Miller urges Lennon to stay with Hoops

Kenny Miller has urged Celtic skipper Neil Lennon to remain at Parkhead after being linked with Aston Villa.

Lennon has been tipped to join forces with former manager Martin O’Neill despite signing a new one-year deal in the summer.

The 35-year-old midfielder followed O’Neill from Leicester to Celtic six years ago and could be tempted to team up with his old boss once again.

But Miller, who arrived from Wolves in the summer, insists Celtic need their captain for a long, hard season ahead.

“He’s just signed a new deal at the club and everybody wants him to stay,” he said.

“He has been a massive part of the Celtic team over the last five or six seasons and he would be a great loss if he was to go.

“He’s a great leader, he’s a controller in the team and he would be a big miss to us.”

Miller, meanwhile, has assured fans there is plenty more to come from him this season.

The Scotland striker has yet to find the back of the net for his new club but he is confident the goals will flow soon.

“I really enjoyed the first game of the season at Parkhead, it was a great result for us and a good performance as well,” he said.

“I was just a bit disappointed that a goal didn’t come my way. Generally, I feel as though I’ve settled in well.

“There’s a lot to come from myself and there’s a lot to come from this team.”

And he is hoping a lethal strike partnership with Maciej Zurawski will help him make his mark at Celtic.

“Me and Magic have been training hard together and I think it could work if we’re needed to play throughout the season,” he added.

“I think both of us will get a lot of goals during the season.”

The Scottish champions suffered a blow when they were defeated by one of their main Bank of Scotland Premier League rivals, Hearts, at Tynecastle yesterday.

But Miller is unwilling to read too much into the result at such an earlier stage of the campaign.

“We are disappointed we got beat yesterday,” he said. “It doesn’t matter that it was to Hearts.

“Getting beat is what hurts us most but hopefully we will move on and take it into the St Mirren game on Saturday.

“If we can keep winning our games then we think we are good enough to go all the way again this year and defend our title.”