The new Dunfermline boss goes up against his old colleague as he bids to keep the Pars in the Championship

Neil Lennon has been at the highest levels of the game in the Champions League with Celtic.

He’s presided over trophy successes and worked on the continent during his managerial journey.

But, as he looks ahead to working with Dunfermline owner James Bord, the new Pars manager believes he’s going to get some education of his own from the Las Vegas-based supremo.

Lennon’s move to Fife with just seven Championship games to go and the club in relegation trouble came as a surprise to many observers.

Even the man himself initially wasn’t convinced. But lengthy conversations with the owner changed all that. Lennon hopes he can impart his knowledge to the Pars but also believes Bord, who took charge of the club with Evan Sofer, can do the same for him.

He gave an insight as he said: “I don’t know if he wants me to talk about him, really. But he’s heavily into the data analytics.

“He’s got a great brain – very much into forward thinking.

“I’m going to learn from him on a different aspect of football that I’ve probably never really thought about or been introduced about before and he’s a very interesting personality.

“I just hit it off with him very well. James was so compelling. Then when we started talking about the plans for the club, he already part-owns a club in Spain and owns a club in Bulgaria. He’s certainly not here for the short term, anyway. This isn’t going to be a quick fix.

“He’s not coming up with these massively big ideas, either.

“He wants the best for Dunfermline but he wants to do it in a proper fashion and I really like that about him.

“His first line to me was, ‘Dunfermline has got under my skin’. So he really wants it to work. He’s worked with a lot of clubs and he has a vast network of knowledge of players, not just in the UK but around Europe as well.

“I think he worked with Tony Bloom and other people in that sort of area of expertise. He’s very, very intelligent. Really interesting.

“It will be myself and Iain Brunskill running the football team, with the support we get off the people in the background.

“It’s not like a whole framework where you have to run your whole thought processes by them but it’s an additional help, no question about that.

“I’ve enjoyed talking to him. He’s different, I’m going to learn from him and that appealed to me as well.

“The owner has ambitions to do great things here and I think he’ll do that.

“We’ll speak every day, we’re like an old married couple already, arguing away! But, no, he’s been great, very supportive.

“We had four or five really long, long conversations. He convinced me to do it and then the more and more I thought about it, I thought, ‘yeah, this could really, really work’.

“I’ve not really met someone in football like him before with the way he thinks about the game and the way he thinks about the future. He’ll be true to his word and he will deliver.”

Lennon, of course, is also out to deliver and he’s determined to get straight into it.

Time is not an ally with just seven games to go and the team second-bottom of the table and, right now, it’s about results. It simply has to be. Lennon said: “I said I want to bring exciting football to the club but I want to clarify. I didn’t promise it. I want to bring silverware as well but I’m not promising it!

“If we go out against Ayr on Saturday and the football’s rubbish, people will say I promised it. So I want to clarify that because that’s been the narrative. Evidently, down the line, that’s what I want to do.

“We’re in a difficult position. We have seven games to go and we want to win as many as we can.

“It’s great to be back, I know how competitive and attritional the Scottish Championship can be. I’ve been in a relegation fight before but this job is a chance to build something and that’s what I found attractive.

“Sometimes it’s good to build something rather than a quick fix every time.”

Lennon has worked in Cyprus and Romania since leaving Parkhead four years ago and believes he’s a better manager.

He said: “No question. You learn from all the experiences. I enjoyed my time in the media but coaching is what I always want to do.

“I was really close to getting a job in England. Then this one came up at the same time, so really pleased.”

Lennon’s son Gallagher was supportive of his dad getting back into the game as the gaffer said: “He was like, ‘Dad, take the job. It’s going to be brilliant. It’ll be great to see you back in the dugout’. It’s nice hearing that from your own.”

Lennon gets started against an old colleague in Scott Brown when his team face Ayr on Saturday and he smiled and said: “I’ve told him already to make sure he’s got a nice bottle of red in the office afterwards!

“He’s done a fantastic job, so it’s a really tough opening game and it’s not about me and him. He’ll tell you that. He’ll have his focus and I’ll have mine.”