Neil Lennon focused on seeing the job through, says Mjallby

NEIL Lennon has every intention of continuing in football management, and would be a loss to the game if he was forced out, Johan Mjallby said yesterday.

Whatever the outcome of the last day of the SPL and next week's Scottish Cup final, the Celtic assistant manager believes that Lennon has already done enough in his first full season in charge to prove he can be a great success.

Mjallby was speaking at the club's Lennoxtown training centre after taking training, having said he had told Lennon to have a relaxing day. Addressing the hostility towards Lennon, which this week saw the manager attacked during Celtic's game against Hearts at Tynecastle, the Swede said he thought the problem was both a footballing one and a social one, and explained he found it hard to understand why his friend and colleague was disliked.

"Neil is in a very good mood," Mjallby began when asked how the absent manager was. "Obviously he has good reason to be disappointed that he's back in the limelight because of this. We should be talking about the team performing so well to beat Hearts.

"But he's in a really good mood. He wants to focus on Sunday and then next Saturday, because we've got two big games coming up."

The 3-0 win at Hearts kept alive Celtic's hopes of snatching the league away from Rangers, who have a single-point lead going into tomorrow's final round of games. The champions visit Kilmarnock, while Celtic are at home to Motherwell, the club they will also meet in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden a week today.

No matter the outcome of tomorrow's matches, there will be a massive show of support for Lennon inside Celtic Park. "I think the players really want to win the championship for Neil, for themselves, for the supporters and for the club," Mjallby continued. "And maybe a wee bit for me, too, I hope!"

The events of Wednesday night have seen Scottish society portrayed to the outside world at its most primitive and divided, but Mjallby, who played for Celtic alongside Lennon, has also seen its more positive side, and had no qualms about bringing his family back here from Sweden.

"I wouldn't be back here if I didn't like Scotland," he explained. "I had a brilliant time as a player and loved it here. It's always been a pleasure living here with the family. It's always been easy for them to have their social life and have a nice time at school.

"Is it a football problem or a society problem? It's probably a bit of both. It's a shame people seem to get so annoyed with Neil and with the person that he is. That shouldn't happen. Even if you just don't like Celtic it's ridiculous to put all of this on the manager. In a strange way it seems people are mixing football and the outside world too much.

"I don't know why some people don't like Neil. You're asking the wrong man, because I like the man. We work well together and we've been good friends for a long time.

"He's a fighter and a winner in all areas of life. That seems to upset some people in a way. For me he's done a great job in his first year in charge.

"He's shown he's capable of becoming a very good manager. It would be a shame if he didn't continue being a manager, but I'm quite sure he's raring to go on and continue in this profession."

Mjallby did not say that all dislike of Lennon was based on sectarianism, and acknowledged that despite his time in Glasgow he still did not have a good grasp of the religious issues which are still so important here. He argued, however, that all the animosity could not only be because of the manager's character.

"When it comes to religion I can't really tell. I'm Swedish and I can't say we're religious people. If it's not religion, then there are a few of us who should be upsetting people, as I'm a fighter and trying to be a winner, too. I don't know why Neil is singled out. Maybe it's because he's very passionate about his players, his team and himself. He's quite animated with the way he does his business. The good thing for us working with him is he's very good with the players and has a good relationship with them. He will always have this great relationship with players and that can take him a long way."

Lennon's future in his current post is dependent on several factors, and Mjallby knows that, even if he opts to resist all the external pressures and stay in the job, the club's board retain the power to tell him his services are no longer required. All being equal, however, he is sure that Lennon is where he wants to be, and will grow in stature as a manager as long as he is given the time to do so. "I don't know if he will still be here in a few years' time, but there are three different alternatives: he stays here as manager, or he's a manager somewhere else, or he'll no longer be in management. But I'm sure he wants to be here.

"It would be a loss to management if he stopped. We've only been here a year and a bit, but he's shown in that time he's got a real chance of becoming a really good manager."