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Lennon's demons
JUST when it seemed Neil Lennon's controversial career could spring no further surprises, the captain of Celtic stunned the football world with his revelation yesterday that he has been battling depression on and off for nearly seven years.
In his memoirs Neil Lennon: Man and Bhoy, the former captain of Northern Ireland reveals that he has been taking medication for depression while still turning out for the team in such important matches as the Champions League qualifier against FC Basle which Celtic lost in Switzerland in 2002. He has also played in Old Firm matches while suffering from the illness.
Last night, Lennon said he had revealed the truth about his depression in order to persuade people suffering from the illness to seek treatment. He also wants a public debate to destigmatise mental illness in general.
"I felt I had no choice but to explain to people about this terrible illness which afflicts so many," said Lennon. "I have suffered from it since my final days at Leicester City back in the year 2000, and it has recurred several times in recent years.
"Back then in Leicester I just woke up one morning and felt terrible, and it was only after several days of feeling like death warmed up that I finally went to a doctor. I felt sure it was something physical like a virus, so you could have knocked me down with a feather when he diagnosed depression.
"I was prescribed Seroxat to help me get through the depression, but it took a while for me to snap out of it. It hits me hard when it arrives, but now at least I know what I am facing and I can get my medication working quickly.
"Many famous people have suffered from it, such as Winston Churchill who called the illness his 'black dog' – I know how he feels. It's a bit like walking down a long dark corridor never knowing when the light will go on, and I am also one of those people who suffers physical symptoms as well, such as losing weight and feeling tired.
"But I still have to train and play while I am going through the symptoms, because that is the lot of a footballer – you just cannot walk away from a team these days or else you might not get your place back."
Lennon consulted several people, including former club doctor Roddy McDonald – now with Newcastle – and a specialist in community psychiatric care, before deciding to reveal the truth about a mental illness which still carries a stigma in these so-called enlightened times. He hopes that the reaction will be positive and that people will look at the issues surrounding mental health, but he knows that those supporters who have booed and jeered him at grounds around Scotland are unlikely to show much understanding.
"I fully anticipate that I will get a hard time from the fans of some clubs, but let's face it, I was never going to get much sympathy at certain places I could name," he said. "But depression is a serious problem for sports people as well as ordinary citizens – anyone can get it, even if they think they are mentally strong, as my case proves. "My only hope is that some good will come of this. If even one person is persuaded to go and see their doctor or call a help line rather than do themselves damage then I will feel justified in what I have done."
Lennon is one of the few major sporting personalities to admit to an illness of a mental nature. Perhaps curiously, the last top footballer to go public about suffering depression was England international Stan Collymore who played alongside Lennon at Leicester City.
Boxing fan Lennon last night sent a special message to Scott Harrison, Scotland's world featherweight champion whose father and trainer Peter recently revealed that much of the boxer's highly-publicised recent troubles with alcohol had stemmed from bouts of depression.
"When I heard of Scott's problems I thought there had to be more to them than was first revealed," said Lennon. "I am a great admirer of Scott's and I know he is battling hard to overcome his problems. I know he will come back from this and will be in the ring to defend his world title.
"If he needs any help or advice from someone who has been through the darkness of depression I will be only too glad to help, and I hope to be at ringside when he makes Scotland proud of him again."
In his book, Lennon deals with the many incidents which have marred his career, such as the death threats which caused him to stop playing for Northern Ireland. He also tackles the issue of sectarianism in Scotland and Northern Ireland head on and states that it should be expelled from sport entirely.
Since the book went off to the printers during the close season, Lennon has been at the centre of considerable speculation that he would leave Celtic and join his old mentor Martin O'Neill at Aston Villa. Last night, Lennon revealed that not only is he not bound for Birmingham, he has not even heard from O'Neill personally since the former Celtic manager pitched up at Villa Park.
"I haven't had so much as a phone call from Martin and the only communication has been a text message I sent him to congratulate him on getting the job," said Lennon. "I am delighted that he is back in football because he has obviously still got a great deal to offer the game, and I am sure that he will restore Villa to the heights that club once enjoyed, just as he did with Celtic.
