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Rangers Academy graduate Steven Lennon made a name for himself as a prolific marksman for the Light Blues youth teams and went on to forge a top-class career for himself in Norway and Iceland, where he earned legendary status for his goalscoring exploits.
Lennon, who is 38 in January, learned his trade from Rangers royalty like John Brown, Ian Durrant and Tommy McLean when they were youth coaches and was given a striking masterclass from the likes of Kris Boyd and Dado Prso when he earned promotion to the first-team squad.
Steven worked with Alex McLeish, Paul Le Guen and Walter Smith during their spells in the dugout – and record scorer Ally McCoist in training every day – and he used those experiences to build a successful football career.
Le Guen handed Steven his debut at Inverness Caledonian Thistle in December 2006 – in the final days of his Ibrox tenure – and legendary boss Smith gave him two more appearances at the end of the 2006/07 campaign.
Lennon trained regularly with the squad that season and has plenty of good memories to look back on from that period – notably a hat-trick for Rangers in a 5-0 Youth Cup Final win over Celtic at Hampden.
But his chances to play were limited as Smith had to get the club back to winning ways immediately and the young Scot went on loan to Partick Thistle and Lincoln before moving to Dundalk on a permanent deal in 2010.
A broken foot curtailed his game-time there and he joined Newport County in 2011 before taking a career leap of faith with a move to Fram Reykjavik in Iceland.
He became an instant hero with a winning goal on his debut and spent two productive seasons there before joining Norwegian side Sandnes Ulf.
In July 2014, he returned to Iceland with a move to FH (Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar) and his constant hard-work, determination and eye for goal made him a club legend.
Lennon became the first overseas player to score more than a century of goals for FH – he struck regularly in domestic games and Champions League and Europa League qualifiers – and won trophies in almost a decade with the club.
Now, having hung up his playing boots, his career has come full circle as Steven is a youth coach with FH and he is loving his role with the team that will always hold a special place in his heart.
In a wide-ranging interview as he showed his support for The Rangers Youth Development Company – who have donated more than £12 million to the Academy so far – he reflects on his time in Glasgow and life after leaving the Light Blues.
He recalled: “I was with Rangers at under 11s, 12s, 13s, 14s and then went full-time when I was 16.
“It was excellent and I just loved being around all the Glasgow boys who were completely different from the boys I grew up with in Ayrshire.
“I had been at Rangers for a few years and was delighted to sign a three-year full-time contract.
“The training ground had just recently opened and was obviously a big pull too. It was amazing and that was one of the main reasons to be full-time at Rangers because they’ve got indoor halls, good pitches, good coaches and everything was under one roof. I absolutely loved it.
“I loved everything about Rangers – the size of the club, the people around it and I wanted to build a career there.
“I had some great coaches at the Academy. Guys like Peter Weir, who was under 15 coach, and then when I went full-time it was Tommy McLean then I had John Brown, Ian Durrant, Billy Kirkwood, Tommy Wilson, George Adams and Jim Sinclair.
“You couldn’t ask for better people than to learn from than Durranty and Bomber.
“They knew what playing and winning with Rangers was like and were always hard on you but when you look back, we all loved working with them.
“We loved all the discipline and getting told what to do to try to make it to the first-team.
“They are good characters so to train and play under them and learn a little bit from guys like them was amazing.
“They went through their careers winning everything, so they just set the standard that that’s how it is at Rangers.
“I’d been winning with my boys club before joining so it was just kind of natural for me.
“Then obviously you learn the standards and behaviour expected at Rangers and you had to be giving 100% every single day.
“It was a good upbringing, very disciplined but something I look back on fondly and I keep up those standards today with my son and the players I coach.
“Everything has to be done right and that’s a good way to live your life.
“You get good things if you keep good habits and if you start having bad habits every single day then your life will go downhill.
“When I first came in full-time at Rangers, Alex McLeish was the manager and he was actually the first one who put me on the bench.
“I was only 17 so I got a little sniff of it then Paul came in and he started trying new players and some younger guys and that’s when I was around the first-team most days and on the bench a lot of times.
“He gave me my debut and then it all went wrong for him after that.
“He was a decent guy though and he helped a lot of younger players – guys like Steven Smith and Charlie Adam did well under him.
“Maybe it wasn’t the right time but I definitely agree that he was a good coach but just maybe not for Rangers then.
“I’ll always be thankful to him for giving me my debut though.
“I was in my own little bubble coming in to try to break into the team so all the pressure around the club at that time never really affected me.
“There were some serious conversations in the dressing room and I just thought maybe this is how we speak to each other and deal with the demands of being at Rangers.
