Neil Lennon makes unexpected claim over Mikey Johnston

Neil Lennon has claimed that he used his influence to get Mikey Johnston to swap his international allegiance from Scotland to Ireland.

It seems a far fetched notion with Lennon leaving Celtic in February 2021 and Johnston making his Ireland debut in March 2023.

There is also a well known video clip showing Lennon as being less than sympathetic to Johnston in January 2020 when he picked up an injury after going on as a substitute against St Johnstone.

Lennon has only had a brief spell in management in Cyprus since quitting Celtic and appears more likely to build a career in the media than returning to management.

The Sun reports the former Celtic boss saying:

Damien (former Celtic coach Duff) and I were pestering Mikey for months and months; saying ‘don’t play for Scotland, play for Ireland.’

I didn’t actually know until I watched the France game that he had joined up with Ireland. He’s a mercurial player, with good feet and good pace.

From what I gather, his form in Portugal has been good and it’s been great to see him get senior caps.

A plethora of injury problems curtailed him, but if Mikey can stay fit, he would be a real bonus for Ireland. Hopefully, his injury problems are behind him because he’s a lovely boy and I hope he makes a good run of it.

Johnston made his Ireland debut in a friendly against Latvia, a couple of days before the European Championship match against France.

Under Lennon his career seemed to be going nowhere in particular, this summer looks like being critical to Johnston’s Celtic hopes as he returns to the club from a season long loan with Ange Postecoglou having very specific demands on his wingers.