Celtic supporters under the age of 25 can consider themselves fortunate because they have grown up witnessing a catalogue of success which is unprecedented in the history of the Scottish game.
Since the appointment of Martin O’Neill as manager on June 1 2000 their club has won 38 of the 69 domestic trophies available to them, with Rangers in second place with 17.
More worrying for their biggest rivals is that Celtic’s monopoly of the silverware has increased in recent years. They have won 17 of the last 21, with Rangers and St Johnstone sharing two apiece.
While credit has rightly been apportioned to the contributions made by managers O’Neill, Gordon Strachan, Neil Lennon, Ronny Deila, Brendan Rodgers and Ange Postecoglou, Lennon argues that major shareholder Dermot Desmond has done more than anyone to create Celtic’s supremacy.
Desmond prefers to avoid the spotlight but he is a divisive figure among the Parkhead faithful, some of whom point to the billionaire businessman’s apparent preference for golf and horse racing plus his infrequent appearance at Celtic’s matches as an indication of a lack of passion for the club.
Lennon, though, insists that the 72-year-old’s commitment to Celtic is as unquestionable as the part he has played in the triumphs they have achieved this century.
“It’s difficult to see an end to Celtic’s domination for a long time yet and that’s not Celtic’s fault: it’s up to Rangers and the rest of Scottish football to try and catch up to them,” he said.
“I put that success all down to Dermot Desmond. He was the one who broke the mould in 2000, when Rangers had just won their 11th title in 12 seasons by finishing 21 points ahead of Celtic.
“He brought Martin O’Neill in as manager and bankrolled big-money signings like Chris Sutton, John Hartson, Joos Valgaeren, Alan Thompson and myself.
“Dermot’s also invested in quality managers so that even when Celtic couldn’t compete with the big English clubs in the transfer market they could still find top-class players who’d flown under their radar – players like Victor Wanyama, Virgil van Dijk, Kristoffer Ajer and Odsonne Edouard.
“They were all sold on for a profit and the club kept winning things and Dermot deserves an enormous amount of credit for that.”
Yet there remain doubters, with Desmond’s 25% share in Shamrock Rovers another stick which is occasionally used to beat him. Former Celtic director Brian Dempsey (“The battle is over – the rebels have won”) claimed in 2021 that he believed Desmond was bored with Scottish football.
Lennon, however, stressed that the criticism Dermot (who never attends the club’s agm to address shareholders) receives is unjustified and also points out that he is not the remote, uninterested figure his detractors believe him to be.
“He comes in for a ridiculous amount of stick from supporters and I don’t understand that,” he said.
“When you look back at the 25 years he’s been the major shareholder it’s been success almost all the way – a UEFA Cup final, three times in the last 16 of the Champions League plus all the domestic triumphs.
“It’s been a golden period for Celtic ever since the turn of the millennium and he’s been at the forefront of that. I don’t think he’ll like being given the credit for it but some of the stick he gets simply isn’t justified.
“Back in 2004 I’d been in the team which had lost to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League and I said in an interview that we were going backwards and we needed investment in the team.
“Dermot called me and we had a frank conversation, during which he made me see the big picture. That chat changed my perception about how football’s run and made me realise it wasn’t as black and white as I’d thought.
“He’s very forward thinking, he just loves sport in general and he was always very supportive of me when I was manager. We would speak regularly about how things were at the club.”
Lennon has been out of the game since parting company with Omonia – he won the Cypriot Cup with them last year – in October but now, after approaches from Olympiakos and Marseille fell through, he’s recharged his batteries and is ready to get back in the saddle.
“I turned down a few offers last month because they just weren’t right for me,” he disclosed.
“We’re now getting to the stage where pre-season training is about to begin for most clubs so it may be that I’ll need to wait until 2023/24 gets under way and someone loses their job.
“Punditry is something I’ve enjoyed doing and I’m grateful for the offers I’ve had but I’m not ready to go into that full-time.
“I still have the coaching bug and I’m hankering after the satisfaction of that hands-on involvement where there’s something at stake in every match.”
