Neil Lennon: Early start can help Celtic reach Euro group stage

Boss confirms he is looking to friendlies on continent in season build-up

Celtic manager Neil Lennon. Picture: SNS

Neil Lennon believes starting the new Premiership season before the Champions League qualifiers can boost Celtic’s prospects of reaching the group stage for the first time since 2017.

Under normal circumstances, Celtic would currently be gearing up to play the first two qualifying rounds in Europe before the domestic league campaign kicks off.

But the rescheduling of the 2020-21 calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic means they will not begin their Champions League bid until 18 or 19 August, more than two weeks after their title defence is due to open.

Celtic manager Lennon hopes it will help him get the Scottish champions used to the experience of behind closed-doors fixtures and also prepare them for the new challenge of single-leg knockout ties in the first three qualifying rounds of the Champions League when the venue will be decided by the luck of the draw.

“It’s like everything at the moment – you need to adapt,” said Lennon. “If you’re finding things normal right now, you’re not doing things right.

“There is no normal at the moment, you’re working day to day and week to week, waiting on government guidelines and advice from the authorities. Uefa have come to a decision and it’s probably the right one in trying to condense it all. If the games are behind closed doors, then home advantage is not a massive difference. We’ve seen it with the results in the Bundesliga where a lot of the home teams haven’t won.

“Hopefully, it will benefit us in terms of Europe. The domestic season will hopefully have started and hopefully we’ll have a game or two under our belts by the time the qualifiers start.

“We’ll get them on the pitch before then and get them adapted to playing at Celtic Park with no fans – which is going to be really strange for them. It works both ways. Home advantage is a huge plus for us because of the support we have.

“I wouldn’t say we’ll be disadvantaged as such, but players love to play in front of big crowds. It’s been really strange watching the English games without the supporters and the noise. But it’s something we are going to go with for now.”

Celtic have been mooted as potential opponents for Paris Saint-Germain in a pre-season friendly and Lennon confirmed they are seeking fixtures on the continent.

“We’ll need to plan it a week or so in advance and start looking to get some matches at some stage,” he added. “We want them to get used to playing behind closed doors, so we might use the stadium for training a few times as well.

“The preparations will be so important and we might look at going abroad to get games. It might be difficult playing down in England as we’d have to wait until their season is finished before we can even think about arranging games with them. But we can look at French and Dutch teams. Their seasons were curtailed and they will be in the same position as ourselves, so that’s something we’ll definitely pursue.”

Lennon has expressed his satisfaction at Celtic’s return to training in unusual circumstances after three months in lockdown.

“It’s been strange but good to have them back in,” he said. “We’ve been training them in groups of four, going through running and tactical drills, and a mixture of a bit of both.

“We’ve had to be quite imaginative to bring a bit of variety to the sessions. You are quite limited to what you can do at times but it’s a start.

“It’s been absolutely brilliant getting them all back together again. You can almost feel the anticipation building again and excitement coming back.

“They are all in great condition. Some of these lads have not had much of a break in three or four years. I’ve been going through the stats and the likes of Scott Brown and Callum McGregor are right at the top of minutes played.

“The break might be a godsend to Scott. He’s looking injury free and really fit. It will take a bit of time to get the football function back, with the twisting and turning, but we’ll eventually be doing games in training and they’ll get up to speed.

“It’s a longer pre-season period, so we are not rushing like we are in previous years. In some summers they only get a couple of weeks off. But this time we can take a common sense approach to it and get quality work into them.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

Subscribe to scotsman.com and enjoy unlimited access to Scottish news and information online and on our app. Visit https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

Joy Yates

Editorial Director