Neil Lennon knows full well that his job is on the line if the 2011-12 season ends without the SPL title secured. The Scottish Cup, was won in 2010-11 but the SPL title is the one the fans and club grave. Celtic also missed out on the the Co-operative Insurance Cup final to rivals Ranger. Despite these disappointments, the board offered him an improved 12-month rolling contract for the progress he made. However, Lennon knows that allowing Rangers to make it four in a row could signal the end of his time in the east end of Glasgow.
He said: "Three years without the title is a long time for us. I think it is imperative that we do win it. From my own point of view, if you go two years as an Old Firm manager without a title, it might be very difficult to keep your job. But it will depend on what the season brings. We want to make inroads in Europe this season as well. We feel as if we have good natural talent and a good young team, and with a bit more experience in there we feel we can have a go at that as well. I don't think (there will be more pressure). The pressure of the job is always the same: win the league. If you can win a double or treble, brilliant but to win the league is a must, really. I have had one go at it. The fans might get a bit fed up if we miss out on a second one. The expectation levels are going to be greater because of the progress that we made last year and that's a credit to the players. They have to accept that challenge and take it on as I have to do as a manager and my background staff do as well."
While Lennon has a new deal, his management team are still talking about new contracts with the club. The Celtic manager said: "They are in talks at the minute and hopefully that will be resolved by the end of the week or early next week. It is important for continuity and it is important for me to have people that I brought in, people that I trust and people whose opinion I value, to carry on at the club next to me."
Lennon is also working hard to get his squad settled for next season with him hopeful of being able to offer new deals to captain Scott Brown and midfielder Beram Kayal and revealed he has made a bid for Newcastle goalkeeper Fraser Forster, who was on loan at Parkhead last season. he went on: "We will be in talks with both of them. We met Beram's representatives three or four weeks ago and we will sit down and discuss a new deal with him probably when we come back from Australia. We might not have time to do that before we go away, and it will be the same with Scott. They both indicated that they want to go away which is good news from my point of view. We have made a bid for Fraser Forster. Newcastle have said that he is not for sale at the moment but we will pursue that avenue further if we can. I said that we needed a goalkeeper and we would like to bring in a centre forward as well. So that's two and we might be able to add further to the squad after that, I don't know. But there won't be wholesale changes. We are really happy with the majority of the squad and we only need to bring in one or two."
Lennon has also added 19-year-old Kenya midfielder Victor Wanyama, of Belgian side, Germinal Beerschot, to his list of targets. He said: "He is a player who has come to my attention and he is a good young player. We have not pursued that matter any further other than as an option. But if the club can get the opportunity to speak to him then we welcome that."