Preview: Dundee Utd v Celtic: Revival convinces Neil Lennon he is up to the job

IT is just seven weeks since Neil Lennon stood on the touchline at Rugby Park consumed by self-doubt, contemplating whether he was about to feel compelled to fall on his sword and end his tenure as Celtic manager.

Trailing 3-0 at half-time to Kilmarnock, Lennon’s team were jeered off the pitch by the travelling support. With 17 minutes of the match remaining, the scoreline remained the same and Celtic were facing the prospect of a 13-point gap opening up between themselves and Rangers at the top of the SPL table.

But Celtic salvaged a point and some pride with three goals in a dramatic eight-minute burst, then took further succour from what had been a potentially ruinous afternoon when Rangers went on to drop two points at home to St Mirren.

Time will tell just how much of a turning point it was, both for Lennon’s position as manager and Celtic’s title hopes.

They have won five and drawn one of their subsequent six SPL matches, while Rangers have dropped a further five points to see their lead cut to just four.

For Lennon, it has also been a period of personal affirmation that has seen him go from the brink of relinquishing his job to becoming more convinced than ever that he is genuinely up to the task.

“I’ve learned that I can do it, take the pressure and not panic,” he reflected. “Even if things are going well, don’t get too high and just concentrate on the job. You always ask yourself questions.

“When you are 3-0 down at Kilmarnock, you stand there thinking about whether you hand your resignation in after the game if it goes to 4-0 or 5-0. It would have been totally unacceptable for someone like myself, even though I’ve never been under any pressure from upstairs.

“I didn’t want to go down that route that day. We actually started okay, missed a sitter and then conceded three soft goals.

“I was starting to worry. I was thinking ‘Is this a reflection of me?’ and ‘Is this my team here?’ But I got the reaction I was looking for in the second half.

“I didn’t think we were in such a bad position that the sack was looming. But if results had continued that way, and the gap at the top had got a lot bigger so that you couldn’t see ahead of yourselves, then I could understand it.

“But the one thing I didn’t do was hit the panic button. I thought there was plenty of time and we just needed to get some consistency into our play and claw our way back into it.

“There have been some high pressure games since then but I’ve enjoyed that side of it. I’ve enjoyed testing myself. That’s the challenge as manager of Celtic.

“When you come out the other side of it, you can look back on that period when things didn’t look so good and think to yourself ‘you know what, you did alright there and you can do it again.’

“Listen, I wouldn’t have got this job if I was just a rabble-rouser who shouted at people in the dressing room and put Irish music on.

“I got a few things wrong along the way. I’m not saying I won’t make mistakes as we go along, but I’m pretty pleased with how we are going at the minute.”

Lennon’s men could find themselves seven points adrift of the SPL summit once more by the time they kick off against Dundee United at Tannadice tomorrow.

However, if Rangers do defeat Dunfermline at Ibrox today to make that the scenario facing Celtic, Lennon is confident it will not faze his players as it might have done earlier in the season.

“Even if we go seven points behind again, I think our lads will be a wee bit more relaxed about it,” he said.

“They are seeing signs of consistency in their own performances. I think our fans will be more relaxed about it too. They were pretty pleased with the performance against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, even though we lost the game, because there were good signs there.

“There is a good team ethic about us now, as well as individual ability in there.

“You know it is a long season and I remember being seven points ahead of Rangers at the turn of the year in Gordon Strachan’s last season as manager and they went on to win it on the last day. So it’s far too early to be talking about clear winners and losers.”

So does Lennon anticipate the possibility of another topsy-turvy title race that runs right to the final fixtures?

“It could go to wire again, quite easily,” he said. “I didn’t envisage that we would have already lost three games in the league by this stage, but then I didn’t envisage that Rangers would have drawn three games at home. But all I’m concerned with at the moment is keeping our winning run going in the SPL up until we play Rangers at Celtic Park on 28 December.”

• DANIEL MAJSTOROVIC could be offered a new contract by Celtic, according to manager Lennon. The Swedish international defender, who will be 35 in April, sees his current deal expire at the end of the season.

“I have not sat down with Daniel yet,” said Lennon.

“He has got a big second half of the season ahead, because he has the Euro 2012 finals with Sweden to play for and he has got to maintain the level of form he has shown in the last month for us. He has a big six months coming up in terms of domestic and international football.

“I’ll sit down and speak with him in January and see what he wants to do but he is quite relaxed about the whole situation.

“Of course I am conscious of his age, and he is as well, but it is not as if I am saying ‘no’ to a new contract for him. I’m saying we’ll sit down in January and see where we are.”