Title win means the probation is over for Lennon

While it might be Celtic’s 43rd championship success, Saturday’s 6-0 win over Kilmarnock saw confirmation of Neil Lennon’s first title as manager. Just as there was much talk of something having begun at Rugby Park, there was also the sense of an ending.

Lennon himself mentioned that he believes his probation period had now been completed. In a heavily quoted passage from his post-match press briefing, he said he now felt able to step out from behind his managerial forefathers, such as Stein, O’Neill and Strachan.

Lennon has been just over two years in the job. There have been times when it looked as though the game has been up for him. Some believed he would not even survive the first few weeks after defeat by Ross County in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup, when then just the interim manager. Even a few short months ago, it looked like he would be bracketed along with Tony Mowbray in having exited the club after a heavy, deeply humiliating away defeat. Mowbray went after a 4-0 loss to St Mirren.

At 1.15pm on 15 October, Lennon’s side were already three down to Kilmarnock and he was contemplating telling the board he would step aside. “We wouldn’t have accepted his resignation,” said Peter Lawwell, the club’s chief executive, following the final whistle on Saturday. He had only just torn himself away from an emotional bear hug with his manager, on the same patch of gravel where Lennon had considered his future in the autumn, before the morale-boosting three-goal comeback against Kilmarnock.

There is a clear sense of togetherness at Celtic. Lawwell later spoke of “the Celtic family”, while Lennon also paid tribute to those around him – both his own family, and the extended Parkhead one. “I’ve got great support from my family, the players, the club, the board, Mr [Dermot] Desmond and Peter, in particular,” he said. It had to be noted that Desmond, the club’s majority shareholder, was absent from Rugby Park, and instead has been spotted at his favoured location at this time of year – the Masters.

Lawwell acknowledged that Lennon has had much to endure on his own as well. There is only so much shelter able to be offered to someone at the heart of so much drama and controversy. It can be a lonely, disheartening experience when the people you are walking with are security personnel hired to protect you. Lennon didn’t walk alone in a physical sense. Yet, who knows the fears which accumulated in his mind as he dealt with the after-effects of a hate campaign waged against him and watched things go awry on the pitch?

“Remarkably, Neil has dealt with most of the stuff on his own,” pointed out Lawwell, who watched Lennon stand with one arm outstretched and his other hand clasped to his heart in front of the Celtic fans at the end of Saturday’s game. It had clearly been emotional.

Even recently, Lennon has helped carry the coffin of a high-profile friend and had to give evidence in court, where he saw two men convicted of plotting to cause severe injury to him and others. He has withdrawn from media duties in recent weeks, but he spoke loud and clear on Saturday, both via a microphone to 13,000 Celtic fans at Rugby Park and also, later, to reporters. “They’ve thrown everything at me but I’m now, after 12 years, at the pinnacle of my professional career,” he said. “I’m not going to go away in a hurry.”

“Any time he has wanted support, we have given him it,” added Lawwell. “We have known for a long time his attributes and strengths and we have, hopefully, played a small part in making Neil a championship-winning manager.

“But being a Celtic manager itself is such an intense job and highly pressured. Having had to deal with that and also deal with the stuff off the park shows his strength of character and how much of a winner he is.”

The claiming of a first championship has validated Lennon, even if he has long been an icon to the Celtic support. “It was concerning at the time,” said Lawwell, with reference to the run of three defeats in the first nine league games of the season. “But what was not going through my mind was his ability or his longevity in the job. We told him we believed in him and he knew that. Hopefully, that took a bit of pressure off him.

“This is just the beginning,” added Lawwell, echoing the sentiment on the tee-shirts worn by the players as they paraded around the pitch at the end of the match on Saturday. Lawwell stressed that Lennon will be given the tools to continue the job. They are already looking at a pre-season programme which will allow the greatest scope for success in the Champions League qualifiers, which begin at the end of July. Celtic must negotiate two rounds before something which would really validate Lennon – a return to the Champions League group stage.

“We have got to get the club back into Europe and the Champions League,” said Lawwell. “That is everyone’s objective and we have started planning for next season. Hopefully, we’ll get out of the window stronger than we go into it.

“Obviously, it’s a young team with an average age of around 23, so there is a good base to go forward. We won’t see the turnover we have seen before in the past two years.”

Indeed, Lennon spoke of “trimming” the squad, with the possible addition of a couple high quality captures. “Clearly and inevitably, there will be one or two going and one or two coming in,” acknowledged Lawwell. “In terms of the squad, we have tried to plan every year for the competitive start.

“This year we’ll be starting on July 29 for the qualifier, so all preparation will lead to that. Hopefully, we can strengthen over the summer to cope with that.”

Lennon, asked for his snapshots from the season, initially found himself dwelling on the setbacks. He clearly views the title as a triumphant response to recent Rangers’ dominance. The question of whether the Ibrox club’s financial crisis has been a factor is an “irrelevant” one, according to Lawwell. It has been a triumph of the players’ own spirit, proposed Lennon.

“There was the loss to St Johnstone at home,” recalled the manager. “The second half at Ibrox and then losing at Hearts – I’m going through the negatives. Then the comeback at Rugby Park.” He also pinpointed another comeback at Motherwell in November, following the loss of Michael Higdon’s early goal. “The win at Motherwell was huge,” he said. “After that we never looked back.

“There were some great performances away from home – Dundee United and Hearts in particular. Hearts was spectacular, the 4-0 game. Also the Old Firm game on 28th of December.

“There was a wee bit of a lull,” he continued. “We lost the League Cup Final and the Old Firm game two weeks ago. But we have another Old Firm game to look forward to. I think the state of mind will be better. We have a Scottish Cup semi-final [against Hearts] next week, so the big games are coming thick and fast.”

Something else which should be noted, since it would have been had it been otherwise, is the pleasing absence of offensive songs on Saturday. The Celtic fans really did throw a party, one mercifully absent of sectarian chants. Perhaps something else is ending, along with Lennon’s probation period.