Barry Bannan has said Neil Lennon was 'brilliant' to work under when he was on loan at Bolton Wanderers and drew parallels between the former Whites boss with Martin O'Neill.
The Sheffield Wednesday midfielder had a spell at Wanderers on loan from Crystal Palace in the second half of the 2014/15 campaign in the Championship. He made 16 appearances and notched three assists in that time, before moving to Hillsborough in the summer of 2015.
During that time, Celtic fan Bannan played under Lennon at Wanderers. Lennon spent a year-and-a-half in the dugout with the Whites between October 2014 and March 2016 before departing Wanderers by mutual consent.
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Bannan has now reflected on his time under Lennon and said the former Celtic boss was 'brilliant' work with. He has drawn parallels with O'Neill, who Lennon played under at both Leicester City and Parkhead, and Bannan experienced at Aston Villa.
Speaking to Celtic: The Unrestricted View Podcast, Bannan said: "He was brilliant. I looked up to him he was part of that Martin O'Neill team. He'd won trophies as a manager as well, so to work under him was similar to Martin O'Neill really but not as big as that.
"I got on with him really well. He was quite similar to Martin in a way. He kind of took bits from Martin, obviously having him at Leicester and then Celtic.
"He was good. I liked him."
Bannan, now aged 32, has gone on to rack up more than 300 appearances for the Owls and will come up against his former side for the second season in a row shortly. Wanderers and Wednesday are among the sides seeking to be near the summit of League One this upcoming campaign.
A Celtic fan born and bred, Bannan has never played for Celtic and believes it is his 'only regret' in his playing career. But the closest he came was when former Wanderers boss Lennon took over from Brendan Rodgers for a second spell in charge.
He added: "I think the closest I came was when Rodgers left and Lennon was there and when Lenny came in, because I had Lennon at Bolton. That was the closest but I was still at Sheffield Wednesday and it just never materialised.
"There was rumours but nothing really strong enough to go at."
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