'They have the potential and we hope Europe is going to be the marker'

Chief Sports Writer

Saturday 14 April 2012

IF this is what championship victories do for the spirit, then they should be available to all on the NHS.

Neil Lennon oversees victory in Peterhead this season and is now looking forward to regular trips to more glamorous locations with Celtic. Picture: SNS

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Hugh MacDonald

There was a palpable sense of both satisfaction and vindication as Neil Lennon sat in a dressing-room at Lennoxtown yesterday and expounded on matters both professional and personal.

His ambition to win the Champions League as a manager and his quiet, considered take on the trials he has faced from criminal elements that surround football were the most dramatic elements of a discourse to journalists. However, the events of the past seven days have further invigorated, even emboldened the Celtic manager. This was a man who exuded well-being.

"I don't think I have to prove anything to anybody now," he said as his side prepares to face Hearts tomorrow in the semi-finals of the William Hill Scottish Cup. "I'm a championship-winning manager and that's something that was my ambition when I got the job."Lennon has always wanted to be seen as more than a chest-thumping, badge-kissing manager. His affinity with Celtic is undoubted, but he wants recognition as a coach. The tangible achievement of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League has excited him, if not quite satisfied the driving force within."You never stop," he said of his work as a manager. His routine is to dissect every game, in victory or in defeat. "You enjoy the win for what it is and then you plan for the next game almost straight away. You are looking at the players, looking at injuries, how they've recovered from a game. After a defeat you go home and analyse it to death and you study what went wrong. Did you pick the right formation? It is constant thinking, but it is a great challenge. I love football and I love what I do and some days, like Saturday, it makes it all worth it."There are other days when it is difficult to appreciate the lessons. "The pain of losing is far more intense, because the expectation is always to win. Sometimes you are in a no-win situation. If you win, people say that you should have won. If you lose or if you draw, well, you're rubbish, you're crap, your team isn't doing it."The criticism of the defeat by Kilmarnock in the Scottish Communities League Cup final was addressed coolly. "When you watch it in the cold light of day, I wasn't too unhappy about the performance. We've played worse at Hampden and won. Once I made the substitution with Ki [Sung-Yueng] we were in complete control of the game and Kilmarnock struggled to put any sort of passing movement together. We had control of the game and we were making chances, but it just didn't fall for us on the day."This is not to suggest Lennon brushes off defeat. "I do sit and think about things we might have done better," he said.He now has to formulate a plan to defeat Hearts today and thus set up a chance to win a domestic double. The travails at Rangers could mark this season as the beginning of an era of domination for Celtic, but Lennon is reluctant to discuss this for two reasons. First, he described the possibility that Rangers may struggle as "theoretical". Second, he is focused on his side and what they can achieve, particularly in Europe. He does not take special notice of such as Apoel Nicosia, the Cypriot club who have excelled in the Champions League this year, but does accept that the competition can throw up a "surprise package". He cites the Porto side that won the Champions League in 2004, one year on from beating Celtic in the UEFA Cup final. "I'm not saying this team is anywhere near our 2003 team yet, but they have the potential to go and achieve something and we are hoping Europe is going to be the marker," he said.Next week Lennon and his staff will meet with Peter Lawwell, the chief executive, to discuss the season and, crucially, what can be improved in every area. For example, the pre-season trip to Australia may be an exercise not repeated. Lennon believes that the trials in the early months of the season may have been a result of an exhausting trip to the other side of the world.His future, though, is firmly in his hands, as is a championship trophy. "If I leave it would be for maybe something better, ambition wise or something that I'd find a challenge. Or maybe to improve my development as a manager. But none of those have come up on the horizon and I've not really given it much thought," he said.This is unlikely to happen any time soon. In the immediate short term, he has to send out a team to defeat Hearts tomorrow with the Edinburgh side surely relishing the opportunity both to beat the champions and advance to a final. "I don't think there is pressure on the players," he said as talk grows of adding a cup to a title. "We are the holders and people are expecting us to get to the final. In that respect the pressure is no different. The expectation level may rise now, but the one thing I have noticed about the players is that they are vibrant. They have got that thing where they know they are championship players. I have experienced it and it's a great feeling. For the initial four or five days after it you have a sort of glow about you."Drinking from the cup of success that is a championship victory has bought a similar glow to the manager. His order now to his players is simply to make it a double.

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'They have the potential and we hope Europe is going to be the marker'

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