Danny Lennon will be eager to prove himself in Scotland's top flight

By David McDaid

Danny Lennon demonstrated early on in his managerial career that he can achieve success with a tight budget.

In his first two seasons in charge of Cowdenbeath, he steered them to successive promotions, taking them up to the First Division for the first time in nearly 20 years.

The 'frugal box' is one which features higher nowadays on a chairman's checklist when he comes to vetting prospective managerial candidates.

Lennon's successes at Central Park have been in spite of financial constraints as the Blue Brazil flirted with insolvency.

St Mirren are a rarity in the modern game in that they are debt-free and are keen to remain that way.

It was that level of fiscal prudence that led Lennon's predecessor at St Mirren, Gus MacPherson, to comment that he would have more money to spend in charge of at a team in England's non-league tier.

Lennon enjoyed a successful spell at Partick Thistle

So, the 40-year-old Lennon will not be expecting a book of blank cheques to buy players.

Instead, he will have to do what he has done until now: bring through youth and hunt for bargains elsewhere.

These are the tools he will use to help make sure the Paisley club safeguard their Scottish Premier League status, and preferably do so more comfortably than in recent seasons.

The new Buddies boss has been good value wherever he has plied his trade.

Lennon began his playing days as a teenage midfielder at Hibernian in the mid-1980s before moving on to Raith Rovers in 1993 for £30,000.

That outlay - made by then manager Jimmy Nicholl - was the only transfer fee Lennon commanded despite switching clubs a further six times over the next 15 years.

Lennon's arrival at Stark's Park was not enough to stop a slide which ended with the team relegated from the top flight.

However, the following season, not only was Lennon an integral component as Raith won promotion, but he played every game of the Kirkcaldy club's run to the League Cup final.

Injury prevented Lennon from taking part in the penalties win over Celtic at Ibrox, but he did star on arguably a bigger stage, as the club embarked on their first and only European adventure.

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He had already scored three times as Raith swept away Faroese and Icelandic opposition, before they were rewarded with a tie against German giants Bayern Munich.

Although Raith were eventually eliminated 4-1 on aggregate, Lennon fired a 25-yard free-kick past the helpless Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Khan in the Olympic Stadium in the second leg.

That famous goal was the highlight of a Stark's Park career spanning six years and more than 160 appearances.

Spells with Partick Thistle, Ross County and Ayr United followed before Lennon arrived at Gretna, where he combined playing with a role as youth team coach.

If that was his first taste of life in the dugout, it was at Central Park that he really cut his teeth as a first team coach: first as player-assistant manager to Brian Welsh, then as his successor since 2008.

Following the play-off triumph over Brechin City in May, the Whitburn man said his famous strike against Bayern had finally been eclipsed as a career highlight.

Lennon felt that the achievement of taking a team to promotion - especially set against the backdrop of financial uncertainty - far outweighed any of his successes during his playing career.

It's that kind of profile that has attracted the Buddies' board to Lennon ahead of Rangers coach Tommy Wilson and Celtic counterpart Willie McStay.

The Paisley club will be hoping their new man will demonstrate he's able to hold his own in Scotland's top flight.

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