Humiliation back in 2005 gives Celtic boss Neil Lennon some heart in the wake of Champions League exit

Even now, 15 years on, mention of the name Artmedia Bratislava is enough to provoke a shudder from Celtic fans.

In July, 2005, the Hoops – playing under Gordon Strachan competitively for the first time – crashed 5-0 away to the Slovaks in a Champions League qualifier.

The result was one of the club’s most-painful defeats ever – and quite literally for Neil Lennon, who was involved in a freak collision with Chris Sutton that saw the striker have to go off hurt early on.

Yet as he raked over the ashes of Wednesday’s embarrassment against Ferencvaros, the man who is now in charge was able to draw some positive parallels with the situation.

Specifically with their fighting response in the second leg, which saw them fall just short of becoming the first-ever team to claw back a five-goal deficit in Europe.

“I felt after the second leg against Artmedia that we had a good team,” said Lennon of Celtic’s 4-0 win in the return.

“We were very unlucky not to turn around things in that match.

“I know it sounds weird when you say that.

“But we could easily have won that game 5-0, and it gave me a lot of confidence as a player to know we’d got a good side with a lot of character.

“I know what I’ve got with these players too. They are brimming with character.

“I’m just disappointed for them that they’re not in the Champions League because I think they’re good enough to have made inroads in it.

“It was one of our main objectives, and it’s now gone early in the season.

“But there’s still plenty of time to hit top form, and to gain consistency of performance.

“And as we go along after the international break, we’ll have a lot of players coming in fitter, and they’ll make us better.

“There’s so much to look forward to. Yeah, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. I’m telling you now it’s really sore.

“But we have to go again, and pick ourselves up. I still want to make the best of the Europa League as well.”

Lennon’s mention of the importance of UEFA’s second club competition is significant.

He finds offensive suggestions levelled at the club in the wake of the Ferencvaros loss that they are uninterested in European competition this season because of the historic importance of achieving 10-in-a-row.

© SNS Group

“It is ludicrous and a lot of hype,” he raged.

“This was a hammer blow. I want the Champions League for the players and the club as much as anybody.

“The players wanted it. They were really emotional after the game, and disappointed.

“It’s a year’s work. They’ve worked so hard and did so brilliantly last year to earn the right to be in the Champions League.

“And listen – there was nothing wrong with the performance on Wednesday night.

“The team played well, we had good control of the game and good chances.

“My anger was more aimed at the fact we let a game we were in control of get away from us.

“We only have ourselves to blame. It’s nothing to do with the 10-in-a-row scenario.

“Our objective was to try to make the Champions League group stages. We haven’t, and there will obviously be negative Press, which we’ve seen many times before.

“It hurts, don’t get me wrong. It’s not something I dismiss. But we have to park that now and move on.

“We have still got the Europa League to think of, and also the domestic challenges that lie ahead.”

“We played really well for long periods, so I’ve got to be encouraged by that.

“But ultimately I like to win, and I’m a sore loser.

“We’ve made it clear to the players that was a game we should have negotiated a lot better.”

Lennon did not bring it up, but there is one historical footnote from the season that began with the 5-0 thrashing by Artmedia, which may be of consolation for supporters still feeling the pain of Wednesday.

At the end of the 2005-06 campaign, his predecessor as manager, Gordon Strachan, was every bit as happy as he had been disappointed in Slovakia.

That’s because Celtic won the title – by 17 points.