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Lennon on SC and AD


skygod

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Neil Lennon has tipped Kilmarnock’s Steve Clarke to win Scottish football’s manager of the year award after his impact at Rugby Park.

Clarke has led Killie away from trouble at the bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership since arriving in October with 10 wins in his 18 games in charge.

Such has been his impact that Killie, who had just three points when he arrived, now sit sixth in the table having won four games on the bounce and are arguably the form team in Scotland right now, and Lennon admits his influence could be recognised at the end of the season.

When asked if he was a leading contender for the award, Lennon, whose Hibernian side travel to Ayrshire on Saturday, said: “You would have to think so, yeah.

“There are plenty, Stephen Robinson for me is another who has done amazing and then you have the usual contenders in Brendan (Rodgers) and Derek (McInnes).”

Lennon would be a strong contender himself after leading newly-promoted Hibs to fourth and with a good chance of a top-three finish following successive wins over Rangers and Aberdeen, but he has been hugely impressed with the work done by the former Reading and West Brom boss since taking over from Lee McCulloch.

“He is a very unassuming guy but one of the best managers around at this level for sure,” the Hibs boss said.

He added: “He’s got great experience and a great knowledge of the game, he is somebody the players will respect.

“I don’t mean the players didn’t respect Lee but maybe some of the players need to look at themselves and ask why they were underperforming?

“What he has done has come in and given them a lift.

“I think Alex Dyer deserves a mention as well as Steve’s number two. He is very experienced and an excellent assistant manager.

“They look like they’re enjoying life, but it’s hard to tell with Steve!”

(BT Sport)

 

 

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Strikes me he eventually growing up and showing more maturity and balance in his comments ( not just the killie stuff which is easy to love). He’s a good coach with a good record. He’s made lots of mistakes and he’ll get a good mouthful of stick from me on Saturday no doubt. But think he is a more reflective guy that previous. Stuff on mental illness that Boyd and others are sponsoring next important breakthrough in the game.

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14 minutes ago, jock said:

Hard done by? As in having bullets posted to him, assaulted at his place of work and other numerous threats on his life?

I still can't believe he continued to play with NI for so long given the abuse he got.

I'd have told the backwards bastards to f**k off long before he finally retired. Having been to Lurgan for the Glenavon game it's no surprise he's used to it. Beyond backward!

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A bit more detail here:

As if to illustrate his stance, Neil Lennon refuses to discuss the possibility of Kilmarnock bustling into the bidding for a top league position.

For now, Steve Clarke’s side sit sixth in the league and, sitting two places above them, with a nine-point advantage over fifth-placed Hearts and a 12-point lead over the Rugby Park side, the Hibernian boss has said he is no longer casting concerned glances over his shoulder. His focus now is on the teams ahead of them as they set their sights on bolstering their standing and ascending to second place.

“I don’t have an opinion on that,” said Lennon of Kilmarnock’s potential challenge. “I think they’ve got games in hand, which they will have to win. I can only talk about what we’re doing. We’re five points off second place so that’s all I’m looking at.

” The Ayrshire team are the form side, though, and appear to be eyeing their own advancement. Killie had enjoyed just one win in the Premiership by the time Clarke, pictured, took over in mid-October. Looking like relegation fodder at that time, they have since amassed eight victories – including a recent triumph over leaders Celtic and second-placed Rangers – and five draws in the league, while also progressing to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup.

A side with momentum, Lennon can appreciate the turnabout engineered by his Killie counterpart and his coaching staff. On a fine run of their own, with four wins out of five, including the scalps of Rangers and Aberdeen in the last two outings, the Easter Road boss believes tomorrow’s clash will be tight.

“Psychologically it was good to win the last two games, I don’t think many people would have envisaged that,” he said. “But I’m not even sure that we’ll go into the game as favourites. That shows how well Kilmarnock are playing.

“It’s another great challenge for us and one we’re looking forward to. We will go there and try to impose our game and win if we can. It’s important that we don’t ruin the previous two results but spoil some of the momentum.

”The last time the Leith side travelled to Rugby Park, they left with all three points, courtesy of a 3-0 win. That was just three games into Clarke’s tenure and, given that it was a lot closer than the scoreline suggests, it was seen as a pivotal display for a team more used to relegation scraps in recent years than the prospect of a post-split top-six place.

“It was a great game,” conceded Lennon. “I think we deserved to win but the scoreline did flatter us. I think the [Kilmarnock] supporters saw an identity to the team and a performance that they could take something from. There was a nice balance to the game. It was toing and froing and they have never looked back since then.

“I think Steve has certainly given them their pride back. The players really are playing for him at the minute and even after that game, he was pretty pleased. He looked in a good place even then. So early on, it looked like he was really enjoying it. That’s obviously been apparent since then.

“Alex Dyer [Killie assistant manager] needs to take a lot of credit as well. He’s very experienced. Garry [Parker, Lennon’s number two] and I have known him a long time. He is a really good number two.
 
“I know him from my time in England and he played with Garry, they were team-mates at Hull. Alex was a good number two at Huddersfield and very well thought of. A really good guy and they complement each other very well.
 
“They are the form team. The other thing they have shown is a huge amount of character. They were 2-1 down to Dundee with ten men and managed to somehow win the game. They got a great result at Motherwell, which is not an easy place to go and they have beaten Celtic. So they are finding ways to win now. Against us at Easter Road, they scored early. We were the dominant team but we found it difficult to break them down. They’ve got a wee bit of steel about them and they have good experience in the team, with [Kris] Boyd’s goals and [Jordan] Jones can cause problems and Eamonn Brophy has been a real find. It’s the sum of all the parts, allied to a really good manager.
 
“You never know with Stevie, but he’s got to be happy with the way things are going. It’s another tough ask for us.”
 
(Scotsman)
 
 
 


 
Edited by skygod
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