Former Celtic star John Hartson has revealed how club’s current manager Neil Lennon has changed as a person over the years.
Hartson, who shared the dressing room with Lennon during their days at the Scottish capital, was recently talking to the Scottish Sun. He opened up about how his former teammate and his growth over the years.
He said: “When you get older you get wiser. You learn. Children grow up and become teenagers, and you become more responsible, and Neil Lennon’s no different.
“He seems a lot calmer and has great people under him. John Kennedy is rated exceptionally highly as a young coach by Celtic and there’s Damien Duff along with ex-players Darren O’Dea and Stephen McManus.”
“In the time I spend with Neil he seems very comfortable in his skin and where he’s at in terms of his team. He feels he’s got a really strong team and they are playing exceptionally well with a great captain leading them in Scott Brown.
“But I do see a difference in him. It’s now a wiser Lenny who doesn’t berate referees as much, but when he did do that it was part of learning. If you keep making the same mistakes you get stuck in a rut. But as you get older and more experienced you learn.”
Those were the days
Lennon had joined Celtic from Premier League outfit Leicester City in the summer of 2000. He had been a product of the Manchester City youth academy as a kid and played in the first-team for Crewe Alexandra and the Foxes.
A midfielder by trade, Lennon went onto make 125 appearances for the Hoops. He also played 26 times in the UEFA Champions League for the club, taking part in as many as four editions of the competition.
His teammate Hartson would arrive in Glasgow from Coventry City in the summer of 2001. He was at the club for as many as five years and left in the summer of 2006 to join West Bromwich Albion.
Together, the duo helped the club win a total of three Scottish Premiership titles – in the 2001-02 season, the 2003-04 season and in the 2005-06 campaign as well.
TIF Tactics
It is out in the open as to what Lennon has achieved since retiring as a player in April 2008. He joined the Hoops as the club’s manager in 2010 and the current spell is his second, as he had replaced Brendan Rodgers when the former Liverpool boss had joined Leicester earlier this year.
As a manager of the Bhoys, Lennon has won the Scottish Premiership crown a total of four times for the club, picking up the Scottish Cup title thrice as well. He had a spell with Hibernian from 2016 to 2019 and during this time, he helped Hibs win the Scottish Championship crown in the 2016-17 campaign.
As for Hartson, the Welshman hasn’t ventured too much into coaching. But the former striker did have a spell as the assistant coach of the Welsh national team.