Source: FOOTYMAD
Well, that was fun
The trials and tribulations of the 2010-11 season has not cowed Neil Lennon's enthusiasm for managing Celtic Despite all the dramas on and off the field over the last season, Neil Lennon says he enjoyed every moment of his début full season in charge of the club. The manager was the subject of numerous high-profile off-field challenges including suspect packages and an assault from a fan. It was not that much easier on the field as the club left two European competitions early followed by watching Rangers lift the Co-operative Insurance Cup and SPL title. However, not many managers can point to lifting the Scottish Cup in their first season on their CV. Lennon is looking to build on the overall improvement in his much-changed team's performances. Lennon said: "I have enjoyed it immensely. I have enjoyed every minute of it. I have been very comfortable in the role, and never really felt under any amount of pressure - certainly not from inside the club anyway. Even if I had have done, I would still have enjoyed the pressure side of it. I didn't really panic at any stage this season, I just kept believing in the squad - and I still believe in them. I think there is a nucleus here of a very good team for the future and I want to be manager here and take that team forward. The question is can I, the backroom staff and the players handle the expectations as it's going to grow. But that's the challenge which will lie in front of us. We want to make inroads into Europe as well because we feel we have players who are capable of performing well at European level too." Celtic had a good chance to lift the title four game left to play following a 0-0 draw at Ibrox. However. losing their game in hand against Inverness cost them the title despite delivering their highest points total since the Martin O'Neill era. Lennon said: "We still look back with huge disappointment of not winning the league. I don't like saying we should have won it - the footballing gods conspired against us for some reason. I look back on that one as the one that got away. If we had come back from Ibrox with a win, which I felt we deserved, then the league was over. We have gone to Inverness and for some reason our back four, who had been superb for the majority of the season, picked a day to perform poorly and we got punished. The rest of the games were fantastic and the consistency the team showed was very good. People were pointing and asking questions: 'Do they have a big-game mentality?' Well, they have because they have proved that over the course of the season - 38 games and 92 points. We had seven Glasgow derbies and we came out on top in the majority of them. So they proved to me they could play at a high level." Lennon made some excellent signing during his time in charge. He knows a good player when he sees one and is continuing attempts to add to his squad after securing deals for Nottingham Forest defender Kelvin Wilson and Cardiff full-back Adam Matthews earlier this year. The Parkhead manager said: "We are going to try and bring in an extra quality to the squad, and we feel we have already done that with Adam and Kelvin coming in on pre-contracts. I want to get players in and we will be working very hard to do that. It will be ones we have identified for a while and hopefully ones who will want to come in and play for us."
