that, Lennon became a fixture in the international side although Northern Ireland were unsuccessful in their attempts to qualify for the finals of major tournaments. Lennon decided to retire from international football in August 2002 upon receiving a death threat before a Northern Ireland match against Cyprus. The threats came after his alleged claim that he wanted to play for a team representing a United Ireland. The threat was allegedly made by the Loyalist Volunteer Force, although the organisation later denied this. Lennon was capped 40 times by Northern Ireland, scoring two goals. He also captained the team on several occasions. International goals Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first Managerial career Lennon was linked with the vacant manager's job at Hibernian after the resignation of John Collins, but the job was given to Mixu Paatelainen. Lennon's first coaching appointment was as first team coach with Celtic in 2008. After the appointment of Tony Mowbray as Celtic manager, Lennon took charge of the Celtic reserve team. Celtic won the Jock Stein Friendship Cup match on penalties in his first match. With no reserve league, the team played a series of friendlies in Ireland against the first teams of Cork City, Drogheda United, Shamrock Rovers, and Cliftonville, losing only once. They played several times in England against Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Chelsea, Huddersfield Town, Newcastle United and Sunderland. Celtic Following Mowbray's departure from Celtic on 25 March 2010, Lennon was appointed caretaker manager for the remainder of the 2009–10 season. He appointed former teammate Johan Mjällby as his assistant. Celtic won all of their remaining league games under Lennon, including wins over Kilmarnock, Hibernian, and Rangers, but lost 2–0 to First Division side Ross County in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup. In the aftermath of that defeat, Lennon spoke frankly about the Celtic players and their performances over the course of the season. He said that they had lacked "hunger and desire" and that whether he was installed as manager or not, he would be recommending a significant clear-out of players to the board. Lennon was appointed manager of Celtic on a full-time basis on 9 June 2010. He retained Mjällby as his assistant, as well as former Celtic teammate Alan Thompson and former Leicester City teammate Garry Parker as first-team coaches He made considerable changes to the Celtic team for the 2010–11 season. He sold Aiden McGeady for