Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who currently manages Scottish Championship club Dunfermline Athletic.
During his playing career he represented English clubs Manchester City, Crewe Alexandra and Leicester City. Lennon moved to Celtic in 2000, where he made over 200 appearances and was appointed captain in 2005. Before retiring as a player, he returned to England and played for Nottingham Forest and Wycombe Wanderers. Lennon also earned 40 caps for the Northern Ireland national team over nine years, scoring two goals.
Lennon was appointed manager of former club Celtic in March 2010, initially in a caretaker capacity, following the departure of Tony Mowbray.Celtic appoint Neil Lennon as their new manager The Times, 9 June 2010 Lennon enjoyed significant success as Celtic manager, winning three Scottish league championships, two Scottish Cups, qualifying for the group stage of the Champions League twice and the knockout stages once, before leaving the club in May 2014. After an unsuccessful spell back in England with Bolton Wanderers, marred by the club's financial problems, Lennon returned to Scottish football in 2016 with Hibernian. He led them to promotion back to the Scottish Premiership in his first season as head coach, and European qualification in his second season, before leaving Hibernian in January 2019.
Lennon returned to Celtic in February 2019, initially on an interim basis for the rest of the 2018–19 season, and guided them to the league and Scottish Cup titles. His contract was renewed and he led Celtic to the Scottish league title again in 2019–20. He also led the team to a fourth consecutive domestic treble by also winning the League Cup and the Scottish Cup that season. Lennon left Celtic in February 2021, as the club had fallen far behind Rangers in the 2020–21 Scottish Premiership.
Lennon returned to football a year later, becoming the new manager of Cypriot club Omonia in March 2022. Less than three months after arriving on the island, he led the club to win the Cypriot Cup, their first since 2012. He was sacked in October 2022 due to disappointing results in the domestic league.
Early life Neil Francis Lennon was born on 25 June 1971 in Lurgan, County Armagh, and attended St Michael's Grammar School in the town.St Michael's Mercy Mission to Mukuru St Michael's Grammar School, 24 May 2010 As a youngster he played Gaelic football for the school and was also selected for the Armagh minor team. He grew up supporting CelticLennon the man to lead Celtic's revival The Belfast Telegraph, 9 June 2010 and played football for the local Lurgan Celtic youth team.
Club career Early career Lennon joined Glenavon, after reaching the final of the Milk Cup with Glenavon Select and scored on his Irish League debut. He then joined Manchester City as a trainee in 1987. He made one first team appearance during his time in Manchester, a league match on 30 April 1988 away against Birmingham City, before signing for Crewe Alexandra on a free transfer in August 1990. Lennon made his debut for Crewe on 18 September 1990 against Reading. Despite missing the whole of season 1991–92 due to a back injury, he became an established member of the side and impressed with his intelligent play and consistent performances. Lennon's form saw him make his debut for Northern Ireland in 1994, and thus became the first Crewe Alexandra player in 60 years to win a full international cap. In years at Crewe, Lennon made 187 appearances for the club and scored 18 goals.
Leicester City In February 1996, Lennon signed for Leicester City for a fee of £750,000 (£ today). In May 1996, Lennon played in the Leicester City side that defeated Crystal Palace 2–1 at Wembley in the Play-off Final to win promotion to the Premier League. On 16 April 1997, Lennon picked up his first major winner's medal when Leicester won 1–0 against Middlesbrough in a replayed League Cup Final. He played in a further two League Cup Finals during his time at Filbert Street, losing 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur in March 1999 but winning 2–1 against Tranmere Rovers in February 2000.
An on-field incident during a league match in 1998 against Newcastle United between Lennon and Alan Shearer resulted in the England international being charged with misconduct by the FA, Television footage showed Shearer appearing to intentionally kick Lennon in the head following a challenge. The referee of the game took no action against Shearer. Shearer apologised afterwards, but denied that the contact with Lennon was deliberate, and Lennon later gave evidence in Shearer's defence at the FA hearing which subsequently cleared the Newcastle and England striker of all charges.
Celtic After Martin O'Neill became the new manager of Celtic in June 2000, he made several attempts to sign Lennon. After months of protracted negotiations with Leicester, on 6 December Lennon joined the club he supported as a boy for a fee of £5.75 million. That season saw Lennon pick-up three winner's medals as Celtic won a domestic treble; the Scottish Premier League, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup. The next four seasons at Celtic saw Lennon win a further two league championships and two Scottish Cups. He was also an integral part of the Celtic side that reached the UEFA Cup Final in 2003, losing 3-2 to Porto after extra time.
When Gordon Strachan took over from O'Neill as manager in the summer of 2005, he made Lennon the new club captain. In January 2006, when Leicester sacked Craig Levein, Lennon was linked with a return to the Midlands side in a player-manager role. He went on record saying he was flattered but wanted to captain Celtic to the Scottish Premier League title.
