Daniel Joseph Lennon (born 6 April 1969) is a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foot ...

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 association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

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

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath () 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 1890. According to a 20 ...

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

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

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. They compete in as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. According to the official club hist ...

during 2015. After a spell as acting head coach of Airdrieonians, 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 Premier Sports 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 ...

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

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

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

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

, briefly giving Raith a 1–0 lead in the second leg in the Munich Olympic Stadium. 20 years later, Lennon was inducted into the Raith Rovers Hall of Fame. After leaving Raith in 1999 he played for Ayr United, Ross County,

, Gretna,

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

and

. On 18 November 2011, Lennon was inducted into the Partick Thistle Hall of Fame after he captained the club to successive promotions. 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 Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

side St Mirren on 7 June 2010, signing a two-year contract, succeeding Gus MacPherson. 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. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

and Steven Thompson from

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. He also added Dutch players Nigel Hasselbaink and Jeroen Tesselaar while replacing long term assistant manager Iain Jenkins with a more experienced coach in Tommy Craig. St Mirren started the season in good form, beating local rivals Greenock Morton 4–2 in the

Renfrewshire Cup The Renfrewshire Cup was an annual association football competition between teams in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The final was generally a Renfrewshire derby contested between the two largest team ...

final and beating

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

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 Heart of Midlothian. It was the club's first major silverware since the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2011-12 and 2013-14 season. In October 2017, Lennon was inducted into the club's Hall of Fame, cementing his status as a St Mirren legend.

Scotland U21

In February 2015, Lennon was appointed caretaker manager of the

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 friendly match, a 2–1 victory against Hungary.

Alloa Athletic

Lennon was appointed manager of

in April 2015, succeeding Barry Smith. He led the "Wasps" to success in the

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

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 16 games of the 2015–16 season, Lennon resigned on 7 December 2015.

Airdrieonians

In March 2016, Airdrieonians 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 (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

club until the end of the 2015–16 season.

Clyde

Lennon returned to management with

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foo ...

club Clyde on 13 November 2017, after the departure of Jim Chapman. The Bully Wee's results improved in the first months of Lennon's tenure, with the club climbing from eighth position to finish the 2017-18 season in fifth place, three points off the promotion play-offs. 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 on 18 May 2019, after beating Annan Athletic 2–1 on aggregate to win the promotion play-off final, thus ending their nine-year exile in the bottom tier. This saw Lennon receive the SPFL League Two Manager of the Season award. In their first season back in

, Clyde finished seventh in the 2019-20 season when it was curtailed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. 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 25 October 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 31 October, 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) 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, Ayr Un ...

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. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

promotion (1): 1994–95 ;Partick Thistle *

promotion (1): 2001–02 *

Scottish Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SF ...

promotion (1): 2000–01

Manager

;Cowdenbeath *

promotion (1): 2009–10 * Scottish Third Division promotion (1): 2008–09 ;St Mirren *

(1): 2012–13 *

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

play-offs (1): 2014–15 ;Clyde *

play-offs (1): 2018–19 * North Lanarkshire Cup (2): 2020–21, 2021–22

Individual

* Third Division Manager of the Month: 2008-09 (1): January 2009 * Second Division Manager of the Month: 2009-10 (3): October 2009, November 2009, March 2010 * SPFL League Two Manager of the Season: 2018–19 * SPFL League Two Manager of the Month: 2017-18 (1): March 2018 * SPFL League Two Manager of the Month: 2018–19 (3): November 2018, January 2019, April 2019

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lennon, Danny Living people 1970 births Men's 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 men's B international footballers Scottish Football League managers Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Scottish men's 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