Lennon belongs to Glasgow despite ‘intimidation’ years

In a wide-ranging discussion at the club’s Lennoxtown training base, he admitted that his dream was to emulate managers such as Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and Brian Clough by winning Europe’s most prestigious club prize.

The Northern Irishman said that his preference would be to do it with Celtic, an achievement he insisted was not beyond them, but if he had to move elsewhere to further his career, he would do so.

“My ambition is to win the Champions League,” said Lennon. “Here, anywhere, that’s my ambition. I never really reached those heights as a player. I may not reach those heights as a manager, but that’s my ambition.

“You keep a vision of it in your head and try to do everything you can to achieve it.”

Asked if he really believed that the club who were crowned Scottish champions last weekend could also conquer Europe, Lennon replied: “Yes, definitely. It might not be possible to do it in a year or two years’ time, but if we can consistently get in the Champions League, and we gain the revenue from that, then we can build a team who could be challenging.

“I’m not the oracle. I don’t have all the answers. I’m not a Mourinho, but I want to be a Mourinho. I want to be a Guardiola. I want to be a Clough. I want to be an [Martin] O’Neill. That’s my ambition.”

Lennon said that Europe would be Celtic’s “marker” in the years ahead, although he admitted that the task was complicated by the way in which qualifying rounds were scheduled. He and the club’s board will meet next week to plan a pre-season programme that does not compromise their continental ambitions. Lennon, who played in the Celtic team that lost to Porto in the 2003 UEFA Cup final, also denied that the SPL, weakened by Rangers’ financial crisis, was no longer competitive enough to prepare his team for success abroad.

“Barcelona have won their league quite comfortably for two or three years and they’re probably one of the best club sides of all time. Lyon had a pretty comfortable ride in France for six or seven years, and they reached the semi-finals and quarter-finals on a consistent basis.

“Every now and again, the Champions League throws up a surprise package. Look at 2004, when Porto and Monaco got to the final. You would never have envisaged that. That was the great Porto team that beat us the year before. I’m not saying this team is anywhere near our team yet, but they have the potential to really go and achieve something.”

Speaking ahead of his team’s Scottish Cup semi-final against Hearts tomorrow, Lennon said that he felt able to outline the extent of his ambitions after a title triumph that proved his substance as a manager.

“I don’t think, when I got the job, people took me too seriously – ‘he beats his chest’, ‘hand on heart’, all that sort of stuff – but I think I’ve proved over the two years that I’ve got a bit more about me than just being young and passionate.”

He said that he was inspired by hearing and reading about the “sheer brilliance” of Brian Clough, who won two European Cups as the manager of Nottingham Forest. In his quest for improvement, he hoped to seek out the advice of David Moyes, the Everton manager, and Sir Alex Ferguson, if the latter will allow him to visit Manchester United’s Carrington base. “I haven’t had the opportunity but I would like to go and do that at some stage. I think it’s important for my own development. You cannot stand still in this job and there are things I need to learn about – European formations, the culture of the game in different countries.”

Of course, if Celtic are to be the beneficiaries of his grand plan, Lennon will have to be satisfied that there will be no more of the intolerable treatment to which he has been subjected in the last couple of years. At its worst, he says, it was a “horrible” experience.

“You’re putting security measures in place, your house is restructured and you end up being driven here, there and everywhere. You’ve got security people outside your house. There were panic buttons in the house, all that sort of stuff.”

Lennon, who still has a bodyguard, is cautiously optimistic that the worst is over. In the summer, he will conduct a review of the 2011-2012 season in which he will speak to the board, his backroom staff and, most importantly, his family.

“We live as normal a life as we possibly can, but there are restrictions at times in terms of security measures and stuff like that. We’re hoping that that spell of intense intimidation – or whatever you want to call it – is over now.”

Lennon said that, despite its sectarian problems, he fully intended to continue living in Glasgow, where he felt like he belonged. “I love Glasgow. There are just places I choose not to go to for obvious reasons. I find that a bit sad, that there are places I feel uncomfortable in now.

“But I can’t see myself living anywhere else. I’ve lived here for 12 years and it’s my home. I enjoy it, I enjoy the atmosphere.

“There are things regarding the football side of it I’d like to eradicate. It’s easy to say: ‘well, that’s Glasgow for you.’ It’s not. It’s not Glasgow. There is more to Glasgow than sectarianism and ‘my dad’s bigger than your dad’, type of thing. There is a lot more to Glasgow and Scotland.”