Neil Lennon

Neil Lennon
Lennon at Celtic Park in 2006
Personal information
Full name Neil Francis Lennon[1]
Date of birth (1971-06-25) 25 June 1971 (age 53)
Place of birth Lurgan, Northern Ireland
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Lurgan Celtic
1986–1987 Glenavon
1987–1989 Manchester City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1987 Glenavon 2 (1)
1987–1990 Manchester City 1 (0)
1990–1996 Crewe Alexandra 147 (15)
1996–2000 Leicester City 170 (6)
2000–2007 Celtic 214 (3)
2007–2008 Nottingham Forest 18 (0)
2008 Wycombe Wanderers 9 (0)
Total 561 (25)
International career
1990–1994 Northern Ireland U21 2 (0)
1990 Northern Ireland U23 2 (0)
1994 Northern Ireland B 1 (0)
1994–2002 Northern Ireland 40 (2)
Managerial career
2008–2009 Celtic (assistant)
2009–2010 Celtic B
2010–2014 Celtic
2014–2016 Bolton Wanderers
2016–2019 Hibernian
2019–2021 Celtic
2022 Omonia
2024 Rapid București
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971)[2] is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player, who was most recently the head coach of Liga I club Rapid București.

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.[3][4][5] 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.[6] 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.

  1. ^ Hugman, Barry J. (2005). The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–2005. Queen Anne Press. p. 367. ISBN 1-85291-665-6.
  2. ^ Neil Lennon Archived 20 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine Sporting-Heroes
  3. ^ Celtic appoint Neil Lennon as their new manager The Times, 9 June 2010 [dead link]
  4. ^ "Lennon the way forward for Celtic". UEFA. 9 June 2010. Archived from the original on 2 January 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
  5. ^ "Tony Mowbray leaves Celtic". STV Sport. STV Group. 25 March 2010. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  6. ^ "Neil Lennon appointed manager of AC Omonoia Nicosia". The Celtic Star. 7 March 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.