Our On This Day series has a return to a decade ago today, the 27th of March 2010, and also the start of a new Celtic era.
Ten years ago today, Celtic defeated Kilmarnock 3-1 at a regular victory. Nothing special about that you may think.
But, it was the very first game which was handled by Neil Lennon. The former Hoops captain took over on a temporary basis from Tony Mowbray, who was sacked following the awkward 4-0 loss to St Mirren.
Lennon took more than a Hoops team that had some good to very good players at the side. The likes of Robbie Keane, Scott Brown and Aiden McGeady were in the squad.
Team was underperforming badly. However, the group had been underperforming badly and were miles behind Rangers in the league. Lennon was given his chance, and the group did not let him down on his very first day as Hoops boss.
Unsurprisingly, it was Robbie Keane, Celtic’s greatest player in the year 2009-10, who made the difference on the day. He scored two fine goals to put Celtic in pole position for the 3 points.
The Hoops’ third goal was scored by Scott Brown, who would go on to become hugely powerful during Lennon’s time as manager.
Many gamers would go on to win prizes. When you consider the team chosen by Lennon in the afternoon, it features players who had already won and could go on to win a range of trophies with the club.
The likes of Artur Boruc, Georgios Samaras, Darren O’Dea, Lee Naylor along the likes of Brown and McGeady should have done far better that season.
But it took the arrival of Lennon for these players to go on a constant run of form, and by then it was already too late to do anything about a title challenge.
Still, it will undoubtedly be a day that Neil Lennon looks back fondly. After all, it was the start of a hugely successful managerial career with Celtic, one which is showing no signs of quitting.
