L | Player Pics | Road to Seville | A-Z of Players

Personal

Fullname: Neil Lennon
aka: Lenny
Born: 25 June 1971
Birthplace: Lurgan (N Ireland)
Height: 5.09
Weight: 11.06
Position: Midfielder
Squad No.: 18
Internationals: N Ireland
International Caps: 39 caps
International Goals: 2 goals

Summary

Born on the 25th June 1971, in Lurgan

Martin O'Neill signed Lennon from his former club Leicester City in December of 2000 for £5.75M [BBC] after initially missing out in securing his signature in August.

Lennon signed a 1 year extension to his deal in 2006.

Lennon (now retired from international football) scored 2 goals in 39 appearance for Northern Ireland

Lennon announces to depart at end of season [BBC]

Lennon Leaves Celtic [BBC]

On 3 April 2008 Celtic announced that Neil Lennon would be joining the coaching staff to work with Gordon Strachan.

Biog

Neil Lennon has had one hell of a time at Celtic. Signed by Martin O'Neill as a holding midfielder, his presence on the pitch was meant to bolster the defensive aspect of the team and cover for the more attack minded players and do the unglamourous defensive roles in the middle of the park. As it happened, this was all turned on its head, and he himself needed the club and fans to cover for himself off the pitch. There have been far fewer players in our club's history who have been as victimised as Neil Lennon by others, and his struggle to just be able to live his life has been a difficult one.

The strange thing is that much of this write-up will be about anything apart from what was on the pitch!!!!! Surprising, as there is a hell of a lot to say for what happened on the pitch as off it. He was a talented midfielder, but having taken on an unglamourous role in the side (reflected in that he only scored three goals for us in seven years) he was one for the more avid fan to be able to understand and appreciate than anyone else.

Arriving in Dec 2000, Celtic had already got off the starting blocks with Celtic manager Martin O'Neill (who also his former manager at Leicester), and Lennon was brought in to build on the early success the team at that point was enjoying. Slotting in well into the Celtic side, he gave the attacking players a bit more comfort that he was behind them to assist, and effectively allowed us to be more daring in attack than if he wasn't there. Many people who only watch matches on TV don't understand the work that is done on the pitch by some players off the ball, and there were fewer players than Neil Lennon who have worked as hard at this. Some Celtic fans could find him frustrating as he was not averse to playing the ball back to the defence but in the course of a 90min game this is intelligent play, and you can't just attack at all times (possession is key).

His time at Celtic was marked with success, and two league titles in his first two years was excellent but the Road to Seville season (2002-2003) was one of the biggest highlights. As with others, he was well overshadowed by Larsson, Sutton and the goal scorers, but he never complained and got on with his job. Needling opposition, competing for the ball and covering for the others, he more than showed his value, and it was sad to see players like him being on the losing side in the UEFA Cup when they deserved so much more. Having played throughout the bulk of Martin O'Neill's tenure at Celtic, his place is assured with the other more lauded players during that golden period.

As a reflection of his importance to the team and the club, he was made captain of the side in 2005, a well-earned accolade.

He did state that if we had achieved going through the group stages in the Champions League then that would count for more than the UEFA Cup Final (something the Huns liked to bring up when they achieved the feat first), and in 2006 his face as he interviewer informed him that we had got through after defeating Man U 1-0 was joyous. There are few other players you could feel as happy for.

If truth be told, he did actually stay a season longer than he probably should have at Celtic. His pace was slowing down making him less effectual in his position, and in effect he became too easy a target for the moaners (they need a target to keep them occupied). Nevertheless, he captained the side to the league title for the second year in a row and he never gave less than his all.

At his last game for the club (as a player) he gave a farewell thank you speech. However, the travelling Aberdeen fans were giving him lip throughout his speech, and he politely requested for the "sheep shaggers" to be quiet for a minute. All in jest, and in fairness the Aberdeen fans didn't take the hump! Controversial to the end our Lenny!!! (and we love him for it). Extra sadness on his departure as seeing another link from the "Road to Seville" on his way.

Post-Celtic

In 2008, following Tommy Burn's stepping down due to illness, Neil Lennon was appointed to the Coaching Staff, and very welcome he was too.