"But he knows I am committed to Celtic for the foreseeable future and frankly I am just looking forward to getting fit and getting back in the team as soon as possible. We are not yet the finished article, and there are improvements which will be made, and we certainly could do with a couple of more players at least, but these things will happen and we will defend our title to the utmost."
Lennon is particularly desperate to play in the Champions League once again – the biggest single motivation for him staying at Celtic Park.
"I received a very good offer from my former Leicester City manager Peter Taylor at Crystal Palace," said Lennon. "But after the disappointment of our early exit from Europe last season, I really wanted one more go at savouring the experience of playing in the Champions League once again.
"When I found out while I was on holiday that we were definitely going to go straight into the group stages without pre-qualifying, I all but made up my mind there and then, but let there be no doubt that Palace made me a generous offer and I gave it serious consideration before deciding to take the opportunity to continue the work we started last year under Gordon Strachan.
"When the offer of a new contract finally arrived, I was only too keen to sign it, because there's nothing to beat the experience of playing for Celtic in the Champions League. I have tried to describe it in the book but nothing can tell you what it is really like to experience walking on to Celtic Park in front of our fans against the likes of Juventus and AC Milan.
"We have been given a real chance of achieving something in Europe by being selected as one of the second seeds, and I just cannot wait for the draw next Thursday to see who we will get in our group. It is excitement like that which makes me want to turn out for Celtic for as long as I can."
Lennon has found the experience of writing the book quite difficult at times as he has touched on several unhappy memories such as the period of the Troubles when he was growing up on a Catholic Nationalist estate in Lurgan. But he has also found the book to be a catharsis as he knows he has reached a crossroads in his life at the age of 35. "I have tried to be as honest as possible for the readers in a book which I hope will give some insight into what life has been like for me, especially over the last six years in Glasgow. I have held nothing back except some intimate details of my private life which should be of no concern to anyone in any case."
Even within the last week, Lennon's undoubted position as the most controversial figure in Scottish football has seen him become embroiled in a classic tabloid war between Scotland's two biggest selling newspapers, the Sun and the Daily Record. On Wednesday, fearing that the Record – who had bought serialisation rights – were about to publish extracts from Lennon's book the Sun ran a six-page 'spoiler' in which they tried to make out that they were telling Lennon's story. Not one word of the book appeared in the Sun – copies are strictly under wraps at publishers Harper Sport's headquarters – so there is no underestimating the sheer chutzpah of the boys at Kinning Park.
Lennon is aware that some Celtic fans will be mystified why the deal was done with a newspaper which he successfully sued after the infamous 'Thugs and Thieves' front page headline following the highly publicised arrests of Celtic players on a night out with friends in Newcastle at Christmas 2002.
Lennon said: "I wanted as many people to read my story as possible, and as captain of Celtic I feel I have a duty to build bridges with the media. The management of the Record at the time of my court case are no longer there, especially the then editor Peter Cox who went on television to attack us when we were all innocent.
"I later received an apology and damages, and after Cox left the paper I felt it was time to say 'let bygones be bygones' and move on. I have been pleased with the way that the present management of the Record have tried to be fairer in their coverage."
Lennon's fame can be a curse at times. Anyone walking down the street with him soon becomes aware that there are only two reactions to the Celtic captain – people either smile and give him the thumbs up or their faces contort in something akin to disdain, even hatred. Indifference is not something with Neil Lennon often attracts, and the book makes it clear that he thinks the media is to blame for sometimes encouraging an atmosphere in which "people just think it's okay to have a go at me," as he said yesterday.
He was particularly annoyed at the reports that he had stormed out of Celtic Park last week. Broadcaster Chick Young mentioned a rumour to that effect on Radio Scotland, though to be fair, Young finally gave the correct version later in the programme after speaking to Lennon's agent and great friend Martin Reilly.
"It was all absolute nonsense, complete poppycock," said Lennon. "I had gone to Parkhead to pick up a couple of things. I knew that I would not be playing as we had decided that the hamstring injury was the kind that you don't want to risk making worse, especially so early in the season.
