Danny Lennon (born 6 April 1969) is a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as cinch League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League One was ...

club Clyde. In his playing career he is best known for his spells at Raith Rovers and

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. The club have been m ...

. He also experienced international football with the Northern Ireland B side during his spell at Raith. Lennon began his managerial career with

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...

, the club where he ended his playing days. After a successful period with the

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...

club, he was appointed St Mirren manager in 2010. He won the 2012–13 Scottish League Cup with St Mirren, but his contract was not renewed when it expired in 2014. After a caretaker spell in charge of the Scotland under-21s, he managed

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. Formed as Alloa in 1880, the football club shortly changed its name to Alloa Association, and then to Alloa At ...

during 2015. After a spell as acting head coach of

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

, Lennon was appointed Clyde manager in November 2017. Under his management, Clyde secured promotion back to

in 2019.

Playing career

Club

He began his career at Hibernian, before signing for Raith Rovers for £30,000 in 1993. Lennon was part of the Raith squad that won the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existe ...

in 1994, but he missed the Final due to injury. Raith qualified for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

thanks to winning the League Cup. Lennon scored in their tie against

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

, briefly giving Raith a 1–0 lead in the second leg in the

Munich Olympic Stadium Olympiastadion () is a stadium located in Munich, Germany. Situated at the heart of the '' Olympiapark München'' in northern Munich, the stadium was the main venue for the 1972 Summer Olympics. The original capacity was maximally and officiall ...

. After leaving Raith in 1999 he played for Ayr United, Ross County,

, Gretna,

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Locat ...

and

. Lennon briefly came out of retirement in 2019, 11 years after he had last played, bringing himself on for Clyde against Celtic colts in a

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rule ...

match.

International

During his time at Raith Rovers, Lennon won four caps for Northern Ireland B. Lennon was eligible to play for Northern Ireland through his grandmother.Danny Lennon
''Northern Ireland Footballing Greats''.

Coaching career

Cowdenbeath

Lennon was appointed as

manager in 2008, replacing Brian Welsh. Lennon managed the club to two successive promotions despite the club being in significant financial trouble.

St Mirren

Lennon was appointed manager of

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when t ...

side St Mirren on 7 June 2010, signing a two-year contract. Lennon picked up his first win for St Mirren with a 1–0 win over Hibernian, courtesy of a goal from Craig Dargo. The Buddies finished the season in 11th place, just managing to avoid relegation. Over the summer, Lennon decided to make wholesale changes in the playing and backroom staff and also developing a new formation and philosophy. Lennon's signings included Scottish internationals, Gary Teale from

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

and Steven Thompson from

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Br ...

. He also added Dutch players Nigel Hasselbaink and Jeroen Tesselaar while replacing long term assistant manager

Iain Jenkins Iain Jenkins (born 24 November 1972) is a football player and coach, who works for the Scottish Football Association (SFA) as an Elite Performance Coach. He began his playing career with Everton, from where he was loaned to Bradford City. He t ...

with a more experienced coach in Tommy Craig. St Mirren started the season in good form, beating local rivals

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greeno ...

4–2 in the Renfrewshire Cup final and beating

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

in the first home game of the new season. Lennon agreed a new contract with St Mirren in November 2011, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2014. The following season Lennon lead the Buddies to their first ever

triumph in a 3–2 win over Hearts. It was the club's first major silverware since the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scotland national under-21 football team The Scotland national under-21 football team, controlled by the Scottish Football Association, is Scotland's national under 21 football team and is considered to be a feeder team for the Scotland national football team. As a European under-21 t ...

. He took charge of one match, a 2–1 victory against Hungary.

Alloa Athletic

Lennon was appointed manager of

in April 2015. He led the "Wasps" to success in the

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Champio ...

play-off final which retained the club's status in the second tier of Scottish football at the end of the 2014–15 season. After gaining just five points from their first sixteen games of the 2015–16 season, Lennon resigned on 7 December 2015.

Airdrieonians

In March 2016,

manager Eddie Wolecki Black suffered a stroke during a match against

opponents

. In order to allow Wolecki Black time to recover from his illness, Lennon was appointed as acting head coach of the

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It als ...

club until the end of the 2015–16 season.

Clyde

Lennon returned to management with Scottish League Two club Clyde on 13 November 2017. On 7 May 2019, Lennon agreed terms to remain as Clyde manager for at least an additional two years, which was later extended to the end of the 2021–22 season. He led the Bully Wee to

promotion via the play-offs in May 2019, ending their exile in the bottom tier for the first time in nine years. This saw Lennon receive the SPFL League Two Manager of the Season award. In their first season back in

, Clyde finished 7th in the league when it was curtailed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. On 8 April 2022, Lennon put pen to paper on a new two-year contract with the club, on a deal until May 2024. On October 25 2022, the club announced that Lennon had left the club on paid authorised absence and that his assistant manager, Allan Moore will take over on an interim basis. This was amid a nine-match winless run, despite achieving the club’s best start to a league campaign in 11 years. A week later, on October 31, the club officially announced Lennon’s departure with immediate effect. At the time of his departure, Lennon holds the distinction of the Bully Wee’s longest-serving manager in 30 years.

Managerial statistics

* Lennon’s announcement as

manager didn’t take effect until 9 April 2015. The intervening match against Heart of Midlothian on 8 April was taken by caretaker manager

Paddy Connolly Patrick Connolly (born 25 June 1970 in Glasgow) is a Scottish football player and coach. In a twenty-year playing career, he made over 100 appearances for both Dundee United and St Johnstone; he also played for Airdrieonians, Greenock Morton, ...

Honours and Achievements

Player

;Raith Rovers *

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as ...

(1): 1994–95 ;Partick Thistle *

(1): 2001–02 * Scottish Second Division (1): 2000–01

Manager

;Cowdenbeath * Scottish Second Division promotion (1): 2009–10 *

Scottish Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fro ...

promotion (1): 2008–09 ;St Mirren *

(1): 2012–13 * Renfrewshire Cup (3): 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13 ;Alloa Athletic *

play-offs (1): 2014–15 ;Clyde *

play-offs (1): 2018–19 * SPFL League Two Manager of the Season: 2018–19 * North Lanarkshire Cup (2): 2020–21, 2021–22

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lennon, Danny Living people 1970 births Association football midfielders Hibernian F.C. players Raith Rovers F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Gretna F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Cowdenbeath F.C. players Cowdenbeath F.C. managers St Mirren F.C. managers Alloa Athletic F.C. managers Airdrieonians F.C. managers Clyde F.C. managers Northern Ireland B international footballers Scottish Football League managers Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Scottish footballers Scottish Premier League managers Scottish Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League managers People from Whitburn, West Lothian Footballers from West Lothian Scottish people of Northern Ireland descent Scotland national under-21 football team managers Clyde F.C. players