Neil Lennon says he is a better manager now than in Celtic spells

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Neil Lennon saw a lot across his two spells at Celtic.

Given the role on an interim basis in 2010, he eventually became one of the Hoops’ three longest-serving managers of the 21st century along with Brendan Rodgers and Martin O’Neill.

Despite challenges off the pitch in both of his spells at Celtic Park, Lennon enjoyed success in both, taking the club to the Champions League knockouts in 2013 and winning Celtic’s fourth consecutive treble in 2020.

His second spell ended acrimoniously in the disastrous 2020-21 campaign behind closed doors – he has since had spells at Omonia Nicosia and Rapid Bucharest.

In March, Lennon made a shock move to Dunfermline in the Scottish Championship – and despite this drop-off in level, he thinks he is a better manager now than ever.

Neil Lennon on how he’s improved as a manager

Even between his two spells at Celtic, Lennon changed as a manager. A passionate man-manager in his first spell, he tried to blend this with what had worked for Rodgers the second time around.

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In taking over at East End Park, he is once again looking to win the Scottish second tier as he did with Hibernian in 2017.

Speaking to the Scottish Sun, he reflected on how he is adapting to managing in the modern game, which in some ways is unrecognisable from the period when he first took over at Celtic.

Asked if he is a better manager today, Lennon said: “I think so, yeah. I think I was a lot more instinctive as a younger manager, very impulsive. Trying to do everything myself.

“Obviously now you can delegate, and that’s another good thing – I’ve got a lot of good staff here behind the scenes, the football coaches I have.

“You learn to delegate, and that it’s good to work with different people who might see the game differently from you with different ideas on the game.

“We now live in an era of data analysis, which you see at Hearts, Brighton, a lot of clubs. Liverpool, all the major clubs are very heavily investing in it.

“And that’s something that you have to evolve with. And that’s good to get a grasp with and understand it, and look for the incremental steps with it as you go on.”

How does Neil Lennon compare with other recent Celtic managers?

Lennon may have brought success during his spells in charge of the Hoops, but he has intense competition among Celtic managers in the 21st century.

Whilst Lennon achieved Champions League knockout football in 2012-13, Gordon Strachan deserves credit for achieving it twice in a row in 2006-7 and 2007-08.

He also isn’t alone in winning a treble – O’Neill, Rodgers and Ange Postecoglou have all achieved it in the last 25 years.

One thing which isn’t often mentioned about Lennon is that other than Rodgers, it was him that took the Bhoys closest to an unbeaten season – they lost just one league match in 2013-14.