The emotional moment that got too much for Celtic manager Neil Lennon

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There weren’t many Billy McNeill stories that pulled at the heartstrings more than Charlie Nicholas’ on Sky.

The former Celtic striker played under McNeill during his first stint at the club when he turned professional. The story has done the rounds on social media, with Nicholas clearly visibly upset at Cesar’s passing. You can view the video here.

Neil Lennon, meanwhile, was one of the first to lead the tributes on Tuesday. The Celtic interim boss released a statement on Celtic’s official website the morning of McNeill’s passing, and sang the praises of Celtic’s greatest ever captain.

But now Lenny has revealed the moment that got too much for him was watching Nicholas on TV. Speaking on Celtic’s official Twitter channels, the Hoops boss said the following.

It’s not pressure – it’s motivation

Lennon is right to bring up winning the league for Cesar. It would be a fitting tribute to the great man to potentially wrap up a treble-treble on the exact date – May 25th – in which McNeill hoisted aloft the European Cup 52 years ago.

The critics could perhaps say it’s adding more pressure onto the Celtic players. But it should count as huge motivation to put on a performance for Saturday. Parkhead will be rocking on Saturday, and it will be Billy McNeill’s day more than anyone’s. Surely, that must ignite some fire in the bellies of the Hoops squad.

As for the Nicholas story, it was extremely touching. There have been many of them, and from many different pundits who many fans would often disagree with. But you can clearly see the respect and love so many had for Cesar.

Saturday is going to be such a fitting day should Celtic get the result. If they do, it will effectively be the win that gets them the Premiership title back. The only way we could subsequently lose it would be if we lost all three of our final games whilst Rangers won all of theirs.

That just isn’t happening. But it’s time to put on a show. These Celtic players have owed the supporters one for a while. Now, they owe it to McNeill’s legacy to make him proud at the end of an emotional week.