“Nothing really fazed me about it and then Walter obviously comes in a few weeks later. You couldn’t get anyone better to come in with the experience he had and the amount of titles he had won with Rangers.
“But for me as a young player and for the others, we just got pushed to the side. We’d all been in the mix trying to progress with Paul Le Guen and had been getting some time in the first-team.
“When Walter Smith came back, he brought in a lot of older Scottish guys, and that was at a very important time in our careers.
“It was good for the club but for us young players it kind of set us back as chances to play were reduced. The club just had to win games and that’s just how it is in football.
“When I look back as a youth player I don’t think I could have done much more to break in.
“I was doing everything. I was scoring goals, I was winning trophies for the youth teams and I was doing all right in first-team training. It was just the circumstances that the club were in.
“Walter signed experienced players like Davie Weir, Ugo Ehiogu and Kevin Thomson when he first came in and to train with guys like this and talk to them every day was excellent for a young player.
“I was still doing well in the youth teams and I got a few first-team games at the end of the season as reward.
“After that, I was looking for a more first-team football and that’s when I started to ask to go out on loan.
“I was really trying to push myself into the Rangers team but with the names they had in the squad it was a difficult so a loan move to show what I can do and then come back was the best option.
“I went to Partick Thistle and it was a terrible move for me so it kind of went on the opposite way and I ended up being behind boys I was in front of before I left.
“That can happen in football, but I still have a lot of good memories from my time at Rangers and my hat-trick against Celtic in the Youth Cup Final is right up there.
“We were on it from minute one and Andrew Shinnie scored early on.
“I went on to score a hat-trick and then Dean Furman got his goal at the end. That was just an amazing night.
“The next morning, I was straight into training with the first-team and then I was on the bench for the weekend game against Hibs.
“I remember I went out to warm up at Easter Road and the fans were actually singing, ‘One Stevie Lennon’ after that hat-trick, so it was amazing to experience as a young boy.
“I thought I had a chance at Rangers after that even though there were good strikers at the club.
“I was training with the first-team most days, so you see them up close and obviously Kris Boyd’s goal record speaks for itself.
“He scored so many for Kilmarnock and Rangers and to this day he’s still the best finisher I’ve trained with or seen play.
“Walter put me on in two games at the end of the season – against Kilmarnock at Ibrox and away at Aberdeen. It was great to play for the first-team again but then I went on loan to Partick Thistle and Lincoln.
“After leaving Rangers, it was difficult to really find a place where I wanted to go and play.
“I left when I was 21 and I didn’t have a lot of first-team experience. It was mainly academy football where you have a lot of the ball and there’s not many clubs that are willing to take a player like that.
“I was just trying to find my feet again. I went to a few places and it didn’t really work out. It wasn’t really my style or what I wanted. And then before I came to Iceland, I actually went over to Sweden.
“I was training with a club in the division below the Premier League for 10 days and they offered me a contract, but it wasn’t really what I was looking for.
“When I was coming back in the airport in Stockholm, I got a call about Iceland. Rangers Academy defender Alan Lowing was at Fram in Reykjavik and I said I would come over.
“I really liked the boys and Alan was there and it was comfortable. So I just decided, I’ll have a shot at it.
“It was the first time I was playing first-team football regularly and I was scoring goals so of course that instantly makes you happy.
“Before I came in, they were battling relegation and I don’t think they’d won a game so I helped them stay in the league and it was good to play every week.
“I was enjoying it and I thought this is somewhere I could play, do well, and hopefully move on to a bigger league maybe in Scandinavia.
“I’d been doing well again the year after and then I broke my foot in the middle of 2012. After the injury I had to be patient, come back, play well and then I had a couple of clubs in Norway interested in me.
“It was a good step again to move from Iceland so I jumped at it but it was a little too early because it was a club that were battling relegation.
“I went there expecting to play attacking football that would suit me but instead I was defending a lot so I couldn’t really show what I could do.
“It was a good league to play in and a good club but the way the team were playing made it difficult for me to impress and I moved back to Iceland with FH.
“When I was at Fram, they’d been winning the league or challenging most seasons and I’d visited them before so knew they had great facilities.
“So I went to FH, basically spent the rest of my career there and it certainly worked out.
“It was a really comfortable place to play and you’re like a big fish in a small pond and if you win the league or come second or third you’re playing Champions League or Europa League qualifiers too.
“I could just enjoy my life and I was scoring goals and winning trophies so it was just perfect really.
