'The Story Of' is a web series dedicated to small but special tales from Celtic’s illustrious history. Here, Nir Bitton reveals a message from Neil Lennon shortly after signing in 2013.

This story is an excerpt from James Forrest’s Celtic FC biography, Homegrown Hero, out now.

“I THINK I’d played maybe one or two games for Celtic at the beginning of my career here,” said Nir Bitton. “Neil Lennon pulled me into his office. Here’s how the conversation went:

Nir Bitton: Hi gaffer, you wanted to see me?
Neil Lennon: I did. Niro, I’m going to tell you something. From now on, you’re going to chase the ball, and you’re going to pass it back to Jamesy.
Nir: Okay…
Neil: If Jamesy loses the ball, you’re going to get the ball back again, and you’re going to pass it to Jamesy. You work for Jamesy now.

“That’s what he said to me, I was only about two weeks into the job. Worse than that, I didn’t even know who 'Jamesy' was! I knew who James Forrest was, but who was this ‘Jamesy’ guy the manager was speaking about?

“At that point, I didn’t know because I hadn’t mastered Scottish nicknames yet. I’ve never forgotten that since. Honestly, Neil Lennon is like James’ second dad.”

Behind Scott Brown and Forrest himself, Bitton is the next longest-serving player in the Celtic dressing room, and the latter two have shared many memorable games on the pitch since.

Interestingly, the Israeli put pen to paper at Paradise on the afternoon of the club’s 3-0 Shakhter Karagandy win in August, 2013 – where Forrest netted the 3-2 aggregate winner in second-half added time.

While not involved that night, Bitton still considers it one of his fondest memories of the Celtic Park atmosphere to this day. And he’ll never, ever forget his manager’s directive just weeks after moving to Glasgow.

“I’ve not stopped bringing that story up with James to this day,” continued Bitton. “If ever he loses in the ball, I say, 'Jamesy, don’t you worry, I will get the ball back and I’ll pass it to you. If you lose the ball, I will get it back and give it to you'.”

The Story Of… Nir Bitton's ‘pass to Jamesy’ directive