NEIL Lennon has admitted that his long-term aim is to succeed Gordon Strachan as manager of Celtic. The former club captain's return to Paradise on Friday may have been triggered by first-team coach Tommy Burns' health problems but the Irishman has his eyes on the bigger prize.
"It's my ambition to become a manager," he said. "At Celtic? If possible, but that's a long, long way off. I've worked with great managers; Howard Kendall, Dario Gradi, Martin O'Neill and Gordon. You can only learn from these people about coaching an
d man-management. Every one of them was different and each had their own approach.
"I'm doing my A licence this summer. I've already done my B licence with the SFA and I'll do my coaching hours during next season. It's weird, though. I don't think it's sunk in yet that I've stopped playing. I thought I might've been picked for Friday's Old v Young game but the manager was having none of it.
"At least I've got something to walk straight into. I'm very lucky in that respect and I'm very flattered that Gordon thought I was capable of bringing something to the club. I've gone to the dark side. I didn't think I'd come back so soon, if at all. I was really nervous at training: it was like my first day at school. Did anyone cheek me? No, they wouldn't dare!"
Lennon harvested 11 domestic honours during his six-and-a-half seasons as a player at Parkhead and he's desperate to help the club avoid a trophyless campaign by pipping leaders Rangers for the title.
"What I bring to the club is relatively recent experience," he said. "The majority of our players haven't been in this position before and even the ones who've won titles haven't done it by playing catch-up. Maybe I can add an extra voice in the dressing room and help the manager with a different opinion, a different point of view. If I can pass on a nugget of advice to someone then it'll have been worthwhile.
"I haven't changed at all since I left. I still want to win and I still have that drive. I missed being around the place but to come back so soon was a bit of a shock. It's like I've never been away. From here on in every game is a must-win game for Celtic. That's the challenge: if they want to be champions and win three in a row then that's what they have to do. Even then it might not be enough but at least they'll have given themselves a chance. It's a huge task."
Lennon famously almost came to blows with Aiden McGeady on the pitch at Dunfermline last season but he insists he'll be adopting a more considered stance in the technical area.
"When you're playing everything's instinctive but now I need to be more careful about it," he said. "The manager will do most of it if there's a rollicking to be handed out and he'll do the team talks. However, if I'm not happy with something then I'm sure he won't mind me having a word or two.
"When you're on the pitch you can do something about it but off the pitch you can't. I need to be more tolerant and patient and put my faith in the players."
Popular Clarke fed up with BluesIN A development that is bound to have SPL clubs taking notice, Steve Clarke, Chelsea's assistant first-team coach, is said to be so dispirited by life at Stamford Bridge of late that he is seriously contemplating leaving the club in the summer and pursuing a job as a manager in his own right.
This comes on the back of significant unrest behind the scenes at Chelsea, brought about by the unpopular reign of Avram Grant. As well as the Scot, several other coaches at Stamford Bridge are believed to be considering their position.
Clarke, respected by the players and liked enormously by the fans, has been down this road before, in the wake of Jose Mourinho's departure last September. He was persuaded to stay at the club on the back of a whopping salary rise, said to give him an annual wage close to £1m. The problems he envisaged then, however, have not been resolved and he is now prepared to leave, with the Coca-Cola Championship his likely destination. He will accept a pay cut but whether he'd accept the kind of money that, say, Hearts or Aberdeen might offer is doubtful.
Brewster makes it up with BlackINVERNESS Caledonian Thistle midfielder Ian Black is back in contention for the first team after healing his rift with manager Craig Brewster.
Black has trained with Caley Thistle's under-19 team for the last fortnight following a disagreement with the manager.
Brewster, below, said: "The situation is resolved and we can concentrate on football again.
"Ian stood up in front of everybody and said that if he had offended anyone then he was out of order.
"It can be difficult to manage a dressing room but the group is always the most important thing."
