Pressure, what pressure? asks Celtic manager Neil Lennon

There is an easy riposte that can be offered up by Neil Lennon when he is asked how he is going to deal with the frenzy that will frame the club’s pursuit of nine-in-a-row. He already has done so. A ninth straight title is the imperative placed on Lennon’s team by a Celtic support who, frankly, will storm the citadel of Parkhead if this league championship and the Holy Grail of a tenth thereafter are not delivered. This same faithful, though, seemed on the verge of such insurrection when, in the hours following Brendan Rodgers’ flight to Leicester City, Lennon was tasked with securing the Premiership crown and the Scottish Cup to seal an unlikely-to-ever-be-repeated treble treble. Or, to put it another way, a nine-in-a-row in terms of consecutive domestic honours won.

It is that point he alights on when making plain that, even if Celtic and Rangers supporters are already working themselves up into a lather over “the nine season” – which begins for the champions at home to St Johnstone on Saturday – he is staying in the moment. An ability that comes along with his cutting a more mellow figure in his second spell as manager at the footballing home where he was at the helm between 2010 and 2014.

Asked if he had impressed upon his squad the historical importance of this latest title, Lennon said: “No. No, it’s just the next one. The most important one. That’s the next one. They know what’s at stake. We had all the talk of the treble treble. That got very, very wearing towards the end of the season on the players – as you can imagine.

“This will probably be no different. But we’ve just got to keep a perspective on things from there.

“Hibs away – ‘oh this could be it, Lennon’s first game back in the cup’. Aberdeen in the semi final. Rangers [in the league] – ‘if you lose this he could lose his job’.

“All that. Not just on me, but on the players as well. We were on the cusp of history, they were going to do something that hadn’t been done before, and in every press conference it was mentioned. And that’s understandable. It can sort of wear away at you and your subconscious sometimes, but they dealt with it brilliantly – and I’m sure this season will be no different.

“We are calm. There has been a lot of hard work going on and we are still looking to add to the squad and cull a bit of the squad. We would like to get what we want as quickly as possible but it is not always as easy as that, as you know. I am delighted with the three games we have had in the Champions League so far. You can’t ask any more and we have Hatem Abd Elhamed in, another addition, which is great. Whether we add to the squad or not we already have a really good core of players here but I think some of them could do with a hand. When they see quality comes in it gives them a huge lift as well.

“The priorities are: can we get into the Champions League?… which would be fantastic. A great sort of foothold in the season. And then the main priority is the championship which is the same every season.”

It is Champions League that will take precedence this week with a trip to Estonia for a Tuesday evening assignment. That should be a formality following the 5-0 thumping of opponents Nomme Kalju in the first leg of their second round qualifier in midweek. The five-goal cushion could allow Lennon to give a night off to some mainstays – such as James Forrest, Callum McGregor and Odsonne Edouard – likely to have precious little time to catch their breaths with a game every three days every week till the new year. On the flip side, it presents the opportunity for new arrivals such as £7m centre-back Christopher Julien and Elhamed to earn some competitive game time.

“We will look at it,” said the Celtic manager. “I’d like to give some players a rest if we can and it is an opportunity to do that. I’d imagine that Christopher Julien will probably play. He has a great chance of starting and it is a chance of getting a good 90 minutes into him to get him up and running. Lewis Morgan and Scott Sinclair too – we will look at the squad. We can’t overdo it but we have given ourselves a really strong platform.”

The strength of domestic opposition has been touted as greater than when Lennon led Celtic to three titles during his last stint. In taking over two years before Rangers’ descent into liquidation, he questions that assessment.

“I don’t know if the league is tougher than when I managed the first time, Rangers were very strong in the first two seasons,” he said. “People are saying they are stronger this year. Again, it’s too early to say. It’s too early to say what shape we’re in at the minute, though we are going in the right direction. So I think the league will be competitive as it always it. We just have to make sure we are at the top of it come the end.”

There is the comforting familiarity for Lennon in a role he knows so well. Yet, there are key differences he considers can help him retain his equilibrium as he often struggled to do as a fiery first time manager last time around.

‘I’ve different staff and I think the staff are good for me,” he said. “John [Kennedy, assistant manager] takes a lot on, Damien [Duff, first team coach], they have good energy, they will take a lot off my shoulders which is great. I’m more experienced. I know I lose the rag every now and again. I did at half time [on Wednesday, when we were 3-0 up], actually. You don’t lose that. But you evolve. I’m not saying I’m completely mellow but… I’m enjoying what I’m doing at the minute.”

That may require to give way to endurance in the months ahead.