Neil Lennon ‘made a man of me’ says Celtic skipper Scott Brown

Manager Neil Lennon celebrates with Scott Brown after Celtic had secured the Premiership title with a 4-1 win over Inverness Caley Thistle in 2013. Picture: SNS

It may never be fully known why Lennon and assistant Garry Parker left Easter Road following the release of the ‘mutual consent’ statement last week in which no-one was guilty of anything and each party gushed about the other after Lennon had been suspended following an alleged training-ground row.

However, Celtic captain Brown believes Lennon remains a high-calibre coach who has all the right credentials to make a success of his career in England – even if he will be a massive loss to Hibs. He also feels his former club did not provide Lennon with the necessary financial muscle to replace the key players he lost this season.

Brown, who worked under Lennon at Parkhead between 2010 and 2014, said: “I’m sad to see him go. He was fantastic for Hibs.

“I don’t know what’s happened there but I just wish him all the best. I’m sure if you speak with Lenny, he’ll tell you what happened. It’s hard being a manager and dealing with boards but it’s part and parcel of the game.

“He’s a fantastic manager. He’ll get another job as he’s a great people person as well. You never know, he might go back south. When people see his style and the way Hibs played last season, people might take a chance on him

“He’s done well and he did brilliantly for us at Celtic. So why not take a chance on someone who’s proven?

“He did brilliantly in the first season [at Hibs] and for me, losing John McGinn, Dylan McGeouch and Efe Ambrose – probably the three biggest names you could lose at a club – was hard. He probably didn’t get the  money to replace them.

“John, in particular, was and is fantastic down in England. He was probably irreplaceable. No matter who came in it was always going to be hard to fill his boots.

“It’s always hard at any football club and he probably didn’t get the money or the time to replace them.”

Lennon brought Hibs up as champions in 2017 and then finished fourth in the Premiership last term, but, after a good start this season, Hibs won only three of his last 14 games in charge and fell out of the top six.

Brown said: “It was always going to be hard to maintain what he had done especially after the first couple of  seasons and after losing key players.

“He puts a lot of faith in his players. He lets them go out and play. Most of them thrive on that and love him.

“There are always going to be players who don’t like that and they leave but he was brilliant for me. He  probably turned me into a man more than anything. There were times when he had to be tough – when you are not playing well and are at Ibrox, Tynecastle or Easter Road or the like.

“And there were times when he’d put his arm around you. So you got the best of both worlds.”

Brown knows it could be a pivotal moment for Celtic tonight in their pursuit of an eighth successive title, given that nearest challengers  Rangers and Aberdeen are facing each other at Pittodrie.

He happily admits there is a genuine threat to their supremacy but feels they are more than capable of rising to the challenge after four straight league wins in 2019.

He said: “I’m enjoying it. It’s been good for us. It shows we need to win games to stay on top.

“It shows that when the pressure is on the players can deal with it.

“If you want to be a winner, you want to maintain that standard you set season after season. You’ve got to have that wee edge that, when someone is coming up and think they can take that title away from you, you just push away again. We’ve done it over the years and we need to make sure we do it again this season.”