No pain no gain

Neil Lennon knows what it is like to lose a championship as a player. He always came back determined not to feel that pain again and he expects the same kind of reaction from his players following a disappointing 2009-10 campaign. Lennon said: “When I played and a lost a couple of titles it hurt – it really hurt. And sometimes when you won the league comfortably you took it for granted and then when you didn’t have it you realised what you lost and what an achievement it was in the first place so I hope the players are feeling it now. They have had a few weeks to dwell on it and look back on the season and realised that can’t happen again by re-focusing their minds on bringing the title back and bringing some success back to the club."

The Celtic manager is looking forward to being in charge for the whole season and is keen to test himself every week. He said: “I am looking forward to going head-to-head with all the managers in the SPL and, again, the special ingredient to that is Celtic v Rangers. I have had plenty of experience of that as a player and had one game as a manager, so I am looking forward to that. But I am only focusing on Celtic. I am not thinking of anybody else – just my team and what we can do."