"I then had to go to the home of my friend and agent Martin Reilly and pick him up to take him back to Celtic Park. But my car was parked away from the front door so I needed an escort to get me through the crowd or else I'm pretty certain that I would never have been able to get through the thousands of fans who congregate outside Parkhead before a match. At the very least I would have had my back slapped red raw, and I would have been signing autographs until the whistle blew.
"Yet by the time I had reached Martin's house he was already receiving calls from reporters and by that time the story had grown arms and legs so that I was supposed to have head-butted Gordon Strachan, kicked down a few doors and been expelled from Celtic Park.
"I can look back and laugh at it now but it wasn't funny at the time. It just shows you that journalists have to be very responsible in what they report and really should check the facts before saying or writing anything.
"The fact is I have a good relationship with Gordon, and I know he is concerned about this latest injury. It's the same leg in which I tore my hamstring very badly against Celta Vigo during our run-up to the UEFA Cup final, so obviously I have to be very careful with it."
Indeed, Lennon had a scan on the injury on Friday and the problem is located around the scar tissue but he is expected to be fit within days and could even feature in the side for today's match against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Last week Lennon picked up a new car. His former 4×4 had become rather too well known to some people and he was utterly dismayed by an attack on the vehicle while he was in America with the club for pre-season matches. Yet he does not want to see that attack, which consisted of the car being covered in broken eggs and the tyres punctured, as yet another example of a sectarian attack upon him.
"It may just have been a bunch of young vandals out on a spree of hooliganism," said Lennon. "I cannot say for certain that they targeted my car for any reason other than sheer vandalism, but I was annoyed particularly because I was out of the country and my partner Irene had to deal with all the mess."
The incident could have been much worse, as Irene drove off with their baby son Gallagher in his car seat, not realising that one of the tyres had been punctured. But she was able to stop immediately.
Lennon strongly feels that footballers, managers and club officials should be allowed to go about their daily business away from the game like any ordinary citizen. He recalled that he had spoken out to call for players' safety to be ensured after a group of Rangers players were attacked in Uddingston.
"I would not want to see players have to get police protection every time they walk down a street, so something has to be done to stop this nonsense," said Lennon. "Celtic and Rangers are both working to stop sectarianism but the message has not got through to some people. I know only too well that supporters' passions, perhaps inflamed by drink, can get out of hand and lead to violence – after all, it happened to me. What needs to happen is that football passion stays in the stadia and isn't allowed to affect players, officials and their families – perhaps clubs could ban anyone indulging in such misbehaviour."
Lennon has stayed in the same area of Glasgow practically since he arrived at Celtic and says he will not let thugs and vandals, whether they are sectarian or not, force him out of the city that he has grown to love. "I have worked very hard to get where I am in the game and while it's becoming increasingly difficult to ignore this sort of stuff, I must emphasise that I will not be moved by such activity."
Lennon admits that he has had a tough time in the last few weeks. "It's been very much a stop-start beginning to our season for me," he said. "The pre-season matches were not satisfactory, and I was suspended for the first League game, and everyone saw what happened against Hearts. All I can say to the Celtic fans is that I am doing everything I can to get as fully fit as possible, and I remain very confident about our prospects for the season ahead."
The Celtic captain also acknowledges the tremendous support he has had over the years from the fans, from the management and the other players at the club, from his agents Reilly and Mark Donaghy and from his partner Irene, the mother of Gallagher who has an older teenaged sister, Alisha, from an earlier relationship of Lennon's.
Reilly probably knows the 'man and bhoy' better than anyone. "He has been very brave to go public about his illness, but that's typical of Neil," said Reilly. "He is honest and articulate and I'm proud to have him as a friend.
"He's lived with the secret of his illness for several years and only very few of us knew about it, but in that time he was the one always concerned about other people being ill – I can't count the number of times he has quietly visited sick people, especially in the spinal injuries unit at the Southern General Hospital."
Over the years, millions of words have been written about Neil Lennon. Now it is his turn. As always, he is causing a stir.
• Neil Lennon: Man and Bhoy, written with Martin Hannan, published by Harper Sport
(Scotland on Sunday Newspaper)