Lennon wants fans to forget about the Premiership and focus on SPL
Celtic boss Neil Lennon wants fans to forget about the Premiership and focus on SPL
NEIL LENNON has told Scottish football to stop drooling over the Premiership and start putting its own house in order.
The Celtic boss is convinced the nation’s obsession with watching England’s cash-rich top flight creates an impossible yardstick for our clubs.
And he insists that fixation has created a monster.
Lennon is convinced the Old Firm still have a strong chance of making the Europa League group stage – but claims Spurs’ thrashing of Hearts has blown away any perspective.
He said: “Our tie with Sion is certainly in the balance as is Rangers v Maribor.
“Rangers will be very happy with the away goal – it gives them a great chance.
“But the over-reaction comes from comparing ourselves to England too much. We overfamiliarise ourselves with the English league.
“We drool over it instead of just concentrating on what we have, trying to improve it and making the most of it.
“The comparison is night and day because there is a huge financial difference. It’s the same for Celtic and Rangers, the gap to Premier League wages is so big.
“That’s why I don’t work myself into a tizzy about the Premier League. I don’t look on enviously about it and I don’t think we should do that in Scotland.
“OK you look back to the days when Celtic beat the likes of Blackburn and Liverpool but at that time we could compete with the Premier League in terms of wages and fees.
“At the moment unless we have a good run in the Europa League we will find it hard.
“But it’s not all doom and gloom. We can still look around for bargains like Emilio Izaguirre, Beram Kayal and Gary Hooper.”
But the chances of decent players arriving from down south are diminishing and Lennon fears the hiding Spurs dished out to Hearts has made selling the SPL to English stars even harder.
He said: “It possibly did. I’m not pointing the finger at anybody but it is a hard sell. I won’t deny that.
