Lennon, Neil – Quotes

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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)

“Getting through the group stages would be as big as reaching the UEFA Cup final because then you’re one of the best 16 teams in Europe. If you play in the UEFA Cup, you can’t really say that because you’re out of the Champions League.”
Neil Lennon (2004)

“I certainly didn’t need a lip-reader to work out what 30,000 were calling me.”
Neil Lennon after we played the Huns (the Huns had hired a lip-reader claiming he’d made sectarian remarks at them at the end of one match (complete balderdash)

“The Celtic captain has this amazing capacity to have baying mobs and berserk tabloid columnists sounding off barmily about him. It really is a remarkable gift.”
Graham Speirs (journalist for The Herald) on Neil Lennon (2005)

“…Lennon embodies the very thing that some residual bigots in Scottish society and Scottish football cannot stand: a visible, vocal and successful Irish Catholic who doesn’t shirk from anything. This is too much for some to bear.”
Graham Speirs (2011)

“The newspapers that have ganged together to pursue Lennon have treated [him] with contempt in its most literal and legal sense. There is an agenda at work. Selling more newspapers might be one justification, but there appears to be a darker motivation.”
Phil Gordon (journalist for The Times) on Neil Lennon(2005)

“At school, St Michael’s, they only played Gaelic football. The nuns threatened to expel me because I was playing football on a Saturday rather than playing for the school Gaelic team! My dad had to go up and see the head nun and sort a few things out.”
Neil Lennon battling to play the game even whilst a kid!

“See projects? Forget it. I’m sick of hearing it. I’m sick of hearing about two- and three-year plans. I don’t buy into it. It’s about now. You don’t have time as a Celtic or Rangers manager. Projects are something my daughter does at school. I’m a football man, only interested in results, performances and players. I don’t care about two years’ time. I might not bloody be here.”
Neil Lennon in as caretaker manager (April 2010)

“What I want to do is bring is the thunder back. I want this place rocking again. I want the passion, I want the noise. I want the fans to be able to walk to the ground ready for it. I want the players to go to war every time they go on the pitch. All those things will be in-built before the season starts. We’ve got to put up a really stronger challenge to Rangers and try to wrest the title away from them.”
Neil Lennon in his first press conference as full manager (Jun 2010)

“Craig [Thomson] is meant to be one of the best officials in the country so it doesn’t say much about the rest”
Neil Lennon Nov 2010

“So Lennon got his victory and I, like most Rangers fans, would be happy to see him get the job. He provides an excellent ‘hate’ figure and also it would mean he does not join Chesney (Gordon Strachan) at Middlesbrough.”
Jeff Winter (2010, ex-EPL referee and media *****, self-confessed Hun who got caught out making some extreme anti-Catholic sick comments in 2011)

“So that’s bullets, death-threats, daubs on street outside his home + two public assaults on him. Life is good for Neil Lennon in Glasgow.”
Graham Spiers (journalist for The Times)

“My job was being part of Martin O’Neill’s team and to break the Rangers monopoly. We did that.”
Neil Lennon

“There is no question, as a Catholic from Northern Ireland playing for Celtic in Scotland, he was given a rough ride.”
James Traynor (The Record)

“Don’t let what happened to me tonight take the shine off a wonderful team performance … I don’t walk alone.”
Neil Lennon via Twitter (May 2011)

“Neil Lennon is now a classic Celtic icon. And he is no shrinking-violet, which really irks some people…”
Graham Spiers (The Times May 2011)

“They [Rangers] couldn’t sign me because they had a non-catholic signing policy”
Neil Lennon (RTE interview, July 2011)

“If Rangers think they they’re hard done by they should see some of the decisions that go against Celtic. We’d be here all day.”
Neil Lennon (Dec 2011)

