Hibs next manager: Neil Lennon teases return and ex-Easter Road star drops training-ground hint

Neil Lennon has said he would be ‘interested in a conversation’ about the managerial vacancy at Easter Road, with the former Hibs and Celtic manager currently favourite with the bookies to succeed Lee Johnson.

The Capital club relieved the 42-year-old of his duties on Sunday, just hours after Livingston had consigned their hosts to a third consecutive league defeat to leave Hibs on zero points and bottom of the cinch Premiership table and already there have been a host of candidates linked with the Easter Road hotseat.

Lennon is currently out of work after being sacked by Omonia Nicosia in October last year, despite leading them to Cypriot Cup glory five months earlier, and is known to be keen on getting back into management.

Speaking on Sky Sports he said: “Hibs is a club that I worked at before and I had a great couple of seasons there. It’s an attractive prospect for a lot of applicants, so we’ll see. Watch this space! I’d be interested in a conversation, that’s for sure. Going back wouldn’t stop me. The board have put a lot of investment into the playing side and into the stadium as well. It’s a club that hasn’t started the season so well but there’s huge potential there.

Neil Lennon believes the Hibs job is an attractive one - and said he would be 'interested' in having a conversation about the vacancy. Picture: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

“There are going to be a lot of candidates and you look at the likes of Derek McInnes, Stephen Robinson, Malky MacKay – all very good managers up there in the Scottish Premiership so there will be a host of people wanting that job.”

Meanwhile, former Easter Road winger and current Ayr United player/director of football Aiden McGeady gave his take on the situation as well as his thoughts on current interim boss David Gray – during an appearance on PLZ Soccer.

The 37-year-old spent a season in Edinburgh, linking up again with Johnson who had been his boss at Sunderland, but two serious injuries reduced him to just a handful of appearances. But having worked alongside Gray during his time at the club, McGeady believes the Scottish Cup final hero has a chance of landing the job on a permanent basis if he performs well during his third interim spell in charge of Hibs, supported this time by goalkeeping coach Stuart Garden.

Gray has twice led the team on a temporary basis, initially after the sacking of Jack Ross in December 2021 and again when Shaun Maloney was removed from his post in April 2022 following defeat in the Scottish Cup semi-final by city rivals Hearts. According to the latest odds, bookies have him at 12/1 – just behind St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson.

“Stephen Robinson has done well with St Mirren on a shoestring budget. They should have been top of the league at the weekend, probably,” McGeady said, when asked who could succeed Johnson. “But it could be David Gray. I like David; he has standards, he saw a lot of things that I was seeing and agreeing with.

"Not to go behind the manager’s back or anything but things in training that might have been brushed under the carpet a little bit, David would see them and be on the same page as me so he could have a chance at the job if he does well [in the interim].”