A YEAR IN PARADISE

It was 12 months ago that Neil Lennon returned to Celtic as manager

- JOE SULLIVAN

IT was a year ago today (February 26) that Neil Lennon returned to Celtic as manager, initially, of course, in an interim role, but the fact that the Irishman is still holding the rudder at Celtic Park tells us why we are celebrating the first anniversary of that appointment.

He had, of course, held the reins at Celtic Park previously and, remarkably, arrived back in March 2010 under similar circumstances as interim boss – although the departures of the previous incumbents of the manager’s chair couldn’t have been more different in each case.

The announcement of every new manager heralds a new mood of hope, expectation and dreams. Unfortunately, under Tony Mowbray, the anticipation and any optimism didn’t come to fruition and his departure saw the then reserve manager, Neil Lennon installed as interim manager for the final eight league games of the season.

The Hoops were also still in the Scottish Cup at that juncture and, despite dropping out at the semi-final stage, the club had seen enough in the eight straight league wins to offer the former Celt the manager’s job on a permanent basis.

By the time he departed in 2014, Neil Lennon had led the Celts to three league titles and two Scottish Cups – those three championship wins being the first of the current eight-in-a-row. That paved the way for Ronny Deila to come in and keep the consecutive title run ticking over with another two flags flying high above Paradise before Brendan Rodgers came on the scene in 2016.

Unprecedented success followed under the former Liverpool manager with the Invincible Treble followed by the Double Treble, and the League Cup was also added for a third successive year before the Irishman departed for Leicester City this time last year.