Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish football coach and former player who is the manager of Scottish Premiership club Celtic. During his playing career he represented English clubs Manchester City, Crewe Alexandra and Leicester City.
Lennon moved to Scottish club Celtic in 2000, where he made over 200 appearances and was appointed captain in 2005. Before retiring as a player, he returned to England and played for Nottingham Forest and Wycombe Wanderers. Lennon made 40 appearances for Northern Ireland in nine years, scoring two goals. Lennon was appointed manager of Celtic in March 2010, initially in a caretaker capacity after the departure of Tony Mowbray.
Neil Lennon delivers Celtic 'glass ceiling' for Brendan Rodgers to smash as he senses Kyogo can't cut Tottenham mustard
dailyrecord.co.ukNeil Lennon has told Brendan Rodgers the Champions League last 16 is where he can make his Celtic stamp- as the former boss explains why Kyogo is NOT Tottenham quality.The ex-midfielder is watching on with intrigue as Rodgers era 2.0 kicks off at Parkhead and already he has signed Norwegian playmaker Odin Thiago Holm.
Aussie attacker Marco Tilio is poised to be next in the door as the returning gaffer looks to use his transfer kitty to make inroads in Europe's elite competition.Lennon - the last Hoops manager to reach the UCL knockouts - has masterminded famous European nights for Celtic, including THAT win over Barcelona and more recently an away success at Lazio.
And he tells The Daily Mail Rodgers may have big aims in mind. Lennon said: "I think in Europe he'll be looking to improve not so much performances as results and challenge for second place in the Champions League group or at least try and get a Europa League place by finishing third."It's doable.
The glass ceiling for all of us over the years has been the last 16 and maybe he'll want to try and smash that but it's obviously a very difficult thing to do.'His initial thoughts will be: 'Can we get out of the group?' and if they can't: 'Can they get European football after Christmas?' You know you aren't going to dominate the ball in Europe the way you do in Scotland because you are coming up against quality teams, coaches and players."Trying to play the way you do in Scotland against these teams is a difficult thing to do because a lot of these teams are full of world-class players.
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