NEIL Lennon directed the praise for his Manager of the Month award to his players and backroom staff for what he described as a perfect start to the league campaign.

The Hoops boss was awarded the Premiership Manager of the Month Award for August today (Tuesday) in recognition of Celtic’s stellar start to the 2019/20 domestic season.

The Irishman admitted winning the accolade couldn't top Sunday’s 2-0 win against Rangers at Ibrox but he was pleased with the work which has gone into the 100 per cent winning start in the league.

“It doesn’t feel quite as good as Sunday,” he explained. “It was a team effort. The players have been magnificent. My backroom team should take a huge amount of credit. It’s been a superb effort in a very demanding month.

“It’s been a perfect start to the month. I couldn’t have asked for any more. We’ve played well, scored goals, the performances and quality has been excellent. It’s been a great start to the season but that’s all it is, a very good start.”

Celtic began the defence of their title in emphatic style with a 7-0 win over St Johnston on flag day before traveling to Fir Park where they claimed a 5-2 victory over Motherwell. The third and final league fixture in the month of August saw Neil Lennon’s side continue their impressive winning streak as they defeated Hearts 3-1.

Celtic secured a place in the Europa League group stages at the end of the month following their 6-1 aggregate win over Swedish champions AIK, and they started September in style with a dominant 2-0 win over Rangers.

“The performances and results speak for themselves,” said Neil Lennon. “The players have played strongly and showed a great mentality as they did on Sunday. They thoroughly deserved to win.

“People say it was comfortable, it’s never comfortable but the players made it look comfortable and that shows the character of the team and the unity that’s there. That comes from everybody, we’re a very united staff and a very united playing group. It’s been a tough month, mentally and physically, and now we can look forward to some exciting stuff ahead.

“We haven’t listened to the criticism. We’re up to 40-plus goals already and that got ignored in all the hysteria. We’re in a good place but we’re not taking anything for granted. We're four games in and four wins. We just want to maintain that rhythm.

“We have a two-week break. You worry about the players being away but we have some good players to come back. Tom Rogic for example, we’re hoping to see him at the end of the two weeks and he’ll be back training and knocking on the door for a place. That’s another quality player we can add to what we already have.”

Manager: Award is due to hard work from everybody at Celtic