Steven Pressley has one key piece of advice for Neil Lennon as he starts work in Cyprus: Don’t unpack your suitcase.
That line was the running gag for Pressley and his backroom staff in a league that’s a minefield for managers.
Elvis lasted 10 months at Pafos in 2018 and reckons former Celtic teammate Lennon will love the lifestyle on the sunshine island.
But Pressley rejected two opportunities to return because of the volatility of the job and off-the-field problems like players going months without pay.
Lenny has landed the gig at Omonia Nicosia after former Rangers defender Henning Berg was binned.
The Norwegian won the title last season but the team now languish in the bottom half of the Cyta Championship.
Pressley, Brentford’s head of individual development, said: “For Neil, it’s an exciting challenge. He’ll enjoy going to work in a foreign country and an environment where the weather is particularly good.
“But he will have to accept there is not a lot of stability in the job.
“I managed out there for 10 months and that’s actually a decent stint. I staved off relegation with many points to spare, which was my challenge.
“Then I got four league games of the following season before I was gone. In the season I left, eight managers lost their jobs after 12 fixtures.
“I was contacted last season, prior to joining Brentford, by a Cypriot club asking me to go over and save them from relegation.
“I would’ve been their fifth manager that season - after 26 games!
“The problem was that you’d think, with 10 games to go, I’d be guaranteed the rest of the season.
“But in Cyprus, the reality is that’s not the case. Me and my staff had a continuous joke: Don’t unpack your suitcase.”
Lennon has been hired on a deal until 2024 yet the history of British bosses there suggests he’ll be lucky to stay the course of the contract.
Scotland assistant coach John Carver was fired after eight months in the Omonia hotseat Lennon now inhabits.
But he and Pressley enjoyed long spells in charge compared to Mick McCarthy’s two months with APOEL last year.
And George Burley was fired after two games at Apollon Limassol in 2012 following a dispute with club hierarchy.
Pressley cautions Lennon that dealing with boardroom bother is a constant concern.
He explained: “There aren’t just the challenges of winning games.
“There’s lots more distractions, uncontrollable aspects you have to manage as coach. I had players who hadn’t been paid for three, four months. That was regular occurrence.
“As was their apartments not being paid. Motivation levels can be difficult. I know Neil’s Omonia are a big club but it’s just a common situation, the Cypriot players grow to accept it. We come from an environment where you’re paid on a regular basis so foreign players find that aspect hard to accept.
“The one thing you want as a manager is to have a ‘no excuse’ culture. But that’s difficult in Cyprus.
“I don’t think there’s a word for ‘support’ in the Cypriot boardroom dictionary. I didn’t have my new players in for pre-season, they joined me in the weeks leading up to the season.
“But there’s no consideration for that, not a great deal of strategy.
“It’s ‘results now’ with no true understanding of problems and challenges that a coach faces. They would try to pressurise you into certain things.”
Lennon has previous dealing with financial troubles when Bolton lurched into crisis.
And two spells in charge of Celtic certainly brace him for the ‘win now’ requirements.
Pressley added: “When you manage out there, you are managing extremes.
“You go from being the hero for winning the game on a Saturday to being the villain with one other result.
“If you lose a game of football in Cyprus, you are under pressure.
“But I suppose Neil will have great experience of that from Celtic where you simply must win.
“The problem within that is, at Celtic, you’ve the resource and players to do that on a regular basis.
“At Omonia, yes they’re a big club. But do they have the players right now?
“He has one in his squad who was in my Pafos team as a young player coming through, Zakarous Panagiotis.
“He was a striker but I played him attacking midfielder and he performed quite well for me.”
Pressley is delighted to see Lennon back in work a year on from his dismissal from Celtic.
He urged the 50-year-old to make the most of his time in the Cypriot capital and relish a different managerial experience.
Pressley added: “Listen, he’ll certainly enjoy the lifestyle. I wouldn’t change it. It was fantastic, I really enjoyed it.
“I managed players from various countries, so a different type of management was required.
“Omonia are potentially the biggest club in Cyprus, although they’ve struggled this season.
“It’s a terrific coaching environment. When you’re on the grass and in the zone it’s fantastic with the weather.
“But once you get into the summer months you have to train in the evenings.
“Some attendances are low but at the top games, the atmosphere and fanatical support are excellent.
“Having said that, I refused another opportunity after coming back.
“Looking for a job where you can build in a stable environment? No, I wouldn’t go back.”
