Neil Lennon admits interest in return to Hibernian as manager

Neil Lennon has revealed that he would be open to talks about a return to Hibs as manager.

The Northern Irishman has been touted as a possible successor to Lee Johnson, who was sacked on Sunday, and has been out of work since leaving Omonia Nicosia last year.

Lennon previously managed Hibs from 2016 until 2019, winning promotion to the Premiership and then securing fourth place in the top flight with a record points tally.

However, he left the club abruptly and by mutual in early 2019, following an internal investigation, which found no wrongdoing or misconduct during a heated team meeting that came after a defeat to Motherwell.

Since then, the ownership and upper management at Easter Road has changed and Lennon, who won ten trophies across two spells as Celtic manager, would be open to the idea of taking on a club with “huge potential”.

“It’s a club I worked at before,” he told Sky Sports. “I had a great couple of seasons there and it’s an attractive prospect for a lot of applicants.

We’ll see, watch this space. I’d be interested in a conversation, that’s for sure.

“The board have put a lot of investment into the playing side and the stadium. It’s a club that hasn’t started the season so well but there’s huge potential there.”

Hibs terminated Johnson’s contract on Sunday following three consecutive Premiership defeats and with the team having conceded 20 goals in nine competitive games this season. The team lost the first leg of their Europa Conference League play-off 5-0 to Aston Villa, with the return match this Thursday.

Johnson had been in position since May 2022, when he succeeded Shaun Maloney. The Englishman took the side to fifth place in the league in his only season in charge but was unable to put together a consistent run of positive results in his time in Leith.