Controversy

So what exactly was the issue with Lennon for many people outwith of Celtic?. The simple answer is that he was a Roman Catholic Irish man raised in Northern Ireland who chose to sign for Celtic. Myths, lies and propaganda then were fabricated about him by the Huns and other in bred fans from other Scottish clubs to supposedly justify (sic!) their barracking of him. Whole spates of incidents followed him as most people seemed to just make up stuff to try to convince themselves that Lennon was a bigot (not that he ever did anything bigoted).

Notable was was his departure from the N Ireland squad, where having endured abuse at Windsor Park for having signed for Celtic, death threats were made against him, which led to his decision to have to prematurely end his international career. On choosing a political football XI, Simon Kuper (a respected international football journalist) chose Neil Lennon to be represented in the side due to the Northern Ireland incidents. Bigots had beaten him in in Ulster, but they weren't to defeat him in Scotland, but still made his life difficult.

Bigoted abuse was relentless against Lennon, clearly showing that there were still many in Scotland who were stuck in the cesspits of the 17th Century. One episode happened at the end of an Old Firm game where Neil Lennon went up to the Rangers fans and made a sign of smoking a cigar (take from what you want). What did they claim? He spat at them (!) and that he made sectarian remarks at them. A set of Huns even got out a lip reader to try and prove this (they couldn't) and how someone was supposed to hear and see him doing it being so far away is not possible, and just shows the low levels the Huns were willing to go to try to blacken Lennon. It was a disgrace.

The whole bigotry against Lennon matter came to a head in Nov 2004, when after a torrid time in an Old Firm game, Martin O'Neill defiantly took Lennon to the Celtic support to give his backing after Lennon had endured "racial and sectarian abuse". Papers were full write-ups on the events, and Graham Speirs (respected journalist) noted in a book he wrote that this shook David Murray (Hun's chairman) to act more decisively on the issue in fear of UEFA repercussions. The way that Martin O'Neill handled it was brave and deserving of respect, and both he & Neil Lennon became reluctant heroes in this respect.

In all honestly, Neil Lennon was no angel, and in one incident at the end of a game even ended up in a bit of a spat with fellow team mate Aiden McGeady! It was ridiculous, but he was an emotional guy. He admitted later to having serious problems with depression, but has had the strength to speak about it publicly.

In years to come Neil's time at Celtic will be seen as an important point in the whole divide issue. Celtic have always been an open club, not denying a handful of events that have gone against our ethos over the years, and Neil Lennon's treatment by the other Scottish Club's fans really showed that the country could have many who were deaf dumb or blind to the reality of bigotry amongst various pockets of people who weren't just Rangers fans. Neil stuck through it all and we stuck by him. That more than anything else is the real success of Neil's time as a player at Celtic. Wish though that it would have been possible to have just been able to talk about his performances on the pitch. However, when the next player who comes from a similar background to Neil's and does not have to go through what he went through, then it will be time to happily reflect on the really victory for the Celtic ethos and Lennon's part in this change.

Playing Career

Club ____________	From ____________	To ____________	Fee ____________	League ____________		Scottish/FA Cup ____________		League cup ____________		Other ____________
Wycombe	31/01/2008	31/05/2008	Free	8 (1)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Nottm Forest	12/06/2007	31/01/2008	Free	15 (3)	0	1 (0)	0	2 (0)	0	0 (1)	0
Celtic	08/12/2000	12/06/2007	£5,750,000	212 (2)	3	26 (0)	0	10 (1)	0	52 (1)	0
Leicester	23/02/1996	08/12/2000	£ 750,000	169 (1)	6	8 (0)	0	23 (0)	3	8 (0)	0
Crewe	09/08/1990	22/02/1996	Free	142 (5)	15	16 (0)	1	8 (1)	1	15 (0)	1
Man City	26/08/1989	09/08/1990	Trainee	1 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Totals			£6,500,000	547 (12)	24	51 (0)	1	43 (2)	4	75 (2)	1
			goals / game	0.04		0.01		0.08		0.01
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals

Honours with Celtic

UEFA Cup

• Runners-up 2002-2003

Scottish Premier League:

• 2000-01, 2001-02, 2003-04, 2005-06, 2006-07

Scottish Cup:

• 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007

Scottish League Cup:

