SOCCER: MARY HANNIGANtalks to Celtic's manager about the club's visit to Dublin next summer and the impressive form of one of the city's native sons
WITH THE not inconsiderable matter of Sunday’s Scottish Cup game against Rangers on his mind, Neil Lennon might have been forgiven yesterday for being reluctant to cast his thoughts as far forward as next July’s Dublin Super Cup.
The Celtic manager, though, did his duty at the Aviva Stadium, turning up for the launch of the four-team tournament, the line-up of which is completed by Manchester City, Inter Milan and an Air Tricity League XI.
“It’s my first view of it today and it’s absolutely spectacular,” he said of the stadium where, on July 30th, his Celtic team will play the Italians, before meeting the home side on the Sunday. City will play the Irish XI in the opening game of the tournament, before meeting Inter in the last of the four fixtures the next day.
Greg Oldfield, managing director of Endemol Sport, the entertainment group that has teamed up with the Football Association of Ireland and sports agency Iconic to stage the event over the next 10 years, conceded that a title sponsor had yet to be found for the tournament.
He insisted, though, that he was confident one would be secured soon, adding the group was also speaking to a number of sports channels about covering the games live. The FAI will be paid in the region of €1 million each year in return for Endemol using the stadium for the tournament.
Tickets, available through dublinsupercup.com and Ticketmaster, start at €10, for children under 16, rising to €65 for category A tickets.
“I feel privileged as Celtic manager to be able to take the first-team squad over to Ireland to play in Dublin against some top-class opposition,” said Lennon. “Obviously the club has very strong ties with Ireland and with our massive fan base here it promises to be a special occasion for myself, the players and the Celtic fans.”
Back to more immediate footballing issues, Lennon was asked for his thoughts on Anthony Stokes’ current club form – eight goals in his last six games – and his exclusion from Giovanni Trapattoni’s final squad for next week’s Nations Cup game against Wales. The striker has been placed on stand-by for the match.
“I was delighted he was called in to the provisional squad, I think he deserved that, hopefully it’ll give him a huge boost,” he said. But what does he need to add to his game to make himself a regular in the Irish squad?
“He could probably work a little bit on his link-up play, there are times when his game appreciation could be better, but that’s what you get with young players. At times he could get hold of the ball a bit better, but that’s nit-picking. If you look at his goal ratio at the minute, it’s fantastic – he’s got 17 already this season.
“He’s a great lad, he’s maturing all the time. He’s only 22, you have to take that in to consideration. He had a good time at Falkirk and again at Hibs and we liked the cut of his jib. I like the way he plays, he’s a bit of a maverick at times and he certainly knows where the goal is.
“His career in England, well, it might have happened too quickly for him. But he came to Hibs last year, did really well and realised he had a real opportunity to make a mark in the game. He came to us and he’s progressing very, very nicely.”
Lennon insisted, too, that the Dubliner was maturing, with no repeats of the indiscretions that caused Roy Keane to question the player’s attitude when he managed him at Sunderland.
“Look, he’s a wee bit of a rascal, but we’ve all been there. I wouldn’t take that away from his personality, I quite like that. I don’t mind that at all so long as he does his bits and pieces in training and keeps working as hard as he’s doing. He’s good to have around the place, he’s popular in the squad, the players like him, the staff like him, and we’re delighted with the form he’s been showing.
“He had a wee sticky patch during the season when things weren’t going for him, but his confidence has grown and he’s become a very important player for us now.”
Will he make it at international level? “Oh, eventually yeah. He’s got a lot more to his game than people realise, and as he gets older he’ll incorporate all these things in to his game and you’ll have a very, very good player on your hands.”
And what of Stokes’s former manager, does he have a future in management after his departure from Ipswich?
“I have no doubt about it,” said Lennon. “Roy was one of the greatest players of his generation and has a vast knowledge of the game. What he did at Sunderland was a great achievement, a lot of people would never achieve that in 20, 30 years of managing.
“He took them up from the Championship in his first season. An incredible feat. So he’s already done great things in the early stages of his managerial career.
“For one reason or another things didn’t work out for him at Ipswich, but I’m sure he’ll be back stronger than ever.
“What you do is learn from your mistakes, I’ve learnt from mine already this season. I’m sure Roy will assess where it went wrong and rectify that. The game is a poorer place without him, he has a charisma about him, and he’s not afraid to speak his mind. And that’s good for the game.”