Meanwhile, the club have moved to play down rising speculation that John Robertson is poised to return to the Highland club as manager, writes Ewan Murray.
Robertson, who guided Caley Thistle to the First Division championship in 2004, has recently accepted a business development job with the Orion Group. That company is owned by Alan Savage, the Caley Thistle chairman, although those close to the businessman insist Brewster's position is not under immediate threat despite poor form since the turn of the year. Savage has, in fact, promised to increase the manager's budget for next season.
Brewster has been the subject of intense scrutiny after high-profile fall-outs with first-team players including Black. Players were also upset at the treatment of Dennis Wyness, the 30-year-old striker who saw a contract offer withdrawn after a poor performance against Falkirk last month.
Wyness is now privately resigned to a future away from the Highland capital, with St Mirren leading the chase for his signature. Another forward, Graham Bayne, is also poised to leave Caledonian Stadium with St Johnstone among those interested in the former Dundee player. Hibernian had been monitoring Black's situation.
Tangerine dream for Plymouth bossPLYMOUTH fans have voted for a new 'Dundee United' away kit for next season – as a tribute to boss Paul Sturrock.
The Argyle supporters were asked to cast their votes for the new strip. And the shirt will now be bright orange to remind United supporter Sturrock of the club.
Highland club dismiss Robbo linkINVERNESS Caledonian Thistle have moved to play down rising speculation that John Robertson is poised to return to the Highland club as manager, writes Ewan Murray.
Robertson, who guided Caley Thistle to the First Division championship in 2004, has recently accepted a business development job with the Orion Group. That company is owned by Alan Savage, the Caley Thistle chairman, although those close to the businessman insist Craig Brewster's position is not under immediate threat despite poor form since the turn of the year. Savage has, in fact, promised to increase the manager's budget for next season.
Brewster has been the subject of intense scrutiny after high-profile fall-outs with first-team players. Ian Black has trained with Caley Thistle's under-19 team for the last fortnight following a disagreement with the manager while fellow players were upset at the treatment of Dennis Wyness, the 30-year-old striker who saw a contract offer withdrawn after a poor performance against Falkirk last month.
Wyness is now privately resigned to a future away from the Highland capital, with St Mirren leading the chase for his signature. Another forward, Graham Bayne, is also poised to leave Caledonian Stadium with St Johnstone among those interested in the former Dundee player. Hibernian are monitoring Black's situation.
ItalyRONALDINHO'S latest injury is unrelated to the problem which kept him out of Barcelona's last five matches, the Primera Liga side's medical team claimed yesterday.
The club said he had torn a muscle in his right leg and would be out of action for around six weeks, effectively ruling him out for the rest of the season. "The injury has no link with the other one," Ricard Pruna told a news conference. "This one happened in an incident with Edmilson in training on Thursday."
The Brazil forward last played for Barca in the 2-1 league defeat at home to Villarreal on March 9, and was left out of the next squad for the 2-2 draw away to Almeria, with coach Frank Rijkaard saying he was injured.
After the Almeria game, Barca's medical team put out a statement to say that they had done a scan on a muscle in his right leg, in a similar area to the latest injury, and that there was no evidence of a muscle or tendon injury. Since then the 28-year-old's injury has been the subject of intense media speculation as he failed to make the Barca squad amid reports that the club were looking to offload him, with his most likely destination Italy.
He has suffered a string of injury and fitness problems over the last year and been criticised by local media for his training habits and lifestyle away from the pitch. Pruna added: "He has a lot to think about as to why he is injured."
FranceTHIERRY Henry tops the list of the best-paid French sportsmen with earnings of €17.4m in 2007, according to a survey published yesterday by the weekly sports magazine L'Equipe.
The Barcelona and France striker succeeds Zinedine Zidane, who retired from competitive sport after the 2006 soccer World Cup.
San Antonio Spurs basketball player Tony Parker is second on ?9.6m, with Inter Milan midfielder Patrick Vieira third on ?8m.
