Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish football coach and former player who is the manager of Scottish Premiership club Celtic. During his playing career he represented English clubs Manchester City, Crewe Alexandra and Leicester City.
Lennon moved to Scottish club 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 made 40 appearances for Northern Ireland in nine years, scoring two goals. Lennon was appointed manager of Celtic in March 2010, initially in a caretaker capacity after the departure of Tony Mowbray.
Liverpool hero Virgil van Dijk was set on the path to success after being subjected to a gruelling weight loss regimen by Neil Lennon.
The centre-back spent two full seasons at Celtic before moving on to Southampton, and a £75million move to Anfield made him the most expensive defender in the world.
According to Hoops captain Scott Brown though it was Lennon who was crucial in putting Van Dijk on the path to stardom. Speaking on BBC Sportsound the Celtic legend was asked for the best player he'd ever played alongside.Brown replied: “Virgil.
Absolute Rolls Royce.“He came and you knew he had quality but he just at the time didn’t look after himself as well as he probably should have done.“Neil had him in the gym, double sessions, and he
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