Although he was also linked with a move to Crystal Palace in a player-manager role in the summer of 2006, on 23 June 2006, Celtic announced he had signed a new one-year contract. Sunderland manager Roy Keane made an attempt to sign Lennon prior to the closure of the August 2006 transfer window, but his approach for the player was rejected by Celtic. On 25 April 2007, Lennon announced he would be leaving Celtic, and in his last game for the club on 26 May 2007, he captained the team to victory in the Scottish Cup Final against Dunfermline Athletic. Celtic's 1–0 win clinched the League and Cup Double.
Later career Lennon joined League One club Nottingham Forest on a one-year contract with an option for a second year on 12 June 2007. He made his debut captaining the side in a 0–0 draw at home to AFC Bournemouth. He missed a week's training with Forest in November 2007, because of family reasons in Scotland, and lost his place in the team as a consequence.
Lennon joined Wycombe Wanderers of League Two on a free transfer on 31 January 2008, managed by his former Celtic midfield partner Paul Lambert. He left on 3 April to take up a coaching role with Celtic.
International career Lennon made his international debut for Northern Ireland on 11 June 1994 when he come on as a substitute in a friendly against Mexico in Miami. He had to wait nearly a year for his next cap when he played against Chile in another friendly. Lennon made his first competitive appearance three months later on 3 September 1995 in a European Championship qualifier away against Portugal. After that, Lennon became a fixture in the international side although Northern Ireland were unsuccessful in their attempts to qualify for the finals of major tournaments.
Lennon decided to retire from international football in August 2002 upon receiving a death threat before a Northern Ireland match against Cyprus. The threats came after his alleged claim that he wanted to play for a team representing a United Ireland. The threat was allegedly made by the Loyalist Volunteer Force, although the organisation later denied this.
Lennon was capped 40 times by Northern Ireland, scoring two goals. He also captained the team on several occasions.
International stats
+ Appearances and goals by national team and yearNational teamYearAppsGoalsNorthern Ireland199410199540199651199780199861199970200040200140200210Total402
International goals Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1 5 October 1996 Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland 1–0 1–1 1998 World Cup qualification1996 MATCHES EUROPE (October) Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation 2 18 October 1998 Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland 2–2 2–2 Euro 2000 qualification(Northern) Ireland – International Results 1990–1999 – Details Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics FoundationDowie sparks recovery but slip-ups are costly Birmingham Post, 19 November 1998 (archived)
Managerial career Lennon was linked with the vacant manager's job at Hibernian after the resignation of John Collins, but the job was given to Mixu Paatelainen. Lennon's first coaching appointment was as first team coach with Celtic in 2008. After the appointment of Tony Mowbray as Celtic manager, Lennon took charge of the Celtic reserve team.
Celtic won the Jock Stein Friendship Cup match on penalties in his first match. With no reserve league, the team played a series of friendlies in Ireland against the first teams of Cork City, Drogheda United, Shamrock Rovers, and Cliftonville, losing only once. They played several times in England against Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Chelsea, Huddersfield Town, Newcastle United and Sunderland.
Celtic Following Mowbray's departure from Celtic on 25 March 2010, Lennon was appointed caretaker manager for the remainder of the 2009–10 season. He appointed former teammate Johan Mjällby as his assistant. Celtic won all of their remaining league games under Lennon, including wins over Kilmarnock, Hibernian, and Rangers, but lost 2–0 to First Division side Ross County in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup. In the aftermath of that defeat, Lennon spoke frankly about the Celtic players and their performances over the course of the season. He said that they had lacked "hunger and desire" and that whether he was installed as manager or not, he would be recommending a significant clear-out of players to the board.
Lennon was appointed manager of Celtic on a full-time basis on 9 June 2010.New manager Neil Lennon vows to bring success back to Celtic The Guardian, 9 June 2010 He retained Mjällby as his assistant, as well as former Celtic teammate Alan Thompson and former Leicester City teammate Garry Parker as first-team coaches
He made considerable changes to the Celtic team for the 2010–11 season. He sold Aiden McGeady for a then Scottish record £9.5 million along with captain Stephen McManus and goalkeeper Artur Boruc. 13 other players also left the club, this gave Lennon enough funds to re-build for the new season. Lennon then went on to sign several talented, young, cheap, relatively unknown players, from smaller leagues around the world; striker Gary Hooper arrived from English side Scunthorpe, Israeli international Beram Kayal was signed, and Honduran left-back Emilio Izaguirre also signed on. Lennon also signed several experienced players on free transfers. Charlie Mulgrew, Joe Ledley, and Daniel Majstorović all went into the first team. In addition to these Lennon also signed five other players, including Fraser Forster on loan from Newcastle who became first choice 'keeper and helped set a new SPL record for most clean sheets.