On eve of 100th game in charge, Neil Lennon says he’s a changed man

THERE have been times when few would have bet on the prospect of Neil Lennon lasting 100 games as Celtic manager. Even on occasion this season it has been easy to mock the very suggestion.

Yet there Lennon was yesterday, striding into yet another press conference – perhaps the 300th such engagement of his reign so far – on the eve of such an achievement, with today’s home league match against Inverness Caledonian Thistle seeing him reach a once unlikely milestone.

Has Lennon changed over the course of nearly two years? No-one could have experienced what he has and not been altered in some way. There were times when he was considered simply too combustible to be a long-term manager of Celtic.

Yet he knows that the fact he is still at Parkhead means he must be doing something right. Tony Mowbray, his predecessor, didn’t even make it to 50 games. So has he, he was asked yesterday, become less confrontational? “No doubt about it,” he replied.

“I was never confrontational with my own players, but I might have been with officials or other managers at times when they got my back up.

“I’ve learned to temper that a little bit,” he added. “I don’t want to be watching games from the stand for six games at a time. I don’t want to be detached from the dugout and my players and my staff. Again that was part of the learning for me. I think that was a conscious decision.

“I’ve afforded the officials a lot more respect this year, though having said that I think there’s been an improvement in the quality of refereeing. I think a lot of that is down to John Fleming [Hugh Dallas’ successor as the Scottish Football Association’s head of referee development]. The relationship he’s had with the managers has been very good.”

The fact Lennon’s hair is longer than the crew-cut look he adopted last season is another reason why he appears to emit a more serene aura. Similarly, his fuse appears to be not quite so short as it once was. It is still less than a year since he and Ally McCoist, then the Rangers assistant manager, grappled on the touchline. Then there was the cupped ear incident following a game at Ibrox and the numerous spats with referees. Trouble searched Lennon out, but there were times when he went looking for it too. Recently, however, fourth officials are among those who find themselves looking at Lennon, and wondering whether it can possibly be the same man.

He once exhibited all the signs of a manager under pressure. While he is wise enough to know there will come a time again when he will be backed into a corner, for the time being he is at ease with the world, and is prepared to spend a quarter of an hour in reflective mood. It is, of course, easier to be contemplative on the back of 13 straight SPL victories, and when the ball is running for you to the extent that even when Hearts scored a goal against Celtic on Wednesday night, they were judged not to have.

Lennon hasn’t become sufficienly becalmed to agree with the suggestion that Celtic’s complaints about officials last season are now beginning to pay off. There is a flash of the old Lennon spark, something you know will never be completely extinguished. “I can rebuff that straight away,” he said, after the theory that Celtic are being favoured is proposed.

“There was a goal against Falkirk in the semi-final [of the Communities League Cup], a clear goal that was onside by two or three years. [Thomas] Rogne had a goal disallowed the week before [against St Mirren]. There have been contentious decisions that have gone against us.

“There have been a few that have gone for us. But, seemingly, when they’re going for us at the minute there seems to be a whole big debate that lasts for days. Nobody spoke much about the goal we didn’t get against Falkirk, even though it was a pretty poor decision.”

Let’s not go overboard about Lennon having turned into a man who is prepared to let things be. Almost comically, he allowed himself to be drawn into a spikey exchange with Alex Smith, the veteran Falkirk assistant manager, during last month’s Communities Leage Cup semi-final at Hampden. “I’m sure I’ll make mistakes again. You’re not human if you don’t,” he said. “Nothing’s ever perfect. You’re not going to go win,win, win, win for the next ten years.”

The recent Celtic playing record does read something like that, however. His side have won 17 of their last 19 games. Remarkably, if Celtic defeat Inverness today it will be Lennon’s 76th victory in 100 games in charge.

What is he doing now that he wasn’t doing as recently as October, when Celtic, 3-0 down at half-time to Kilmarnock, faced losing their second successive league match to slip further behind then leaders Rangers?

He has, he believes, learned to be more bold with his team selection, having been alert to Marcello Lippi’s advice at a question and answers session at Hampden Park. The legendary Italian manager recommended always making all three substitions. “I don’t try to change the team to be smart or to try and be a football intellectual, because that’s something I’m not,” said Lennon. “You look at the circumstances, the conditions, the day, the weather and try and pick a team you think will win the game.”

Lennon is possibly being too modest, since he does appear to think deeply about the game. He is, however, firm in his contention that you won’t find him dipping into a bumper book of tactics. It isn’t his way. “You know my opinions about tactics,” he said. “Tactics are nothing without players. Tactics don’t win you games, footballers do.”