At the moment things are going great for Celtic manager Neil Lennon. The Hoops sit top of the Premiership table, have won their Europa League group, and are on an 11 match winning streak. He has the chance on Sunday to further cement his legacy at Celtic in the Betfred Cup Final against Rangers.
However, it wasn’t always going this smoothly for the Hoops boss. He has revealed that he was unsure if he was going to get the job on a permanent basis after replacing Brendan Rodgers as caretaker manager in February.
“The pressure was enormous”
“When I took over the pressure was enormous. It was almost a day to day thing” he said, as reported by the Daily Record.
“We were playing Rangers in March, I had to win that if I wanted to get the job – then it was the quarter-final and then the semi-final of the Scottish Cup – all those games. There were a lot of games where we just managed to get over the line.”
So far, it looks like Peter Lawwell has made the right decision in offering Lennon the permanent job. The football Celtic have played at times this season has been excellent, and so have most of the results. The 2-1 win over Lazio in Rome was a real highlight.
Football this season is much better than last season’s
It makes a real change from the football that the Hoops played at times under Lennon last season when he was caretaker manager. As he says, there were a number of games Celtic only just managed to win.
For the most part, that has not been the case this season – although the Hoops did need a last-minute winner to beat Hamilton in midweek.
Credit has to be given to Lennon for how he has managed to improve the performances of his players this season. The Hoops look well-placed to win more trophies this season, although the manager won’t be taking anything for granted.
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