Rangers may benefit from Neil Lennon exit

Will Neil Lennon’s departure from Celtic Park give hope to the club’s domestic rivals?

That is the question that struck me in the wake of the news about the Northern Irishman. What a shock that was. I talked at length with Neil at a charity function a week ago.

He gave not the slightest indication that his future involved anything other than a quick holiday, then a return to preparing Celtic for the new season.

Monday’s meeting with owner Dermot Desmond and Chief Executive Peter Lawwell must have been an eventful affair. Neil has now left Celtic, and that is a shame.

He is a big, big personality in our game, and a popular figure with the Celtic support. He delivered three successive League titles, and took the club through to the last 16 of the Champions League.

It was in the domestic cup competitions that things didn’t go so well. Defeat in the Scottish Cup semi-final against Ross County was the worst possible start to Neil’s time in charge.

And the League Cup loss to Morton this season was quite simply one of the worst results in the club’s history.

Throw in the League Cup upsets against St Mirren, in a semi, and Kilmarnock in a Final, and it adds up to Neil’s Achilles heel.

Even given the likely sales of Virgil van Dijk and Fraser Forster in the summer, a successor could be expected to avoid such calamities. Or could they?

As Davie Moyes can testify after his experience with Manchester United, it is exceptionally hard to take over a team and start winning straight away.

The situations are similar to the situation now at Celtic Park. At Old Trafford Moyes also inherited a squad that had just finished as champions.

Different managers have different ways they like to play the game. They have different favourites among the group.

Most importantly, the chemistry between the people who play for the club, and the man who leads them, changes.

Liverpool probably came as close as possible to seamless transitions back when their Boot Room provided them with a steady stream of managers.

For everyone else, though, there is a period of adaptation to be worked through. That is where the likes of Aberdeen and Motherwell could benefit in the coming campaign.

There is no getting round the gap between the champions and their rivals this season. Celtic were pretty close to flawless in the League and won it by 29 points.

However, only a year before that, they were struggling to cope with the dual demands of domestic and European commitments.

Go back to those days under a new manager, finding his way, and things could be a lot tighter next season.

And, looking further ahead, Rangers may just find Lennon’s leaving a help too when they, surely, return to the top flight next year.

If Celtic fail to reach the Champions League group stages and coming as early as it does in the season, that has to be a possibility the financial edge they will have over the Light Blues come 2015-16 will be diminished.

What is for sure is that Rangers won’t be coming up against a man with the range and depth of experience of the Old Firm fixture that Lennon had to call upon.