“The ironic thing is normally in the past when we come away from European games away from home we talk about how the team haven’t done themselves justice and the fans always do,” said Lennon. Now we are talking about the opposite. The team covered themselves in glory last night and yet there is a rogue element who keep tarnishing the name of the club. My only surprise is that they got the spelling right. I am very disappointed, they have let me down, they have let the board, players and background staff down and 99.9% of the support down.”
Neil Lennon on the fans who held up a “**** UEFA” banner at Udinese v Celtic match (Dec 2011)

“I’m not big on tactics. It’s about the players and they have to go out onto the pitch and apply that.”
Neil Lennon with a curious admission (Dec 2011)

“No-one in Scottish football history has had to contend with this level of pressure while trying to do their job.”
Peter Lawwell (Celtic Chief Exec) (Apr 2012)

“You dream about being a player, you dream about being a captain and you dream about being a manager, but now I’m living the dream!”
Neil Lennon on day he won his first League title as manager (7 Apr 2012)

“We want to create our own memories & our own legacy for the players here. We want them to be heroes.”
Neil Lennon 18 Sep 2012 (just prior to the Champions League group stages)

“If you gave me £12m I couldn’t guarantee finding someone with a winning mentality like Neil Lennon’s.”
Gordon Strachan (2012)

“What people are seeing now is the real Neil Lennon, a man who is highly intelligent, articulate and gifted.”
Peter Lawell (Celtic Chief Exec) on Neill Lennon after 2-1 win over Barcelona (Nov 2012)

Twitter: “Keevins and Traynor badmouthing you in Daily Record today, not making any secret of their anti-Lennon/Celtic.”
Lennon reply: “They are both an irrelevance to the game now. They will always get a platform to air their hogwash. I ignore it you should too…”
Neil Lennon on Twitter (Nov 2012)

“Maybe we need to start getting the fans going, instead of the fans getting us going.”
Neil Lennon on the players, supporters & match atmosphere (2012)

“I was quite surprised with how good he is. The way he speaks to people and everything about him, his knowledge. He’s just a pleasure to work with. Neil is a leader. He always was. He’s a moaning t***, let’s put it that way, but that’s what makes him a winner. You can see that he can go all the way. He’s got that in him.”
Garry Parker, Celtic first team coach and former Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest midfielder. (Jan 2013)

“We probably have to take it as a back-handed compliment because they’re looking up at us. I am not going to answer any more questions on Rangers because they are not on our radar.”
Neil Lennon’s retort to Rangers owner Charles Green (Jan 2013)

“Neil had a special aura when he was captain of Celtic. I always thought he would be manager of Celtic”.
Nakamura on former team-mate Lennon (2013)

“I don’t mind criticism if it is constructive – but sometimes it is venomous. And you think that is not an environment conducive to thriving, it really isn’t. I have respect for most of the journalists in this country but I was looking at forums, hotlines and phone-ins. It really sucks the life out of you at times.”
Neil Lennon (Sep 2013)

“There is an investigation ongoing now,” he said. “I don’t want it, I don’t need it. I’m not happy with some of the stuff that’s come out this week in terms of myself – journalists saying I attract it, that it’s my confrontational and controversial nature. For me, that’s very irresponsible towards me.
“I’m no more confrontational than any other manager in the SPFL. However, when it’s an issue regarding me, it seems to me to be imbalanced. You cannot have people throwing coins at you when you’re trying to do your job, yet some people see to think it’s my fault. ”
Neill Lennon (2014)

“Political, cultural and civic Scotland has yet to explain its failure to protect Neil Lennon.”
Journalist Kevin McKenna on Neil Lennon after his resignation as Celtic manager (The Guardian) (May 2014) (link)

“There is still that rawness here. There is still that passion. It’s still a working-class sport up here. You don’t have too many prawn sandwich brigades, who kill the soul of the game. I’ve been to a lot of grounds in England where the atmosphere is awful.”
Neil Lennon (Nov 2017)

