Celtic crowned Scottish Premiership champions for ninth successive season after SPFL opted to curtail current campaign
Tuesday 19 May 2020 20:44, UK
Celtic manager Neil Lennon believes his side have still to reach their full potential despite having been confirmed as Scottish Premiership champions for a record-equalling ninth time in a row.
Lennon's team - who had been 13 points clear of second-placed Rangers having played one more game than their city rivals - were declared champions after the SPFL ended the campaign early on Monday.
As a result, Celtic have matched the run of nine successive top-flight titles achieved by Jock Stein's side between 1965 and 1974, as well as Rangers between 1988 and 1997.
Lennon, who returned to Celtic Park for a second time as manager in February 2019 after Brendan Rodgers' departure to Leicester, has now guided the club to five championships, the same amount he won during his time as a player in Glasgow.
However, Lennon feels his current crop of players are superior to those he coached to three successive titles between 2011 and 2014.
"It is better and more consistent [than his 2011-14 team], although my first team did really, really well and we had a great run in the Champions League, getting to the last 16," he told The Football Show.
"But this team is more consistent, their mentality is never-say-die and there have been times when we have been through real pressure games and come out the other side of it."
Lennon, though, is adamant his side, who are targeting a record-breaking 10th straight top-flight title next season, will continue to improve.
"There is more to come from this team as well and what we do have is young players on long-term contracts thankfully, because we do not know how the landscape is going to look when football comes back to some sort of normality," he said.
"But we have most of our main assets on long-term contracts and there is more to come from this team.
"We were fantastic under Brendan and we have done really good under myself. It was a difficult time to take over when Brendan left, trying to keep that run of wins and momentum going and they have responded to everything we have asked of them.
"And they are flexible - we were 4-3-3 for most of the first half of the season, then we changed the system for the second half of the season and the transition, they understood it and the football intelligence was very good."
One area in particular Lennon feels Celtic can improve is their Champions League record, with the Northern Irishman challenging his players to qualify for, and then progress from, the group phase of Europe's premier club competition next season.
"From a European perspective, we had a good run in the Europa League, but there is a lot more to come from this team as well," he added.
"For the last three years we have not got through the [Champions League] group stage, so it is important - if and when we get back and when the qualifiers come round, we have to play four qualifiers to get into the group stage - that we focus early and try and get into the group stage and then take it from there.
"But the experience we have got from this year, going away and winning in Lazio, topping the group for a young team will stand them in good stead.
"It is very reminiscent of my first time when we had a good Europa League run in the second year and then in the third year we qualified for the last 16.
"So that is something that while we are looking for the domestic league, that is always the priority, it is important for a club like Celtic to still brandish itself on the European stage and get those big European nights back.
"But more or less straight away you have to hit the ground running with the Champions League qualifiers, so pre-season is always - we are looking at the June 10 to come back to training - going to be really important for qualification."
