since January with the Indian representative running the club.
“He’s got 20 players on the injury bench. What he needed was support, not a letter of sacking. To have five managers this season is nonsense.
“Blackburn need to look very hard into stability, they need to look at communication with the fans and they need to look very hard into how they can invest in personnel, look medium term. That’s the only way they’re going to climb up the table.”
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That’s an amazing- pretty terrible, really- statistic, considering Lenny’s only been our manager for three years.
No suprise the best always last longer if your good at your job, hopefully he’s here for a long time at least till we make it 10 in a row. Who in there right mind would touch that blackburn job the fans wanted kean out berg didn’t last long now the board have chased appleton who’s next ? HH
Neil is doing a great job,we have had some bad results in the cup competitions at times & naturally that brings disappointment,while Champions League group stage qualification & the league title are the priorities,Neil must improve Celtic’s reputation at Hampden park again,it’s the only concern I have with Neil on charge. We can’t get to Hampden & end up losers as often as we do,Hampden was once like a home game for Celtic,this mentality must be installed in the side again,the fear factor. Delighted with the sides progress in Europe year after year,this is a good sign for the future,we are on the brink of becoming champions again & that’s always good.bring the Scottish cup home buoys,no excuses! HH!WE ARE THE PAPAL!
bhoys
I think it’s a sign of the times though that a managers position is over pretty quickly. I don’t think a lot of managers are given the time to sort their team out before they’re sacked. Can you imagine if man utd sacked ferguson in his first couple of years?! And look at just money managers we had in our first 100 years.
Good point Kevin, a lot of it is down to pure luck. In Ferguson’s case he was 2 matches away from the sack. I can remember watching that Man Utd team and they were rank rotten. But a couple of wins and sticking with him, and the rest as they say is history.
My real hope at the moment is that Aston Villa stick by Paul Lambert, I’m sure if they do they will not regret it. Hail hail
Jimbo I have been thinking the exact same thing about Paul Lambert. I reckon he will definitely come good.
This only reinforces to me that we should appreciate what we have.
Neil is not infallible and will make mistakes along the way but if he continues to learn by them he’ll take us forward and be truly one if the Celtic greats.
I feel comfortable that Neil would not move unless to the top six in EPL. But I don’t expect any of them to come calling YET. Hail hail
Can’t say I have any great sympathy especially for those managers down south. Blackburn must be throwing money away to recompense them for their contracts. Benitez at Chelsea under pressure, I’d love some of it…get booted with ££££’s in your pocket.
Appreciate that most of the Scottish managers will not get anything like the cash, but it mainly seems to be a closed shop. Same names seem to crop up for vacant jobs. If they don’t get another club, then they use their contacts to get media work.
I go to watch the team on the park, but of course it’s important to ensure the club have a settled management team but every manager has a shelf life. Great manager prove themselves in the transfer market and in use of subsitutions that turn games, Neil Lennon has some way to go before being hail hailed as a great yet. Right now anyone with the advantages we have over the rest in the SPL will win the title, Europe is where we will see any real improvements.
Must admit I was greatly surprised to see he was the longest serving SPL boss though.
C’mon williebhoy a good socialist like yersell “no sympathy” for people loosing their jobs???
I agree with you, Neil has got one Hail (SPL title, possible Scottish cup and top 16 in Europe) if he does the same or better next season I for one will give him his second Hail.
Hail hail
Lennys wheeling and dealing in the transfer market has seen him after buys and sales be roughly 7 million in the black during his tenure,At the same time he has helped re-establish us on the European stage and significantly improving the team that still has lots of potential to fulfill,Lennons a hungry young manager who will only get better with experience,he is also a born winner and Celtic to the core,yes Lenny will do for me HH
Correct mate he’s doing the bussines on and off the park and when he does get it wrong people should remember he’s one of us so it hurts him just as much as us HH
GBNL