48 Facts About Neil Lennon

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

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

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

Neil 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.

Neil Lennon 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Neil Lennon then joined Manchester City as a trainee in 1987.

Neil Lennon 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.

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

Neil 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.

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

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

Neil Lennon went on record saying he was flattered but wanted to captain Celtic to the Scottish Premier League title.

On 25 April 2007, Neil Lennon announced he would be leaving Celtic, and in his last game for the club on 26 May 2007, he captained the team to victory in the Scottish Cup Final against Dunfermline Athletic.

Neil Lennon joined League One club Nottingham Forest on a one-year contract with an option for a second year on 12 June 2007.

Neil Lennon missed a week's training with Forest in November 2007, because of family reasons in Scotland, and lost his place in the team as a consequence.

Neil Lennon joined Wycombe Wanderers of League Two on a free transfer on 31 January 2008, managed by his former Celtic midfield partner Paul Lambert.

Neil Lennon made his international debut for Northern Ireland on 11 June 1994 when he come on as a substitute in a friendly against Mexico in Miami.

Neil Lennon had to wait nearly a year for his next cap when he played against Chile in another friendly.

Neil Lennon made his first competitive appearance three months later on 3 September 1995 in a European Championship qualifier away against Portugal.

Neil Lennon decided to retire from international football in August 2002 upon receiving a death threat before a Northern Ireland match against Cyprus.

Neil Lennon was capped 40 times by Northern Ireland, scoring two goals.

Neil Lennon was linked with the vacant manager's job at Hibernian after the resignation of John Collins, but the job was given to Mixu Paatelainen.

Neil Lennon's first coaching appointment was as first team coach with Celtic in 2008.

Neil Lennon appointed former teammate Johan Mjallby as his assistant.

Neil Lennon said that they had lacked "hunger and desire" and that whether he was installed as manager or not, he would be recommending a significant clear-out of players to the board.

Neil Lennon was appointed manager of Celtic on a full-time basis on 9 June 2010.

Neil Lennon retained Mjallby as his assistant, as well as former Celtic teammate Alan Thompson and former Leicester City teammate Garry Parker as first-team coaches.

Neil Lennon then went on to sign several talented, young, cheap, relatively unknown players, from smaller leagues around the world; striker Gary Hooper arrived from English side Scunthorpe, Israeli international Beram Kayal was signed, and Honduran left-back Emilio Izaguirre signed on.

Celtic were later denied a penalty award in the second half, and shortly afterwards Neil Lennon was sent to the stand by the referee.

Neil Lennon defended Ledley after the match, describing referee Craig Thomson's decision as "ridiculous".

Neil Lennon was later given a six match touchline ban for excessive misconduct as a result of the incident in the Hearts' game, although it was later reduced to four matches after appeal.

Neil Lennon was given another four match touchline ban by the SFA following an altercation with Rangers assistant manager Ally McCoist after a Scottish Cup match in March 2011.

Celtic were comfortably beaten on aggregate by Juventus in the last 16 round, but both Celtic and Neil Lennon were still praised for their overall Champions League campaign.

On 22 May 2014, Neil Lennon announced that he was leaving Celtic after four years as manager.

Neil Lennon was announced as the new manager of Bolton Wanderers on 12 October 2014, signing a four-year contract.

Things didn't go well for Lennon thereafter, with Bolton winning only one of their last 11 games of the season, and Barry Bannan and Neil Danns being suspended by Lennon for off-field indiscipline.

Neil Lennon was appointed head coach of Scottish Championship club Hibernian in June 2016.

Neil Lennon led the "Hibees" to the Scottish Championship title and promotion back to the Scottish Premiership in his first season.

On 25 January 2019, Neil Lennon was suspended by Hibernian following an exchange with other club employees.

On 26 February 2019, Neil Lennon was appointed manager of Celtic for a second time, taking over until the end of the campaign following Brendan Rodgers' mid-season departure for Leicester City.

On 8 March 2022, Neil Lennon was appointed head coach of Cypriot First Division side Omonia on a two-and-a-half year deal, replacing former Rangers defender Henning Berg.

Neil Lennon has spoken about having suffered from depression since 2000.

Neil Lennon is a supporter of his home-town team Lurgan Celtic.