I told Lenny I had to leave on day of Elfsborg match.. He said, 'Play tonight for me, get us to the Champions League and you'll go with our blessing'

Wilson reveals inspiration to fine farewell

- BY RYAN MCDONALD

IT'S matchday in Sweden and Kelvin Wilson is unwinding in his hotel room ahead of Celtic's crucial Champions League qualifier against Elfsborg.

The defender is gearing up for a nervy night when there's a knock at the door. In walks Neil Lennon, the last person Wilson expected to see.

All sorts of thoughts are racing through the stopper’s head. He feared he might have been in the Hoops gaffer's bad books — but it turned out to be the opposite.

The Englishman was entering his third season at Parkhead after leaving boyhood club Nottingham Forest. He'd won back-to-back titles, lifted the Scottish Cup, and played a key role in the run to the Champions League last 16.

On the park, it couldn't have been going much better. But off it, Wilson felt a world away from loved ones. With his wife and newborn daughter still down south, he was missing out on important years of his child's life.

Lennon - who played alongside Wilson at Forest before bringing him to Glasgow - understood better than most.

And that’s why, in the summer of 2013, the Northern Irishman gave Wilson his blessing to return to the City Ground - on one condition.