• 2000-01, 2005-06

Quotes

"Henrik Larsson is obviously a wonderful talent, but the guy I really like in the game today is Neil Lennon. He works tirelessly, always passes it to somebody in the clear and gets back well."
(Bobby Collins)



“So we’ve got the away goal, just right on half time,” recalls Lennon. “It was such a huge boost for us. We were pretty happy with the way we played in the first 45 minutes. Martin asked for more of the same; just defend for your life and be brave on the ball when you can.”
As Liverpool pressed in vain for an equaliser, Celtic struggled to retain possession and were under the cosh until a frustrated verbal exchange between Lennon and striker John Hartson sparked the giant striker into life.
“About half an hour into the second half, big John [Hartson]’s going through a wee dodgy period and gave the ball away a couple of times,” said Lennon. “So I said ‘hey, you, you hold that ball’.
“Then he turned round to me and said ‘you shut up or I will rip your head off’. Something like that, words to that effect anyway. Two minutes later I played it into him and he shrugged off Hyppia, played a one two with Henrik [Larsson] and lashed one into the top corner.
“That was the best moment for me in the whole tournament that goal. Just to see the big man wheel away to our fans and looking at our bench and you know that you are 3-1 up with 10 minutes to go and there is just no way back for Liverpool.”
Neil Lennon on 2-0 win v Liverpool (2003)

Articles

• MoN's support after Sectarian Abuse (Herald)
• Biography and depression revelations (Scotland on Sunday)
• Biography on sectarianism and death threats (Guardian)
• Interview (Maxim)
• The Strong Goodbye (J Traynor, Apr 07)
• Interest from Rangers in Neil Lennon
  

KStreet

• Lennon announces departures
• How will we remember Neil Lennon (May 07)
  

Pictures

• Neil Lennon Pictures
  

Lennon will bow out but the bigots still remain

(4 May 2007) Graham Spiers (The times)

At Ibrox this afternoon, one of the greatest love-hate relationships in the history of Scottish football reaches its conclusion. Neil Lennon, the Celtic captain, will play at the home of Rangers for the last time.

I call it “a love-hate occasion” because, while Lennon loves playing there, the Rangers fans hate him.

The phenomenon of Lennon’s experience in Scotland has told us much about Scottish football, and quite a bit about Scottish society, too. It is silly and even dangerous to extract sociological conclusions out of the maw of the football arena but, that caveat duly noted, what has happened to Lennon since he signed for Celtic in November 2000 has been sobering.

You wouldn’t have thought it possible in the 21st Century that a footballer could be so abused because he represented Northern Irish Roman Catholicism.

Lennon is no angel. In seven years in Scotland he has been no idle pacifist. On occasions, in particular at Ibrox, his behaviour has been appalling, none more so than on that afternoon in August 2005 when he so lost the plot after being sent off by the referee, Stuart Dougal, that he very nearly slugged the match official as he stomped off the pitch. In that moment of red mist, rarely have Celtic been so humiliated by the antics of a captain.

Lennon is from Lurgan, he is a street-fighter. He grew up in an environment in which he belonged to a persecuted minority, and he learnt how to react to adversity. On the football field this can exhibit itself in some very uncaptain-like antics, such as his frequent middle-fingered gestures to abusing opposition supporters. So if anyone wants to defend Lennon’s case, they needn’t draw comparisons with Mother Theresa, because there aren’t any. He is no beseecher of peace and tranquillity.

Yet his experience of bigotry in Scotland has been eye-opening. It started first of all when he had to stop playing for Northern Ireland following the abuse he received at Windsor Park after signing for Celtic. That, in itself, was telling: such opprobrium had never been an issue for Lennon while he was a player for Leicester City. But, come his arrival in Glasgow, and his donning of the green-and-white hooped shirt of Celtic, one of sport’s most visible symbols of the Catholic tradition... now that was different.

The rancour that subsequently forced Lennon to stop playing for Northern Ireland didn’t stop with his international retirement. It followed him to Scotland and to his club career at Celtic, and, in particular, into the seething saga of the Old Firm.

I have always maintained that no one’s heart need bleed for Lennon. He has loved his football career and enjoyed many remarkable highs, and occasions such as today at Ibrox, where the abuse will rain on him, is something he relishes. To any proud Scot, though, it is embarrassing to witness the bigoted abuse at these games. Notwithstanding the fact that football crowds often indulge in empty, ritual chanting, it is disturbing that Scotland should still house so many serious bigots in the modern day and age.

