{"id":628632,"date":"2025-12-12T16:49:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T16:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/628632\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T16:49:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T16:49:17","slug":"gerry-lennon-neil-lennon-to-return-to-ni-after-death-of-dad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/628632\/","title":{"rendered":"Gerry Lennon: Neil Lennon to return to NI after death of dad"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a statement, the Scottish Championship club said: \u201cEveryone at Dunfermline Athletic is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Gerry Lennon, father of our manager Neil Lennon.<\/p>\n

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Neil and his family at this difficult time.<\/p>\n

“Neil will be home in Northern Ireland with his family and will not be in attendance at this weekend\u2019s fixture vs Queen\u2019s Park FC.<\/p>\n

“Assistant Manager Iain Brunskill will lead the side for this weekend\u2019s match along with Assistant Coach Kevin McDonald.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lurgan native Lennon \u2013 formerly manager of Celtic, Hibernian and Bolton Wanderers \u2013 is currently serving a four-match touchline ban, meaning he would not have been in the technical area at the City Stadium regardless.<\/p>\n

The Co Armagh man joined the club in March 2025, helped them avoid relegation, and signed a two-year contract running until summer 2027.<\/p>\n

At Celtic, he became captain and made 200+ appearances, winning multiple honours.<\/p>\n

He earned 40 caps for the Northern Ireland national team, scoring twice.<\/p>\n

Dunfermline sit fifth in the Championship, nine points clear of Queen\u2019s Park in second-bottom.<\/p>\n

Gerry Lennon\u2019s death comes less than 18 months after the Celtic legend mourned the loss of his mother, Ursula, who passed away last August.<\/p>\n

At that time, Lennon had to leave his role as manager of Rapid Bucharest to return home.<\/p>\n

His father, Gerry, grew up on a farm, worked in Lurgan\u2019s linen factories, and raised four children. He was forced to retire at just 38 due to a debilitating illness.<\/p>\n

\"Neil<\/p>\n

Neil Lennon<\/p>\n

News Catch Up – Friday 12 December<\/p>\n

Throughout Neil Lennon\u2019s early football journey \u2013 and later, during periods when he faced threats and bomb scares \u2013 his father remained a steady source of reassurance and support.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father is a proud guy, as was his father,\u201d Lennon told the Belfast Telegraph back in 2011.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a family trait.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn sport, if you lose your pride, you might as well give up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I went through periods of doubt, my dad would build me up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a statement, the Scottish Championship club said: \u201cEveryone at Dunfermline Athletic is deeply saddened to hear of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[2628,5825,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-628632","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-celtic-fc","9":"tag-niamh-campbell","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115707627182154028","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}