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Neil Lennon relcalls his pivotal moment in management- 45 minutues from the sack

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Neil Lennon has recalled the pivotal moment in 2011 when he was 45 minutes away from resigning as Celtic manager.

In the early stages of his second season in charge things weren’t going well for the Irishman after the hope developed the previous season when the SPL race went to the final fixture before the Scottish Cup was won against Motherwell.

In October 2011 Lennon took his side to Kilmarnock for a Saturday lunchtime match having lost recently on the road at Ibrox and Tynecastle.

On a bleak day Celtic found themselves 3-0 down at half-time, what happened in the dressing room transformed the match, the season, the title race and a managerial career.

In an interview with Lennon, BBC Scotland reports:

One of the scariest moments came in October 2011, a day when it could have ended even before it really got started. Celtic trailed Rangers by 10 points at the top of the league and found themselves 3-0 down at half-time at Rugby Park. “That was a pivotal moment,” he recalls. “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’. 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.”

Victor Wanyama and Mo Bangura replaced Beram Kayal and Gary Hooper at the break but it was the youngest player in the team that made the difference.

At 70 minutes Celtic were still trailing 3-0 but by the time the clock struck 80 minutes a double from Anthony Stokes and another from Charlie Mulgrew had levelled the scores.

Lennon retained his job, by the turn of the year Celtic were in top place with the title clinched on their next visit to Rugby Park. This time the six goal thriller saw the away team score all of the goals.

CLICK HERE for Celtic Wiki match details.

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