Actually, that last comment needs qualifying. The bigotry issue in Scotland is greatly improving, and anyone who vehemently denies this must be strangely besotted with the idea of a permanently-benighted nation. But what the Lennon experience has proved is that enough bigots are still around for the Scottish Executive to have been utterly justified in making antisectarianism measures a central plank of its recent policy.

It has been an embarrassment for Rangers, in particular. The abuse of Lennon was a contributory cause of the club eventually being punished for bigotry by Uefa in May 2006, and Martin Bain, the Rangers chief executive, has unveiled initiative upon initiative to try to arrest the problem among the club’s supporters.

Two days ago, in what is now almost a tedious routine, Uefa fined Rangers for the second time in 12 months for sectarian chanting. No one, let it be said, is more frustrated by the blight than those ordinary, decent Rangers fans whose sole agenda is their love of their team.

The one delicious irony about Lennon as a personality – not that you would know it from the pitch – is that he is a highly likeable man. It has caused me no end of mirth to point out to Rangers-supporting friends that, while they detest the Celtic captain on the field, they would actually really like him were they ever to unexpectedly share a pint with him.

One of football’s endless intrigues is the way in which a player on the field and the same man in his civvies can seem like two different people, and Lennon is one such case. He is one of the most affable blokes you could meet.

I hope they give him a fond send-off at Ibrox today. Lennon will certainly be hoping that they do.

Plagued by the phoniness

Political Football: Neil Lennon

It happened in August 2002. Just before Neil Lennon could captain Northern Ireland for the first time, somebody phoned the BBC and threatened to kill him. The midfielder, who had had death threats before, withdrew from the match. He never played for his country again.

It was one of the last episodes in the Troubles, the Protestant-Catholic conflict that tore apart Northern Ireland for over 30 years. Lennon was punished for being a Catholic who played for a Catholic-identified club, Celtic of Glasgow, and had reportedly said he would like to play for a united Irish team, while almost all Northern Ireland's supporters were Protestants.

"It was pretty crushing," recalls Michael Boyd, head of community relations at the Irish Football Association, and one of the few in Northern Ireland who dared confront sectarianism. "That was probably the lowest point of our Football for All campaign. But it acted as a catalyst for change."

Five years on, the Neil Lennon affair appears to belong to a different age. Not only does the sectarian Protestant Ian Paisley now rule Northern Ireland together with the sectarian Catholic Martin McGuinness. In football, too, Northern Ireland's fans have cleaned up their act to the degree that last year they won the Brussels International Supporters Award as Europe's best fans.

At last an ugly story has a happy end, and it's partly thanks to Lennon. As a reward he becomes the fifth member of Channel 4 News's Political Football XI.

The Lennon affair began in March 2001. He had played for Northern Ireland for seven years without incident - Catholics have always featured in the team, if not on the stands - until he signed for Celtic. The place where Glaswegian football arouses most emotions is possibly Northern Ireland. The local Catholics tend to support Celtic, and the Protestants Rangers. 15 years ago, I took the ferry from Northern Ireland to Scotland with some local Celtic fans to watch the Old Firm game between the two clubs. Though the people I travelled with treated me well, I have never seen such hate around a sports match anywhere. It was fans like these who sent death threats to the Catholic Maurice Johnston when he joined Rangers in 1989. As a joke at the time went: "What's the difference between Salman Rushdie and Maurice Johnston?" Answer: "Maurice Johnston's really in trouble."

When Lennon joined Celtic, some Northern Irish Protestants were unforgiving. To them, wearing the green-and-white hoops was a greater crime than being Catholic. During Northern Ireland vs. Norway in Belfast's Windsor Park in March 2001, Lennon was abused by a section of his own crowd. They sang traditional anti-Catholic songs, and chanted, "We've Got a Provo on Our Team".