“The first day I stepped on to the pitch at Windsor Park as a Celtic player I was booed every time I touched the ball, having previously played 36 times and had nothing.
“But it was my association with Celtic, being high profile – there’s no question in my mind that was the reason behind it.
“You call it sectarianism here in Scotland, I call it racism. If a black man is abused, you are not just abusing the colour of his skin, you are abusing his culture, his heritage, his background.”
Neil Lennon (2018)

“I’m here for the club. The club comes first and I want to bring as much success here as I possibly can.”
Neil Lennon returning to Celtic as interim manager (2019)

“I am returning to one of the biggest and best clubs in world football and I can’t wait to get started.”
Neil Lennon returning to Celtic as interim manager (2019)

‘I have big shoes to fill’
Neil Lennon returning to Celtic as interim manager (2019)

‘I’m not as volatile – I wanted to take on the world the last time I was Celtic manager’
Neil Lennon has changed on his return to Celtic Park (2019)

“It’s been a difficult past couple of days. We lost a fantastic manager and we now push on with another fantastic manager”
Scott Brown (2019)

“If he’d run that fast after Kaka in 2007 we’d have got to the quarter-finals of the Champions League!”
Gordon Strachan on Neil Lennon on his post Dundee victory celebrations as compared to the European Cup defeat to AC Milan in the European Cup last 16 (Mar 2019)

“The only rational thing Steven Gerrard has said this week is that they played the best team in the country on Sunday.”
Neil Lennon on Sevco manager Stevie Gerrard after contentious Celtic v Sevco match in March 2019 (Apr 2019)

“Yesterday’s result was a gold star in Neil’s feather.”
Alex Rae ex-Rangers player on Radio Clyde on Neil Lennon’s run as interim manager to date (April 2019)

“I have been here since 2000 and in that time Celtic have won 14 league titles and I have played a part in ten of them. So I think I know how to win titles here.
“I think that gets overlooked. If we win the cup that will be my seventh cup and any time we lost the league that I have been involved in it was on the last day of the season.
“Since 20 years ago the only thing they (Celtic fans) have seen is success. They don’t remember the 1990s as the older generation do.
“I can’t take it for granted, they might. That comes from an immaturity from their point of view.
“In present-day football there is always a furore after one game, whether it be social media or phone-ins.
“I live in the real world. Social media is not the real world. I think it is poisonous myself, but good luck. “
Neil Lennon (May 2019)

“My club, my duty”
“It’s my club, it was my duty.”
Neil Lennon (May 2019)

“I enjoyed the game and all the celebrations. These are great moments. It is really important to the players they enjoy it because it is the culmination of all the hard work and talent. It was important to win.”
Neil Lennon (May 2019)

“What I’m seeing now is us going back to our roots, going back to community life with people looking out for each other and maybe we’d gone away from that. What’s happening is tragic but everybody is pulling together to try to get through it and that’s brilliant.”
Neil Lennon on coronavirus situation (2020)

“He was a player who sometimes flew under the radar. He worked hard for everybody, and it was essential to have someone like that on the team.”
Lubo on Lennon (2020)

“We don’t need people from down south lecturing us on how the game is up here. There is still that rawness here. There is still that passion. It’s still a working-class sport up here. You don’t have too many prawn sandwich brigades, who kill the soul of the game.”
Neil Lennon (2020)

“Going past Martin is nice, because I generally don’t beat him at anything really.”
Neil Lennon reflecting moving him one clear of Martin O’Neill’s tally of European matches (Aug 2020)

“I make decisions and you live and die off them for what you think is for the benefit of the club. It’s not some sort of ego trip. I have always put the players first and the club first.”
Neil Lennon (Aug 2020)

“There’s no justification at the moment for me to be sacked, none whatsoever.” (prior to the game)
Neil Lennon after a run of defeat to Sevco and AC Milan, then a 3-3 draw with Aberdeen, as well as having been earlier KO’ed out of the Champions League (Oct 2020)

