Neil Lennon Biography

Neil Lennon was a top striker in his day. He captained the Celtic FC squad for two years. After spending seven years as a player for the club, Neil went on to become manager, where he has had great success.

Personal Life

Neil Francis Lennon was born on the 25th June 1971. He is a Catholic from Northern Ireland.

Neil was brought up playing Gaelic football and was selected for the County Armagh team. He grew up a Celtic FC supporter and played for a local team called Lurgan Celtic.

When Ireland was separated, most Catholics went to the South. The ones that stayed North were not well liked and were oftentimes attacked. Being among this group, Lennon has often been a victim of terror plots and assault cases during his career as a Celtic player.

Lennon released where he opened up about his personal life and discussed how he suffered from depression. He said he found it hard to be a professional soccer player and cope with all the constant threats, occasional parcel bombs thrown in the door, and other attacks he faced.

Becoming Great

Neil Lennon joined Glenavon in 1987 and scored in his Irish league debut. He then joined Manchester City as a trainee, but had little success. From there, Lennon signed for Crewe Alexandra on a free transfer in 1990.

He made over 147 appearances and played an influential role at the club. He spent six good years with Crewe before being noticed by Leicester City.

In February 1996, he signed for Leicester for a fee of £750,000 and spent four years at the club. During these years, he made 170 appearances.

He was playing against World class players every week and making constant progress. Finally, in 2000, Neil received an offer from Celtic FC, his boyhood heroes. He wasted no time in making this signing and joined the club happily.

Celtic FC

Lennon had successful spells during his time with Leicester, but his most successful period came when he signed for Celtic. He thrived as a Celtic player. The team was a perfect fit. It did not take long for him to be one of the more respected players on the squad. In 2005, he became captain of Celtic's team.

Neil Lennon spent seven years at this paradise club, leading the team to many titles. He was tempted with big moves to the Premier League. He turned them all down saying his heart belonged at Celtic, and he wanted to captain the team to more league titles.

However, in april of 2007, Lennon revealed that he would be leaving Celtic over the transfer season. He finished the season, and lead Celtic to one more Scottish Cup title before joining Nottingham Forrest.

Becoming Manager

Neil Lennon was only with Nottingham's team a few months before he missed a week of training in September and was cut from the team. He then signed for Wycombe Wanderers in January of 2008.

Neil was only with the club until april before he received an offer to coach at the greatest club of his career: Celtic FC

He then signed on as manager of the reserve team for his first coaching job. After two years of proving himself as a coach for the club, Lennon became manager of Celtic's first team in June of 2010!

He has been very successful. In his short time as head manager has already won 2 league titles and 2 League Cups! While Celtic was knocked out in the round of 16 in the UEFA Champion's league in the 2012/13 season, Neil was recognised as a top manager after beating FC Barcelona (one of the best teams in the world) in the group stage.