NEIL Lennon said that the excitement levels are at an all-time high for the start of the new league campaign as the Hoops boss gave his reaction to the fixture schedule for the 2020/21 season.

The SPFL fixtures for the new season were revealed this morning (Monday) and Celtic will begin the defence of their Premiership trophy and the bid for a 10th consecutive title with a home game against Hamilton Accies on Sunday, August 2.

The much anticipated return of football, coupled with Celtic’s quest for an unprecedented 10th successive league title has the champions eagerly anticipating the kick-off of the new season. The Hoops were last in action in early March when they defeated St Mirren 5-0 at Paradise.

“There’s a huge amount of excitement,” said Neil Lennon at Lennoxtown today (Monday).” We’re very excited. It’s been good to have the players back for the last few weeks, and preparations are going well. We’re going through all the protocols and everything that’s been ask of us as a club, so we’re excited. This is a big season for us domestically and, obviously, on the European front as well.”

The changes to the footballing calendar throughout Europe means Celtic will begin their UEFA Champions League qualification campaign later than usual in the summer. The first three qualifying rounds will be one-off ties, either home or away depending on the draw, with the play-off round reverting to traditional home and away legs.

Neil Lennon explained that Celtic have been preparing for the change in routine, and the Hoops boss said he will have a clearer indication of where his side stand when they begin playing games later this month.

“There’s a new norm and it’s something we’ve been preparing for over the last few weeks,” said the Celtic manager. “You never really know where you are until the games start but I think, in terms of the pre-season games next week, we’ll have a fair idea of what we need to do to improve the team for the start of the season.

“We’re going to France next week where we have some big pre-season games lined up. That’ll give us an indication of where we are as a squad.”

Neil Lennon: Bhoys are more excited than ever to start new season