At half-time Boyd entered the stands to see who was singing: about 50 to 100 people in the Kop, and a sprinkling of others, he says. "The thing that really annoyed me," he adds, "was that they probably saw themselves as loyal Northern Ireland supporters."
Lennon, who left Celtic this summer, after sealing the league-and-cup double in his last match, and who now captains Nottingham Forest, has left a legacy. He may be the last British professional to suffer such persecution. There certainly shouldn't be any more in Glasgow: since Johnston broke the dam, Rangers have signed countless Catholics, mostly from continental Europe.

Remembering the episode, Boyd says: "It's a shame it ended Neil's international career. He was a great player."

In compensation, Lennon enters our political XI in midfield alongside our previous picks Diego Maradona and Walter Tull, and in front of the defenders Paul Breitner and Franz Beckenbauer. Next month, we pick our first forward.

Simon Kuper writes for the Financial Times. source: http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/sports/political+football+neil+lennon/882547 Thursday, 22 August, 2002, 14:08 GMT 15:08 UK

Driven out by hate

O'NEILL IS THE FIRST OLD FIRM BOSS IN YEARS TO TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT BIGOTS

By Graham Spiers
Rangers fans were branded bigots by Celtic's manager after their recent game – much to the fury of Ibrox fans. But Graham Spiers says O'Neill should be praised for his comments. Nobody needs to preach to me about the complexity of bigotry. Sometimes explicit, sometimes subliminal, sometimes clouded by humour, trying precisely to trace a bigot is a vulnerable and dangerous task.

There are some strands of evidence though, which can be presented without argument. Let us suppose, in the case of prejudice against Catholics, that someone regularly and with great relish refers to someone as “a Fenian bastard”.

Or suppose, with equal fervour, they enjoy singing about someone “dying a Fenian bastard” or of being “up to our knees in Fenian blood”. Or consider even the plain, less adornedNei chant of “dirty Fenian bastard”. Now this is language uttered without fear or inhibition, which can be taken as evidence of bigotry.

This was Rangers chairman David Murray's major problem three days ago. Following comments made by the Celtic manager Martin O'Neill, about the bigotry at Ibrox last weekend, the irony was that it was Murray who was suddenly on the back foot. Murray was forced to come out and defend his club's supporters, yet he knew he had a difficulty. His problem was that, at Ibrox, hordes of Rangers supporters routinely shout and chant bigoted slogans. “We should guard against broad generalisations [about] our fans,” said Murray in response to O'Neill.


But it was the subtext of this remark that was telling. Murray knows, as everyone else knows, that the atmosphere at Ibrox on match days can be thick with bigotry. Around almost every corner of this sensitive subject, you have to apply checks and balances. Rangers should not be tarred exclusively with the sectarian problem, because Celtic suffer from it as well. In this specific context, we are dealing with Rangers and Ibrox, precisely because of what Martin O'Neill said earlier this week. Moreover, at Rangers, by general consent the sectarianism is worse than it is at Celtic. He outcry over O'Neil's comments in Barcelona about the bigotry of many Rangers supporters has been extraordinary.


Although he was goaded into making his remarks, what O'Neill said was the essence of truth and he deserves great credit for saying what he said. Last Tuesday evening, O'Neill claimed there had been “racial and sectarian abuse” of his players at Ibrox when Rangers played Celtic last weekend, and that at times it had reached “an incredible crescendo”. Speaking from a media perspective, I hardly know a reporter or an observer with any experience of Ibrox who would deny what O'Neill said. Personally, I have been going to Ibrox, man and boy, for 30 years and would certainly concur with O'Neill. Some among us might not like that fact. Others may prefer to keep quiet about it or even erase it from our consciousness. Others might even be embarrassed about it. But I'd like to find a convincing man or woman anywhere who would be willing to stick up their hand and say “Bigotry at Ibrox? Not true.”

What was mystifying was the remarkable controversy following O'Neill's comments, as if he had said something plainly preposterous or delusional in nature. Every sentient person I have spoken to about O'Neill's remarks has congratulated the Celtic manager for saying what most observers in Scotland have been stating for 50 years. Yet there is still an impression somewhere out there that O'Neill was in the wrong.

