Co-operative Insurance Cup final - Celtic v Rangers
Venue: Hampden Park, Glasgow Date: Sunday, 20 March Kick-off: 1500 GMT Coverage: Live on BBC One Scotland from 1430, streamed live on BBC Sport website & BBC Radio Scotland live commentary. Updates on Radio 5 live & live text commentary on BBC Sport website

Lennon has made an impressive start to his managerial career at Celtic

By Colin Moffat

There may have been a few volatile moments on the sidelines, but on the pitch, where it matters, Neil Lennon's first full season as Celtic manager has progressed with a serene smoothness.

His team sit top of the Scottish Premier League and now he is a game away from his first silverware.

Old foes Rangers stand in the way of a dream start to Lennon's fledgling managerial career as the bitter Glasgow rivals get set to contest Sunday's Co-operative Insurance Cup final.

Lennon is no stranger to cup final success, having picked up seven winners' medals during his playing days with Leicester and Celtic.

Add five league titles with Celtic and it makes for a hugely impressive haul.

But, in the blue corner, stands Walter Smith in his last season at Ibrox, determined to add to the 19 trophies he has delivered for Rangers.

This will be the sixth Old Firm meeting of the season and Lennon is ahead on points.

He recovered from a chastening 3-1 home defeat in October to comfortably win the next two league encounters and his team prevailed in the Scottish Cup after a replay.

Paul Lambert, Lennon's former midfield partner at Celtic, told BBC Scotland: "Lenny has been brilliant for Celtic. He's brought the spirit back to the club."

And his style is far removed from his predecessor - the lugubriousness of Tony Mowbray making way for an enthusiasm that burns as brightly as Lennon's flame-red hair.

Lennon has won the League Cup twice as a player

Backed with substantial funds, Lennon wasted no time reshaping the squad he inherited, although a few eyebrows were raised at his first signing; Charlie Mulgrew returning on a free transfer from Aberdeen.

After a shaky start to the season at full-back, Mulgrew has been reinvented as a cultured centre-half, but his mettle will be tested at Hampden since powerful partner Daniel Majstorovic is absent through injury.

Mulgrew wasn't the only player who failed to convince in the early days of this term, with Celtic exiting Europe before August was out.

The team has come on leaps and bounds since those dismal defeats to Braga and Utrecht, with Emilio Izaguirre, Beram Kayal, Gary Hooper and Joe Ledley proving shrewd investments.

While Freddie Ljungberg, Efrain Juarez and Daryl Murphy may be expensive players to have on the bench, Lennon did another great piece of business in January by recruiting the talented Kris Commons.

Lennon is a headstrong character, resolutely paving his own way. Winning games has undoubtedly strengthened his case, but note how any talk of an advisor fizzled out after the Stuart Baxter debacle in the summer.

However, the 39-year-old is open to advice, regularly turning to former managers and colleagues.

Martin O'Neill has had a huge influence on Lennon's career, the pair working together with great success at Leicester and Celtic.

And the comparisons go beyond the vertical take-off when celebrating on the touchline.

The Northern Irishmen are both articulate, frank in expressing their views and share an intensity bordering on mania.

And that obvious devotion to winning has quickly won over those Celtic fans who were wary of Lennon's lack of experience.

"Martin O'Neill was brilliant, a terrific man-manager," explained Lambert, now the boss at Norwich and one of the men Lennon consults with regularly.

"You try and take little bits from the men you have worked with, but ultimately you're your own man."

Lennon has forged a strong bond with his players

Without being privy to the goings-on in the dressing-room, it would seem that Lennon has deployed O'Neill's approach to one-on-one motivation, with previously erratic players like Mark Wilson, Scott Brown and Georgios Samaras thriving under his guidance.

The combative Kayal is a midfielder in the Lennon mould, tenacious in the tackle with a knack for doing the simple things efficiently.

And the Israeli international has been impressed by his manager's method.

"He makes us all feel special and we all try 100% for him," said Kayal last month.

"At the beginning of the season, the majority were new players.

"A great credit must go to the manager for putting us all together and making us feel like we have been playing together for years."

The League Cup has lost some of its sheen in recent seasons, with disappointing attendances and the Old Firm often fielding weakened sides.

But you can't win the Treble without it and Celtic are the only club capable of a domestic clean-sweep.

Celtic last achieved such a feat in 2001, with Lennon at the heart of a side managed by O'Neill and containing his current coaches, Johan Mjallby and Alan Thompson.

Such talk is wildly premature and Hampden heartache is fresh in Lennon's memory after last season's shock Scottish Cup semi-final loss to Ross County, soon after he had been given the job on an interim basis.

Indeed, Celtic could well end the season empty-handed, but one suspects the manager has already done enough to earn the right to be at the helm next term.

Of course, you often discover more about the man in the wake of defeat, but it's just not in Lennon's nature to consider such an outcome.

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