Neil Lennon

Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a football coach and former player from Northern Ireland.

During his playing career he represented English clubs Manchester City, Crewe Alexandra and Leicester City.

He then joined Manchester City as a trainee in 1987.

He made one first team appearance during his time in Manchester, a league match on 30 April 1988 away against Birmingham City, before signing for Crewe Alexandra on a free transfer in August 1990.

Lennon made his debut for Crewe on 18 September 1990 against Reading.

Despite missing the whole of season 1991–92 due to a back injury, he became an established member of the side and impressed with his intelligent play and consistent performances.

Lennon's form saw him make his debut for Northern Ireland in 1994, and thus became the first Crewe Alexandra player in 60 years to win a full international cap.

In 5 1⁄2 years at Crewe, Lennon made 187 appearances for the club and scored 18 goals.

In February 1996, Lennon signed for Leicester City for a fee of £750,000 (£ today).

In May 1996, Lennon played in the Leicester City side that defeated Crystal Palace 2–1 at Wembley in the Play-off Final to win promotion to the Premier League.

On 16 April 1997, Lennon picked up his first major winner's medal when Leicester won 1–0 against Middlesbrough in a replayed League Cup Final.

An on-field incident during a league match in 1998 against Newcastle United between Lennon and Alan Shearer resulted in the England international being charged with misconduct by the FA, Television footage showed Shearer appearing to intentionally kick Lennon in the head following a challenge.

The referee of the game took no action against Shearer.

Shearer apologised afterwards, but denied that the contact with Lennon was deliberate, and Lennon later gave evidence in Shearer's defence at the FA hearing which subsequently cleared the Newcastle and England striker of all charges.

He played in a further two League Cup Finals during his time at Filbert Street, losing 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur in March 1999 but winning 2–1 against Tranmere Rovers in February 2000.

Lennon moved to Celtic in 2000, where he made over 200 appearances and was appointed captain in 2005.

Before retiring as a player, he returned to England and played for Nottingham Forest and Wycombe Wanderers.

Lennon also earned 40 caps for the Northern Ireland national team over nine years, scoring two goals.

After Martin O'Neill became the new manager of Celtic in June 2000, he made several attempts to sign Lennon.

After months of protracted negotiations with Leicester, on 6 December Lennon joined the club he supported as a boy for a fee of £5.75 million.

That season saw Lennon pick-up three winner's medals as Celtic won a domestic treble; the Scottish Premier League, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup.

The next four seasons at Celtic saw Lennon win a further two league championships and two Scottish Cups.

He was also an integral part of the Celtic side that reached the UEFA Cup Final in 2003, losing 3-2 to Porto after extra time.

When Gordon Strachan took over from O'Neill as manager in the summer of 2005, he made Lennon the new club captain.

In January 2006, when Leicester sacked Craig Levein, Lennon was linked with a return to the Midlands side in a player-manager role.

Lennon was appointed manager of former club Celtic in March 2010, initially in a caretaker capacity, following the departure of Tony Mowbray.

Less than three months after arriving on the island, he led the club to win the Cypriot Cup, their first since 2012.

He was sacked in October 2022 due to disappointing results in the domestic league.

Lennon was born in Lurgan, County Armagh and attended St Michael's Grammar School in the town.

As a youngster he played gaelic football for the school and was also selected for the Armagh minor team.

He grew up supporting Celtic and played football for the local Lurgan Celtic youth team.

Lennon joined Glenavon, after reaching the final of the Milk Cup with Glenavon Select and scored on his Irish League debut.

Lennon enjoyed significant success as Celtic manager, winning three Scottish league championships, two Scottish Cups, qualifying for the group stage of the Champions League twice and the knockout stages once, before leaving the club in May 2014.

After an unsuccessful spell back in England with Bolton Wanderers, marred by the club's financial problems, Lennon returned to Scottish football in 2016 with Hibernian.

He led them to promotion back to the Scottish Premiership in his first season as head coach, and European qualification in his second season, before leaving Hibernian in January 2019.

Lennon returned to Celtic in February 2019, initially on an interim basis for the rest of the 2018–19 season, and guided them to the league and Scottish Cup titles.

His contract was renewed and he led Celtic to the Scottish league title again in 2019–20.

He also led the team to a fourth consecutive domestic treble by also winning the League Cup and the Scottish Cup that season.

Lennon left Celtic in February 2021, as the club had fallen far behind Rangers in the 2020–21 Scottish Premiership.

Lennon returned to football a year later, becoming the new manager of Cypriot club Omonia in March 2022.