Former Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has insisted that Neil Lennon did not need to captain’s armband to be the leader in his team.
The current Celtic boss worked under O’Neill at Leicester City and when O'Neill moved to Scotland, he snared the former defensive midfielder away as well from the Premier League side.
Lennon enjoyed great success at Celtic as a player under the O’Neill and was considered one of the leaders of the team, both on and off the pitch.
The former Celtic and Leicester boss did not make Lennon the captain at either club despite him being one of the first names on his team-sheet.
However, O’Neill insisted that Lennon did not need the captain’s armband to be the leader of the dressing room at Celtic and Leicester.
He feels leadership came naturally when the current Celtic boss was a player and O’Neill admits that he rarely let him down when he was on the pitch.
“I didn’t make him captain at Leicester or at Celtic because he didn’t need to be captain”, O’Neill told The Athletic.
“Not consciously [he didn’t become lieutenant on the pitch], I think it was more natural in the end.
“At Leicester and at Celtic I could count the number of times he let me down on one hand.”
Lennon went on to manage Celtic and returned for his second stint as Bhoys boss when Brendan Rodgers left the club early last year.
