Neil Lennon

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Personal information
Neil Lennon

Date of birth	June 25, 1971 (age 35)
Place of birth	Lurgan, Northern Ireland
Nickname	'Lenny'
Playing position	Midfield
Club information
Current club	Celtic
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1989-1990 1990-1996 1996-2000 2000-	Manchester City Crewe Alexandra Leicester City Celtic	001 0(0) 147 (15) 170 0(6) 208 0(3)
National team²
1994-2002	Northern Ireland	040 0(2)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:29, 24 March 2007 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of July 17, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Neil Lennon (born June 25, 1971 in Lurgan, County Armagh) is a professional footballer from Northern Ireland, who currently plays for Celtic F.C. in the Scottish Premier League, and is now the club captain.

After joining Manchester City as trainee in 1989, Lennon has played for Crewe and Leicester City, before moving to Celtic, in 2000. For Northern Ireland, Lennon has been capped 40 times, scoring two goals. He has previously captained the squad.

Lennon decided to retire from international football in August 2002 upon receiving a death threat before a Northern Ireland match against Cyprus. The threats came after his alleged claim that he wanted to play for a team representing a United Ireland.[1] The threat was made by the Loyalist Volunteer Force, although the organisation later disputed this [2]. The death threat was met with widespread disgust from both sections of the community in Northern Ireland.[3]

Lennon is seen by Celtic supporters as a committed player^{[citation needed]}, and was made Celtic captain in 2005. In February 2006 he scored only his third goal for Celtic in their 8-1 win over Dunfermline.

When his former club Leicester City sacked Craig Levein Lennon was linked with a return to the Midlands side in a player-manager role. He went on record as saying he was flattered but wanted to captain Celtic to the SPL title.

Although he was also linked with a possible move to Crystal Palace in a player/coach role in the summer of 2006, on 23 June 2006 Celtic announced he had signed a new one-year contract. Sunderland manager Roy Keane made an attempt to sign Lennon prior to the closure of the August 2006 transfer window, however his approach for the player was rejected by Celtic.

In his 2006 memoir, Neil Lennon: Man and Bhoy, Lennon revealed that he had suffered from clinical depression for seven years, and was taking antidepressants. [4]