Georgios Samaras: 'It would be mistake to sack Neil Lennon'

CELTIC striker Georgios Samaras believes the club's board would be guilty of a damaging error if they do not retain Neil Lennon's services as manager next season.

According to the Greek international striker, Lennon has earned the right to remain in the job irrespective of the outcome of tomorrow's Scottish Cup final against Motherwell at Hampden when Celtic will attempt to win their first major trophy in over two years.

Lennon, who is on a 12-month rolling contract at the club, has admitted there is no guarantee he will be kept on after narrowly failing in his primary objective of wresting the SPL title away from Rangers.

But Samaras insists the transformation Lennon has effected in unifying the Celtic squad on and off the pitch since succeeding Tony Mowbray last year would be wasted if major shareholder Dermot Desmond and chief executive Peter Lawwell do not confirm him as manager beyond this weekend.

"It's not good for Celtic to change managers every year and change players every year," said Samaras. "It would be a mistake to change again. We need to stick with the same manager and same team, but also bring some new players in who will bring extra quality to the squad.

"Lenny will stay, for sure. That's my opinion. If you ask Peter Lawwell, he might have another opinion. But I believe he (Lennon] will stay. I don't know anything more than you do, but that's what I believe.

"I fully trust him and my team-mates trust him as well. We want him to stay, for sure. Not only him, but Johan Mjallby, Alan Thompson and Garry Parker as well. It is a good working group, a top coaching team. We need them.

"You would need hours and days to speak about how Lenny has done what he has done over the past year. But the most important thing is that he united the dressing room. We are better team-mates now than we were last season. If you can control the dressing room, so that the players feel good and play well, then you have a base you can build from.

"It was more of a collection of individuals last year, rather than a group. I don't know the reasons behind what happened last year under Tony Mowbray. I don't run this club, I'm not the manager to know exactly what went wrong. I'm just saying that if I compare last season with this season, we are more of a team. That's the base from which to build more things."

Despite missing out on the SPL title last Sunday, Samaras feels Celtic have no reason to be downcast about their efforts under Lennon's first full season in charge.

"It's been okay this week," said the 26-year-old. "We don't have to be disappointed about what happened in the SPL. We had a good season, with a new manager and so many new players. Like Lenny said, it is not the end, just the beginning.

"Hopefully next season we will be stronger and have a better chance to win the title. We finished with 92 points. If you go back, that amount of points would have won the title in past seasons. So I think it has been a good season for us."

One of the most even-tempered and affable players in front of the media, Samaras did become unusually animated and irked yesterday when asked if he still reflected on the consequences of his failure to convert a late penalty kick in the 0-0 draw against Rangers at Ibrox in the final Old Firm game of the season."No," he replied. "Why speak about the penalty? What's the point after five or six weeks? There's nothing I can do now, it's left alone. We need to make new dreams and discover new things. You must be a strong character. You cannot talk about what happened six weeks ago, six months ago or last year. Just go forward. We have a final on Saturday and I'm focused on the final, to go and score and to win the final.

"At a big club like Celtic, you have to win trophies. Last year, we were not even close to winning something. As a team, we are far better now. We've had a few days to prepare for the final and we will be ready. The only thing on my mind is to give everything and do everything to win. We have told each other in the dressing room that if you are tired, then give more and more to be even more tired on Saturday. After that, we will have plenty of time to rest.

"First of all, we owe it to ourselves to win something this season. We worked really hard this season and lost the league by one point. We lost the League Cup to Rangers as well, so we need to finish the season well on Saturday. It is the last game and we just need to go and give everything to win the cup.

"We need to do it for our team-mates, for the manager and, of course, for the fans. The fans have been on our side all season. When the fans believe in the team and see that we play good football, they support us. They can see we have changed for the better since last year." Samaras scored his seventh goal of the season in Celtic's comfortable 4-0 SPL win over an under-strength Motherwell at Parkhead last Sunday but anticipates a far stiffer test tomorrow from the Fir Park club.

"I respect Motherwell," he said. "They are a good team and have had a really good season. Whether it is Barcelona, Motherwell or St Mirren, their chance in a cup final is the same. It's 50-50. Anything can happen in a final."