Kamara sees further improvement if Celtic stick with Neil Lennon

The on-loan player, scorer of his club's first goal in their 2-0 win over Dundee United at Tannadice on Sunday, credited caretaker manager Neil Lennon with making the team more competitive, and said the improvement was sure to continue if he remained in charge.

"The mentality has changed a little bit," Kamara said. "We've just won five games in a row.

"I think Lennon put some strong mentality on the players and said we are Celtic, we need to win every game home or away. He has a lot of personality, he loves his job, and I think if you give him the time he can do a lot of good things for us at Celtic."

Asked if those good things could include at least being in serious contention for the title, Kamara offered an affirmative answer. "Yeah, definitely. He knows Celtic, he knows the supporters and the club, and I think if he stays he can do a good job next season.

"In training and in games he shows a lot of passion. When you have a coach like this on the bench you want to fight for him. When he was a player he was a winner and he gives this mentality to the team. "

Although he accepted that he would not necessarily have the final say in the matter, Kamara stated that if it was up to him he would still be at Parkhead next season. "If I can stay at Celtic, definitely, I want to stay, because I have a good feeling here and I love this club. But in football you never know what happens.

"At the moment I'm still on loan from Fulham, and I just need to play good the last few games. After, we see what happens, because in football sometimes you want to stay somewhere and (you can't].

"In my mind at the moment if I have the opportunity to stay at Celtic. Definitely, I want to stay."

Having been recruited from the London club by Tony Mowbray, Kamara offered words of support for the former manager. Lennon's animation on the touchline has provided a stark contrast with Mowbray's passivity, but the Senegalese player insisted that should not be taken to mean the latter did not care or could not coach.

"It doesn't matter. Some coaches are like Tony, some are like Neil. I have a good feeling with Tony Mowbray. I think he's a very good manager. I think if you give him a little bit more time you will see he was a good coach, but someone decided another thing. Every coach is different."

"I was a little bit sad when Tony Mowbray left because he brought me here, but Celtic is bigger than players and coaches. I want to stay if I agree a deal with Celtic.

"I have a good feeling here. I was a little bit unlucky with my hamstring injury, but I have enjoyed my time at Celtic and at the end of the season we'll see what happens."

Sunday's match was the kind of tough scrap which Celtic might easily have lost a couple of months ago, but Kamara, for one, relished the physical challenge. Needless to say, he was also pleased with the victory, which ensured Celtic will finish second and thus go into the qualifying stages for the Champions League.

"Eight or nine yellow cards, one red card – it was a good game, a Scottish game, and I enjoyed it. English football and Scottish football are physical. I think it was a little bit too much today, but the most important thing was there were no injuries and we won the game.

"We didn't win a trophy this year. I think we have a good squad.

"Minimum I thought we could go to the Scottish Cup final, but we lost in the semi-final. But the target for the end of the season was to qualify for the Champions League, and now we have done that.

"This was the minimum. It is very important for us."