NEIL LENNON’S footballing philosophy has always been if a kid’s good enough he’s not going to be ignored.
It’s a principle the Northern Irishman will adhere to in his new job as Dunfermline manager.
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And the former Celtic boss reckons he can use Hoops stars James Forrest and Jeremie Frimpong as inspirational figures for the Pars’ brightest prospects.
Both were blooded at first-team level by Lennon and have gone on to enjoy stellar careers.
Homegrown winger Forrest scored on his Celtic debut as a sub against Motherwell in 2010 and has since, become the club’s most decorated player, edging ahead of Bobby Lennox this season with 26 trophies.
Dutch full-back Frimpong arrived from Manchester City for just £350,000 in September 2019 and was quickly thrown in against Falkirk in a League Cup tie.
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Within just 16 months he was on the move to German side Bayer Leverkusen for £11.5million plus a major sell-on percentage that has recently earned Celts a further £5m following his £30m switch to English champions Liverpool.
Lennon said: “You can say to the young players, ‘this is what you can achieve if you really put your mind to it and look after yourself and protect your talent’.
“Young players here, if they’re good enough they’re in and I’ve already been impressed with a few of them.”
Lennon reckons his young Pars can have no better role model than Forrest, who has scored in each of his 16 seasons as a Celt.
He said: “I’m so proud of Jamesy. Wonderful, you couldn’t write a better story than when he got the last-minute goal against St Mirren in the final league game.
“What a player. He was like that when he was 18. He’s so humble. He’s never changed.
“He shies away from all the spotlight and he just gets on with his football.
“He’s one of the most exciting players Celtic have ever had, really.
“Jamesy would drive at you from the left, he’d drive at you from the right. He’s a great finisher.
“He had his ups and downs with injuries, but if you talk to every player or every manager who’s worked with him, he’s just been a joy to work with.
“I managed him twice and he always delivered.
“I loved him. I loved watching him play because he was different.
“He wanted to take people on. That was his remit when he was younger. I said, ‘I want you to run at people’. He was brilliant at it. He was a really good finisher as well.
“I’m delighted for him, he’s had a mega career.
“It’s incredible what he has achieved and you wouldn’t know it because he just shrugs his shoulders and wants to get the next one!
“But the consistency he had and the talent and he’s not lost that change of pace, either. He can do you from a standing position.
“His finishing has always been top class with both feet.
“I’ll try and get him here. I’ll have a chat!
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“You get a huge amount of satisfaction from seeing players come through like that.
“Jeremie’s another one. He’s just gone to Liverpool. I get a lot of satisfaction from that as well, having worked with him for a couple of seasons.
“And what an impact he had for us at Celtic.
“Then he’s gone on to do amazing things in Germany to the point where he’s now signing for the Premier League champions. You get a buzz out of that.
“I couldn’t keep Jeremie out, he was that good.
“We had good players at the club at the time, but once we saw him training, he was just taking our breath away.”
Lennon is thrilled to be back in pressure-cooker management with the Pars, no matter the pleasure of being paid handsomely to talk about elite football.
At one point during last season’s Champions League coverage, he revelled in a TV analyst stint alongside legend Clarence Seedorf and mentor Martin O’Neill.
The trio made for brilliant, entertaining punditry and the no-nonsense Lennon is perfectly at home in that company.
However, he feels he’s at his best in the heat of a touchline gig.
He said: “I like the stimulation. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the punditry work, the European stuff, the Scottish stuff and all the work I did in Ireland as well.
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“But my reason to be is coaching and I like winning things.
“That is what I want to bring to Dunfermline. It’s a big club, it’s a privilege to be the manager.
“I think the Championship is the most competitive league.
“If you look at the other divisions, they had runaway winners.
“But there wasn’t that much between a lot of the teams in the Championship, just that little bit of extra quality at times.
“There was no real consistency in results. Teams would win 3-0 and it just shows you the level of competition in the league.
“What you want to find is a level of consistency, I think that is the key in this league.
“The two teams who went up, Falkirk and Livingston, had that in the end.
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“We are building something here and it will take a bit of time to find the key components we want from the team.
“It’s not set in stone that we have to get promotion next season, but we want to be up and around it for the foreseeable future.”
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