Neil Lennon praises Alan Stubbs after Championship title win

Neil Lennon celebrates leading Hibs to the Championship title. Pic: Neil Lennon

The Hibees’ 3-0 win against Queen of the South at Easter Road secured the Championship title after St Mirren had taken points of Falkirk.

It is the third time of trying for Hibs after two years of play-off disappointment under Stubbs, but Lennon was quick to praise Stubbs for the team he was left with when the Englishman left for Rotherham following the Scottish Cup win over Rangers.

“I think I came in at a good time, off the back of the cup win,” he told BBC. “Stubbsy left us a really good foundation to build on.

“We were favourites going into the league and to be fair we lived up to that billing so the players can be very proud of themselves for what they have achieved.

“The cup win and now promotion it’s heady days for us.

“We’ve got a semi-final to look forwards to as well. We really want to compete, defending the trophy.

The Northern Irishman said the success was right up there with what he achieved with Celtic but noted that there is still more to do in the east end of Edinburgh.

“I’ve had some great days at Celtic and you know what the scenes are like there as well, this is just as good.” Lennon said.

“It’s really nice to have a promotion on my CV. Coming here I thought I could do something with the club.

“There’s plenty of work still to be done but the players should really enjoy themselves tonight and I might have a couple of glasses of wine myself.

He added: “You can see what it means to the people here, people like George Craig and Leann Dempster and the board.

They’ve had to wait a few years for this but we’re back. Hopefully we’ll not be back here for quite a while.”