“I enjoy the pressure, it’s never really bothered me before. You’re disappointed in the reaction of some people but can’t control everything. I’m looking ahead, looking forward to the games coming up and putting a good run together between now and the new year.”
Neil Lennon (Nov 2020)

“I’ve reconciled myself to the fact I’m not going to be everyone’s cup of tea…”
Neil Lennon (Nov 2020)

“These players always have to prove something. That’s the life of being at Celtic. They are hurting and aren’t enjoying this one bit. All I want from them now is consistency in performance. It’s been a difficult run but I think we’ll come out of this stronger than ever.”
Neill Lennon before Ross County Defeat (Nov 2020)

“I know the expectations from supporters and the club and I’m falling short of it just now’ “I feel I should get more time but if not, so be it.”
“The game is a microcosm of the run we are on – a penalty and a set play. We dominated the game but lacked a bit of quality at times.”
“They’re devastated in there. It’s a long run that’s come to an end under my watch so I’m as devastated as them.”
“Seventh penalty we’ve conceded. Poor defending at set pieces. Story of our season. Our final ball at times is poor. We are in a bad moment at the minute. The players are devastated and I’ve got to remain strong for them”.
Neil Lennon after Ross County defeat ending long cup run (Nov 2020)

“Neil Lennon’s time is surely up at Celtic, but he deserves a fair bit more respect than some have given him. You cannot proclaim the values of Celtic and not live by them.”
Journo Jim Spence on Neill Lennon (on twitter) (Nov 2020)

“But at this moment in time there are a few hundred people making Neil Lennon feel like he is walking alone. But over the last couple of days, he’s realised he’s not walking alone. His friends have gathered together to make sure he understands he doesn’t walk alone. The Celtic fans who all understand what’s going on will make sure he understands that, as well.”
Gordon Strachan (Nov 2020)

“For me, this is the best accomplishment of my career, achieving this as a manager. I wanted the treble, I didn’t do it the first time, and now I join an elite band of managers here at the club, and I couldn’t be happier with that.”
Neil Lennon on winning the treble with Celtic as manager (Dec 2020)

“We’ve been held to a far higher standard than any other club. Protocols at different clubs are inconsistent. As soon as Celtic are deemed to do something wrong, bang, you’re all wanting blood, it’s absolutely scandalous.”
Neil Lennon’s rails against critics (internal as well as external), SFA, media and Govt after botched Dubai trip during Covid era (Jan 2021)

“I’m happy with the way I have dealt with things and my conscience is clear about how I’ve gone about my work as well.
“It certainly galvanises me, yes.
“In a perverse kind of way I quite enjoy it.”
“I’m not running out on or giving up on my players. I believe we have a fine squad and it’s just not been our year.
“Hopefully that can change over the next one, two, three, four seasons going forward.”
Neil Lennon on this season (Feb 2021)

BBC’s Q: “Are you the man to do the rebuild?”
Lennon: “I’ve done it before.I don’t see why not,”
Neil Lennon after 1-0 defeat to Ross County (Feb 2021)

“We have experienced a difficult season due to so many factors and, of course, it is very frustrating and disappointing that we have not been able to hit the same heights as we did previously.
“I have worked as hard as ever to try and turn things around, but unfortunately we have not managed to get the kind of run going that we have needed.
“I have always given my best to the Club and have been proud to deliver silverware to the Celtic supporters. The Club will always be part of me. I will always be a Celtic supporter myself and I will always want the best for Celtic.
“I would like to thank so many people at the Club who have given me so much and I would also like to thank my family for their love and support. I wish the Celtic supporters, players, staff and directors nothing but success for the future.”
Neil Lennon, his resignation (Feb 2021)

“When you look back on it, it was really difficult for them. They missed their families, there were no restaurants, there was no social interaction. They broke the rules and I get it now.”
Neil Lennon on the Covid season (2023)

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