By David Sharp

Neil Lennon has decided to leave Celtic on a high

Departing Celtic captain Neil Lennon's football career in Scotland has been as colourful as his hair.

On and off the pitch his bright ginger barnet has been a magnet for controversy.

But with more winners medals in his Celtic treasure chest than all-time Parkhead great Kenny Dalglish it would be churlish to dwell too much on the negative aspects of his time at Celtic Park.

His lack of pace for a modern footballer belied his ability to read the game and, allied to a natural tenacity borne from a hard upbringing in Lurgan, just outside Belfast, he was the lynchpin of one of Celtic's most successful ever sides.

Long-time mentor Martin O'Neill brought him to Glasgow from Leicester City in December 2000 for �5.75m.

It was a dream come true for Lennon to join his boyhood heroes in Glasgow.

O'Neill handed the midfielder his debut against Dundee at Dens Park and it was to cement a beautiful relationship between the two Northern Irishmen.

Lennon helped O'Neill's Celtic end Dick Advocaat's domination of Scottish football at Rangers by winning the domestic Treble in their first season together.

Lennon won 10 major trophies in six-and-a-half seasons

The following year, the midfielder's crucial contribution, as a holding player whose effectiveness in breaking up opposition attacks and rarely gifting opponents cheap possession, helped Celtic win a second successive Scottish Premier League title after Alex McLeish arrived at Ibrox.

Season 2002/03 may have ended trophyless for Lennon but it was one of Celtic's most memorable in their long, illustrious history as they reached the Uefa Cup final in Seville only to lose 3-2 to Jose Mourinho's Porto.

But Lennon's Midas touch hadn't deserted him and Celtic were back to winning ways the next season bagging an SPL and Scottish Cup double.

However, in the midst of all this success Lennon was no stranger to controversy and was often to be found gracing the front pages of the morning papers instead of the back.

After winning 40 caps for Northern Ireland he quit the international scene in August 2002 after receiving a death threat on the day of a friendly with Cyprus at Windsor Park in Belfast.

Sadly, Lennon suffered assorted sectarian abuse throughout his time in Scotland and was even the victim of a road-rage incident and an attack by a pair of drunken students.

Controversy has dogged Neil Lennon's career

He received a public apology from a Scottish tabloid newspaper after they had wrongly suggested that Lennon had robbed one of their photographers of �12,000 of equipment following a notorious Celtic players night out in Newcastle.

On the pitch he courted controversary for various unsavoury incidents including making rude gestures at opposition fans.

And on one infamous occasion, he was reprimanded by the Scottish Football Association's disciplinary big-wigs for barging referee Stuart Dougal after being sent off at the end of a 3-1 Old Firm defeat to Rangers.

In season 2004/05, O'Neill's last with the club, disaster struck when Celtic lost at Motherwell in the dying minutes of the final game to hand their arch-rivals Rangers the SPL title.

Lennon still picked up a Scottish Cup winner's medal but, with his father-figure O'Neill gone, the now veteran midfielder's Parkhead future was in doubt for the first time since his arrival.

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But Gordon Strachan breezed in to take over the managerial reins in July 2005 and made Lennon the club captain despite speculation that he was heading back to the English Premiership.

Lennon led his troops to the SPL and League Cup double, and after being tipped to quit the club again with his contract expired, signed another one-year deal with a final ambition - to captain Celtic beyond the group stages of the Champions League for the first time ever.

His wish fulfilled, another SPL title under his belt, and with a Scottish Cup final still to come, Lennon has decided to bow out at the top.

It is a refreshingly dignified end to a colourful, turbulent but undeniably glittering Celtic career.