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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Aidan Smith

Neil Lennon in shock management return link as Euro giants 'offered' ex-Celtic boss

Neil Lennon is reportedly in the running to become the next manager of French giants Marseille.

The Ligue 1 side are on the hunt for a new boss after Croatian Igor Tudor departed the club at the end of the season, leaving his contract early.

Since then former midfielder Marcelo Gallardo, who left River Plate last year after eight years in charge, has emerged as the bookies' favourite for the position.

The club are said to have held talks with the Argentine over the vacancy, while Lille manager Paulo Fonseca is also on the shortlist.

Now reports in France from journalist Patrick Juillard suggest that Lennon is also being considered and it is understood he is open to the position.

Lennon has been out of work since he exited Omonia Nicosia last season, and before then his second stint as Celtic manager ended in disappointment.

Lennon continued the success of Brendan Rodgers after being drafted in to replace his fellow Northern Irishman in February 2019 but the success did not continue.

The former Hoops skipper won the Scottish Cup in 2011 at the end of his first full season in charge and went on to win three consecutive titles as well as the 2013 Scottish Cup. Lennon is the last man to lead Celtic into the knockout stages of the Champions League, with victory over Barcelona helping them make the last 16 in 2012-13.

After spells with Bolton and Hibernian, he finished off the clean sweep Rodgers started in 2019 and was in charge when they completed the quadruple treble in December 2020 following Covid disruptions.

His reign was starting to implode though and Celtic’s 10-in-a-row dreams crashed and burned. A League Cup defeat by Ross County ended their 12-trophy run of success and he resigned after a league defeat by the Staggies in February 2021.

Meanwhile, Celtic appear close to securing the services of Rodgers for a second time after pushing the boat out to bring their former manager back as Ange Postecoglou’s successor.

The Hoops have been on the hunt for a new boss since the Australian sealed his move to Tottenham last Tuesday.

After being linked with Manchester City assistant Enzo Maresca, Bodo/Glimt boss Kjetil Knutsen and West Ham manager David Moyes, among others, the Celtic board have now homed in on Rodgers, with whom they met in Majorca last weekend to initiate discussions.

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