The fact is that Rangers cannot crush their sectarian problem. Years ago, David Murray referred to the Rangers supporters as “an embarrassment” because of their bigoted chanting, yet try as Murray might, or try as Martin Bain, the club's director of football might, they cannot erase the stain. These days, at Ibrox on match days the idiom of bigotry is as prevalent as ever. In these debates, you cannot just indulge in unsubstantiated or timeworn hunches. Instead you must present cold evidence born of experience. So from myriad examples in my own experience, let me provide one concrete case from Ibrox and the Old Firm game last Saturday. As it so happened, I gave up my usual seat in the press box to a Sunday newspaper journalist, whose immediate need for more working space was more pressing than my own.

Hence, I made my way to a different seat at Ibrox, with greater proximity to the Rangers supporters. It was an experience that reminded me again of how widespread and malignant bigotry at Ibrox is. From too many mouth to count, people like O'Neill and Neil Lennon, the Celtic midfielder, both Catholics from Northern Ireland, were subjected to sustained sectarian abuse throughout the match. It is worth actually citing these slogans. They ranged from “Fenian c***” to “Fenian scumbag” to – in the case of Lennon – “away and f*** yersel Lennon, ya Fenian bawbag”.

A Rangers supporter sitting close to me, and representing that great strand of decent Ibrox supporters who must be routinely embarrassed by all this said, said to me jocularly at half time: “You'll note that we are among the discerning Rangers supporters up here”. He was joking, but his sarcasm made the point. It was a rotten, ignorant, venom-filled atmosphere, which, Martin O'Neill, three days later in Barcelona, would quite rightly describe as bigoted. Yes, it is a subtle business actually “defining” a bigot. Yes, a 90-minute bigot on a Saturday afternoon doesn't necessarily mean full-blown bigotry in the rest of an otherwise decent citizen's life. Yes, inhibited people often bow to peer-pressure and join in such chanting when they'd rather not.

The very least you should be, though is suspicious of such behaviour. In many cases, there is simply no doubt about it. If the diagnosis of a real, genuine, bigot proves to subtle to perform, then the only response can be the one I gave to the very likeable Donald Findlay, QC, when he denied being a bigot after resigning in disgrace as vice-chairman of Rangers. “Donald, I don't know if you're a bigot or not,” I told him, “All I know is that you acted like one,” For too many people, in the raucous atmosphere of Ibrox, the shouting and singing amount to prejudice. From my point of view, if innocents are otherwise tarred by these allegations, then I simply have to keep apologising to decent supporters who feel the rough edge of a critic's pen.

Just don't deny the unavoidable truth…that here in 2004, an alarming number of Rangers supporters, as David Murray well knows, are bigots. It is folly, not to say a cultural disservice to Scotland, to denounce O'Neill for what he said this week, and I say this as one who is only too aware of the futile and dramatic exaggeration of bigotry in our country. Five years ago, when the composer James MacMillan, in his famous outburst, claimed that such places as Scottish Television and BBC Scotland were “jam-packed with bigots”, I regarded it as plainly absurd, a mis-use of language.

But Martin O'Neill's comments this week carried a distinctive, more authentic tone. O'Neill knew what he was talking about and he hit the truth dead-on. O'Neill, I believe is the first Old Firm manager in 30 years to offer such a bold and unequivocal condemnation of the sectarian problem. For that fact alone he deserves credit, though it begs an old question from some of us: why is that Rangers and Celtic who find themselves at the very centre of this blight should be so routinely silent about it? Alex McLeish, the Rangers manager, is, to use the vernacular, a top bloke.

Anyone, like me, who comes across McLeish will vouch not only for his milk of human kindness, but also his charm, thoughtfulness and strong humanity. Yet what would I give for McLeish one day to say: “You know what? I love football, I love Rangers, and I love the passion of our supporters. But bigotry is something I detest to my very core, and I wish those Rangers supporters who indulge in it would stop embarrassing themselves, our club, and me”. Those of us who inhabit the football world have a favourite cliché about all of this.

We say of bigotry: “It's not football's problem, it's society's problem,” Well, yes, this is self-evidently true, and the medicine for it all surely lies in education. But football shouldn't be too dumb to speak up about the problem. Nor should we go mute when seeking to apportion blame in the endless, tip-toeing sensitivity about what attaches to Rangers and what to Celtic. Rangers, in particular have a major problem with bigots, which I believe the club is trying to address. Martin O'Neill, meanwhile, deserves credit for having the courage to talk about it.

Night O'Neill brought bigotry issue to a head