“It meant a lot to me to score so many goals for FH. I think I’m like 5th of 6th all-time highest goalscorer in the league and that’s amazing.
“They only played 22 games in the season because it’s a summer league and now it’s gone up to 27 but there’s only six of us who have scored over 100 goals in the league.
“I was the first foreign player to do it so I am proud of that.
“My son has grown up and seen me doing that so again that is something I’m proud of.
“Iceland is a nice place to live. It’s an easy life even though the winter can be a little bit harsh but you get used to it.
“It’s a beautiful country and the summers are amazing, we play football and golf and it’s an easy and safe family life.
“I’ve not even thought about moving back to Scotland as Iceland is just a really good place to be. Reykjavik is full of tourists but most people live in the suburbs around it.
“It’s nice to go down and have a drink, eat in a few good restaurants and you’ve always got something to do – maybe less than what you can do in Glasgow or the UK but you never miss anything living here.
“I’m coaching FH’s under-19s now and I really enjoy it.
“It wasn’t my plan to go into coaching. I was going to become an agent and I’d already started working with someone from the UK where I would try and get as many decent young Icelandic guys I could and send them to him.
“The idea was for him to build up a stable of players from Iceland and then when I stopped playing I could eventually take that over.
“So that was the main idea, but it never really worked out and then when I was retiring the general manager at the club – who was also the ex-captain when I played – invited me to a meeting and told me he was changing the head coach for the under-19 team and asked if I would be interested.
“So I decided to give it a chance for two or three months to see how I liked it and I’ve really loved it. I’m all in now and I’m working through my A Licence.
“I’m enjoying coaching the young players at FH and hopefully within a few years I can start building experience and move into a first-team setup.
“That would be great. That could possibly start next year because the club are trying to change their approach and our academy coaches could step up and help out with the first-team.
“I’ve loved my time in Iceland and when I played there were a few players with links to Rangers.
“Robbie Crawford was with me at FH and Alan Lowing at Fram.
“It was good to have players from Scotland to talk to about football from a different perspective.
“It was actually me who got Robbie to FH.
“I think he was on a pre-season trip with a club in the division below FH, so I basically just messaged him to say we are looking for midfielder and would you be interested in coming here?
“So we got him over and the coaches liked him and then he signed.
“Like me, he enjoyed it and played some Europa League games. It was really nice to have another boy from Scotland.
“Iceland has been a really good fit for me and I have a son who is playing football too. He’s with the under-10s but I think he has a chance.
“I’ve settled down here and I’m just comfortable living in this country.
“I’m definitely proud of the career I had here. Of course, you want to be playing for teams like Rangers and that was the goal when I set out as a kid going to the academy.
“I was around the first-team for a little bit so to a point you’re disappointed that you didn’t really get to a level which I think I could have.
“In other circumstances, maybe I would have had an even better career but after leaving a club like Rangers and struggling for a year to find my feet and then to move abroad and take that chance is something to be proud of.
“Scoring goals and playing in European competitions with FH has been really nice and I’ve won trophies and played in cup finals.
“Being the first foreign player to score over 100 goals in Iceland is also a good achievement and is really good to look back on.
“I still look out for Rangers’ results and I watch the bigger league games and European ties.
“My parents send my son Rangers tops so I keep a little bit of Glasgow in him.
“I grew up in Kilmarnock but I moved to Glasgow when I was 16 because I was playing for Rangers and I still love the place.
“It was great to come through the Rangers Academy and I played with a lot of good players.
“We all went on different paths naturally. Andrew Shinnie played in Scotland and England and Dean Furman went on to captain South Africa.
“Then you’ve got other boys who are good in the youth team but fall out of football so it just shows you that things can go either way and you’re lucky to even make any sort of living out of the game.
“So if it’s playing in Iceland, South Africa, Scotland or England – we’re the lucky ones.
“I think it’s amazing to see Dean’s pathway and career and it’s something I think a lot of Scottish-based players can do.
“You don’t always have to get stuck in Scotland and end up in the lower leagues. You can definitely take a move abroad and if you’re open-minded, other countries are amazing to play in.
“You should go and learn the language and meet new people.
“It’s not just all about Scotland and England and I think you’ll definitely grow as a person if you move abroad.
“It’s amazing and I have no regrets.
“I could have stayed in Scotland and tried to re-establish myself there but to move abroad and get the chance to play in Iceland and Norway and play Europa League and Champions League qualifiers, win trophies and score lots of goals then I don’t think I’ve got anything I can complain about.”
Steven’s career development was assisted by annual RYDC donations to the Rangers Academy and more than £12 million has already been provided.
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