Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player, who was most recently the head coach of Liga I club Rapid București.

Lennon was appointed manager of former club Celtic in March 2010, initially in a caretaker capacity, following the departure of Tony Mowbray.

After an unsuccessful spell back in England with Bolton Wanderers, marred by the club's financial problems, Lennon returned to Scottish football in 2016 with Hibernian.

Lennon returned to Celtic in February 2019, initially on an interim basis for the rest of the 2018–19 season, and guided them to the league and Scottish Cup titles.

He made one first team appearance during his time in Manchester, a league match on 30 April 1988 away against Birmingham City,[12] before signing for Crewe Alexandra on a free transfer in August 1990.

[14] Despite missing the whole of season 1991–92 due to a back injury,[11] he became an established member of the side and impressed with his intelligent play and consistent performances.

[14][15] Lennon's form saw him make his debut for Northern Ireland in 1994, and thus became the first Crewe Alexandra player in 60 years to win a full international cap.

[18] In May 1996, Lennon played in the Leicester City side that defeated Crystal Palace 2–1 at Wembley in the Play-off Final to win promotion to the Premier League.

[19] On 16 April 1997, Lennon picked up his first major winner's medal when Leicester won 1–0 against Middlesbrough in a replayed League Cup Final.

[20] He played in a further two League Cup Finals during his time at Filbert Street, losing 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur in March 1999[21] but winning 2–1 against Tranmere Rovers in February 2000.

[29] Although he was also linked with a move to Crystal Palace in a player-manager role in the summer of 2006,[30] on 23 June 2006, Celtic announced he had signed a new one-year contract.

Sunderland manager Roy Keane made an attempt to sign Lennon prior to the closure of the August 2006 transfer window, but his approach for the player was rejected by Celtic.

On 25 April 2007, Lennon announced he would be leaving Celtic, and in his last game for the club on 26 May 2007, he captained the team to victory in the Scottish Cup Final against Dunfermline Athletic.

[35] Lennon joined Wycombe Wanderers of League Two on a free transfer on 31 January 2008, managed by his former Celtic midfield partner Paul Lambert.

Lennon decided to retire from international football in August 2002 upon receiving a death threat before a Northern Ireland match against Cyprus.

Celtic won all of their remaining league games under Lennon, including wins over Kilmarnock,[50] Hibernian,[51] and Rangers,[52] but lost 2–0 to First Division side Ross County in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup.

In addition to these Lennon also signed five other players, including Fraser Forster[72][73] on loan from Newcastle who became first choice 'keeper and helped set a new SPL record for most clean sheets.

The Ibrox club's third goal came as a result of penalty awarded when Rangers' Kirk Broadfoot fell to the ground under a challenge from Celtic's Daniel Majstorović.

[84] They remained in contention for the SPL title until the final day of the 2010–11 season, when they won 4–0 at home to Motherwell, but finished a point behind Rangers.

[101] He won his first game in charge 1–0 against Birmingham City at St Andrew's stadium, although he was sent to the stands in the 81st minute after an altercation with referee Mark Haywood caused by Lennon leaving his technical area before Craig Davies's penalty was saved.

[102] Lennon's first three months in charge saw Bolton rise ten places from bottom of the league up to fourteenth; a spell that included an eight match unbeaten run and four consecutive clean sheets.

[110] At this time, the club announced that their squad had not been paid this month "due to a short-term funding issue" in a statement which came hours before their 1–1 draw with Brentford.

In that game, Bolton striker Gary Madine was seen on television mouthing an insult towards Lennon, although the manager played down the incident afterwards, stating "I don't know what he said.

"[119] On 26 February 2019, Lennon was appointed manager of Celtic for a second time, taking over until the end of the campaign following Brendan Rodgers' mid-season departure for Leicester City.

[122] After a brief turnaround in results, Celtic lost the second Old Firm game of the season on 2 January, and calls were once again made for Lennon to be removed from his position as hopes of a historic tenth title faded.

[126] On 8 March 2022, Lennon was appointed head coach of Cypriot First Division side Omonia on a two-and-a-half-year deal, replacing former Rangers defender Henning Berg.

[129][130][131] After defeat in the Cypriot Super Cup to Apollon Limassol,[132] Lennon's Omonia team shocked Belgian side Gent 4–0 on aggregate to qualify for the UEFA Europa League group stage.

[133] Despite respectable showings against Manchester United and Real Sociedad in the group stage, Lennon was sacked on 18 October 2022 due to disappointing results in the domestic league, including losses to newly-promoted sides Akritas Chlorakas and Nea Salamis.

[134][135] On 20 May 2024, Lennon was officially presented as the manager of Liga I club Rapid București, joining the Romanian side on a two-year deal.

[139] While a young player at Crewe, Lennon was a friend of Andy Woodward and Steve Walters, both of whom were victims of sexual abuse by coach Barry Bennell.