Forty-three of the 50 people listed are footballers and 37 play outside France. The list contains only two women – tennis player Amelie Mauresmo and swimmer Laure Manaudou, joint 29th on ?2.8m
Henry joined Barcelona from Arsenal for £16.1m in 2007. He had signed for the north London club for £10.5m in 1999 and was regularly the club's top scorer, spending his last two seasons there as club captain before joining the Catalan side.
A POWERFUL close-range volley by Alou Diarra helped Girondins Bordeaux take a major step towards direct qualification for the Champions League with a 2-0 win at fifth-placed Stade Rennes yesterday.
The 26-year-old midfielder struck after a corner by Brazilian Geraldo Wendel, whose compatriot Fernando sealed Bordeaux's win when he headed home another Wendel corner five minutes from time.
The win consolidates second place for Bordeaux with six matches left since they now have a nine-point lead over third-placed Nancy, who face a tricky home game today against a Paris St Germain side fighting against relegation.
The relegation battle is hotting up with four clubs – Racing Lens, PSG, Toulouse and Strasbourg – level on 35 points and separated only by goal difference ahead of bottom club Metz.
Lens, held 1-1 at home by Metz, are in 16th place in the standings followed by PSG and then Toulouse, who only managed a goalless draw at home to Lorient, with Strasbourg 19th after a 2-0 defeat by Monaco.
Leaders Lyon travel to fourth-placed Marseille today. Lyon are aiming to restore a nine-point lead at the top with a victory while Marseille, eyeing a place in the Champions League qualifying round, must win to move level on points with Nancy.
ItalyWITH Brazilian forward Ronaldinho joining Lionel Messi on the injured list, Barcelona will field an attacking trident of Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto'o and Bojan Krkic when Michael Laudrup's Getafe visit the Nou Camp tonight.
Ronaldinho injured a muscle in his right leg during a training session on Thursday, and is now expected to miss the remainder of the season.
The timing couldn't be worse for under-fire coach Frank Rijkaard, who knows three points are a must if his side are to have any chance of catching leaders Real Madrid.
With the Spanish press having widely reported that former Barca captain Josep Guardiola is poised to take over from Rijkaard, the club took the unusual step of releasing an official statement via its website.
It read: "Barcelona emphatically denies that a decision has been taken to replace the coach, Frank Rijkaard, for the next season. The Dutch manager has a contract until the 2009 season and the Board of Directors has complete confidence in him."
A late Cosmin Contra goal earned Getafe an impressive 1-1 UEFA Cup quarter-final draw away to Bayern Munich on Thursday, and the Madrid side can all but hand the title to their city neighbours if they can take something from their trip to Barcelona.
Germany SCHALKE 04 moved up to second place in the Bundesliga with a 1-0 home win over Hansa Rostock while resurgent VfB Stuttgart beat Hamburg SV by the same score.
Schalke improved their chances of qualifying for the Champions League next season thanks to a Halil Altintop goal early in the second half. "We were patient, that was the important thing," coach Mirko Slomka told reporters. "It's nice to be back in second."
Hamburg dropped a place to third after a Roberto Hilbert volley and one spectacular save from Stuttgart's 19-year-old keeper Sven Ulreich consigned the visitors to defeat.
Bayern Munich, who lead on 54 points, can take a big step closer to a 21st league title when they host VfL Bochum today. With seven games left Schalke are second on 48 while Hamburg (47) cling on to the final Champions League place.
Werder Bremen are behind them on goal difference after a 2-1 victory at Hertha Berlin with goals from Markus Rosenberg and Tim Borowski.
Bayer Leverkusen are sixth with 44 points and will go third if they win at Borussia Dortmund today.
The match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Nuremberg was held up for 20 minutes in the first half when the referee ordered the players off because of fireworks being let off in the crowd. Visiting Nuremberg won the game 3-1.
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