Neil Lennon has relived the situation he stepped into a year ago when he returned to Celtic to replace Brendan Rodgers.
As Lennon prepared to fly out to Doha for some media work with beIN the former Liverpool boss decided to dedicate his life to Leicester City and take the Celtic backroom staff in an overnight swoop.
Loyal yes-men Chris Davies, Koulo Toure and Glen Driscoll hit the M74 without drawing breath leaving Peter Lawwell clutching a cheque for £9m but with no management team.
Within 24 hours Lennon was appointed as Celtic caretaker to face vital matches at Tynecastle and Easter Road, venues where Celtic had been defeated earlier in the season.
The transfer window had closed four weeks earlier leaving the caretaker to take charge of a squad that had been built up by his predecessor over almost three years.
Lennon was on a hiding to nothing, he could have been the manager that lost the Treble but a year on he is firmly in charge of the playing side with the fans won over by a pacey, goal scoring style of play.
Looking back at how he coped with the hand-over Lennon told the Daily Record:
Don’t go in and knock the china over, that’s what I was thinking at the time. Don’t start thinking ‘this isn’t working and that’s not working and I want it done this way or that way,’. Just let it go and adapt to the way the club works and the players work.
They were in a good position, a strong position. They had already won the League Cup and were in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup. It could have led to confusion for the players if I’d gone in and tried to change the style of play. I didn’t have time to do that anyway.
I don’t know if I’m a better manager second time around but I’m far more experienced and more mellow. I know the Scottish game and I’ve known it for a long time. I know how difficult it can be – and the pressures that come with it.
Tonight, Lennon will attempt to take Celtic into the last 16 of the Europa League while maintaining the push for another clean sweep of domestic honours.
