Neil Lennon is one of the most controversial figures in British football. The 35-year-old from Lurgan was the first Northern Irish Roman Catholic to play for Celtic and to be chosen to lead his country, only to quit the captaincy even before he took the field following death threats by Loyalist paramilitaries.

In Scotland, he has been the target of vicious verbal and physical assault by fans of Old Firm rivals Rangers - mugged on the street, hung in effigy and with the words 'Neil Lennon RIP' painted on a wall near his family home.

With a foreword by Martin O'Neill, Man and Bhoy gives Lennon's side of these stories, revealing in full the terrible consequences of the religious hatred that has tainted his career. Before that he recalls his Leicester years under O'Neil,l and how they defied bigger rivals by maintaining their Premiership League status and winning two League Cups.

Lennon tells the inside story of Celtic under O'Neill; how his £5 million transfer to Parkhead in 2000 nearly didn't happen; his wrongful arrest on a club night out; lifting the domestic treble in a glorious first season with Celtic and then reaching the UEFA Cup final (narrowly losing out to a Jose Mourinho-inspired Porto); and his relationship with current boss Gordon Strachan and how the team gloriously regained the Premiership title in 2006.

Approaching the twilight of his playing career, Lennon is blisteringly frank about his life on the field - including his horrific spinal injury and his less than happy apprenticeships at Motherwell and Manchester City - as well as his hitherto closely guarded private life.

It's a book that was shock football to its core.