FORMER Celtic assistant John Robertson rang Neil Lennon on Saturday night to congratulate him â and was amazed at how CALM he sounded. Robbo called both Lennon and Alan Thompson to add his congratulations to Celticâs title triumph. Robertson stresses how Lennonâs intelligence will mean heâs already plotting Celticâs next move â with the Champions League qualifiers in mind. Celtic will be seeded for a third qualifying round tie on July 31 and Robertson says Lennon and his backroom team will already have an eye on it. He said: âIâm thrilled for the kid, absolutely chuffed to bits. Iâve felt for him over the past few weeks. Being the manager of Celtic is a stressful enough job without having to be doing it while going into courtrooms and dealing with all the off-field nonsense heâs had. âI hope he wins the Manager of the Year award in Scotland. He should. For him not to show the pressure heâs had or let it affect it is amazing. âHe stuck to his guns and thatâs an admirable trait. âI rang him and Thommo on Saturday night and left messages congratulating them. They both rang me back and weâd a natter. âLenny sounded quite calm but Iâm sure inside heâd have been flying. âThe thing people forget is that heâs an intelligent lad. Heâs a thinker about things. âIâve heard him speaking to the media a few times after games and I always think he speaks really well. He communicates in front of the cameras and he was the same as a player â albeit he was the biggest moaner going. âHeâll have an eye on next season already. Heâll want to do well in the Champions League qualifiers and heâll be thinking about taking it on even now. âBut I know what winning the title will mean for Lenny because even at Leicester he was a Celtic fan and when Martin went to Parkhead he couldnât wait to get up to Scotland to join him.â Robbo â who says heâs still taking âtime outâ at home after quitting Aston Villa with OâNeill in August 2010 â reckons he could see the tension visibly escaping Lennon when Charlie Mulgrew headed the Rugby Park opener. He said: âPeople just donât appreciate how intense it is when you are manager of Celtic. When the first goal went in on Saturday he looked to the sky, you could see it was a release for him. âHe was the same when the second and third went in. I know the feeling because you always want another goal. âEven 4-0 up at the break, heâd be stressing to keep standards high. You can relax when youâre 4-0 up with a minute to go, not before that! âI heard Thommo on TV saying it was a more satisfying feeling than winning the title as a player. âThatâs because you feel a sense of pride because the team youâve brought together has been a success. âIâve heard these suggestions about the title being tainted because of what happened to Rangers. âIâm not sure where that comes from because regardless of what happened with Rangers, to go on a run of 17 successive league wins isnât related to whatâs happening with anyone else. Thatâs all Celticâs own doing. âThe turnaround since that game at Kilmarnock in October has been spectacular. âWhatever he said at half-time that day worked. âWhether he was critical or whether got them believing or whether it involved getting a siege mentality, it succeeded. There are people who donât like him but he wears his heart on his sleeve. âGo back to the defeat by Ross County in the Scottish Cup semi-final to see that. âHe was only a fledgling manager and he felt let down that day. He knew he was responsible for the club but he had the intelligence to make the right strides forward. âEven last season he took the title race to the final day of the season and to have won it this season before the split is a real achievement.â
Nah, a lot of people (including most on here) thought that. I think it was monacoger who set everyone straight just before the January OF game.
Scottish teams have had 4 ****e seasons in a row now. Next year we lose your 2008 UEFA run from the coefficient so we need a decent performance from Celtic in the CL or Europa next season otherwise we'll be fecked.
At least we'll be in the Champions section of the 3rd Qualifying Round. Still don't think this squad is quite ready to be taking on a much higher class of team quite yet. Another year in the Europa might be required before a crack at the CL.
I'd be happy with the Europa League purely from a footballing sense because, let's face it, it's more our level just now. The CL would be great too though, especially from a financial perspective.
I said this year that co-efficient wise we should get as much out of the europa as the CL but the Sion debacle gave us a tougher group, so didn't accrue as many points as I thought. Plus, our early season form was ****e. I would prefer the CL as that is 4 co-efficient points gratis......and more money obviously.
Scottish football has been on a slippery slope since I left. You really need to go down the Welsh route and make your football more attractive by giving your teams sexy names: Glasgow Dynamo, Inter Edinburgh and Real Dundee spring to mind.
Good idea. Perhaps the new team shortly to be formed in Glasgow can attract support from fans who supported the defunct team by naming themselves after a practice common amongst their support: Inter Familybreeding.
I want to see us in the CL, we can't be any worse than some of the dross that was in it this year and the money will come in handy.
Champions League would be magic ... I think if Celtic can add in some experience to the squad then it should get through to the Group stages. Some experienced defenders, a creative midfileder or two and a Striker.
where the hell have you been? You missed most of stupid-gate. You don't ask for much!! Fojut is already coming in. I don't know how good he is but I'm assuming he is as good as Baresi and Paul McGrath combined. Trim the numbers a bit. The side that played in the europa did ok in a very tough group. They lacked a good centre half. Tommy Rogne might be that. Muldini might be poty candidate but he'll not get trusted by us in yoorup. No reason not to? Like Dev said. There is some dross out there and if we can start ok, there is no reason for us not to make it. I miss the tune.
I don't think it is about not wanting to play in it. More a pragmatic approach to accruing coefficient points that ensures a better chance of making it in future years. Realistically I think that rests with being in the CL and finishing third in the group. You get four more points for getting through to the last 16, but I believe that we could make more points continuing on in a europa run. Just my opinion. I'd obviously love to win the thing instead.
What Rebel said. I'd happily go into the group stages if we made it. Practicality tells me that this group of players would benefit from playing the likes of Ath Madrid, Rennes & Udinese more than playing teams like Barca, Real and Bayern. Walk before you can run and all that.
