No sorrow in Sandnes move

It is a two-hour flight from his home to the venue for tonight's Scotland match. Norway stretches north until it collapses at the Arctic Ocean and, although Molde sits on a fjord less than an quarter of the way there from southerly Sandnes, a flight to Hampden would still be roughly an equal distance for Lennon - once a regular in Scotland's under-21 side - to travel.

"There's not so much of a buzz about the Norway team here," he says. "I think they've been pretty poor over the last year. They've even moved the game from the national stadium to Molde's ground just because they think they won't get that big a crowd. In the Scotland squad you've got players playing at bigger clubs, in the [Barclays] Premier League, but the Norwegian lads . . . the majority are from the Tippeligaen."

Refreshingly, and unlike most all-too-cozy British footballers, Lennon's decision to move abroad seemed like the natural next step after he struggled to adapt to the negative tactics prevalent in the less glamorous depths of English football. "In League Two it's really direct and not the kind of football I enjoyed or could do my best in," he says. "Coming from Rangers, being a footballer in a good team, to go to a club that's just playing it long . . . it's difficult, you know? I wanted to try to go to a European country and see how I enjoyed it there and try to progress."

He left Ibrox after spells on loan at Partick Thistle and Lincoln City. He was offered a permanent contract to remain part of Chris Sutton's side but, after a sojourn in Ireland instead, he decided to broaden his northern horizons, his agent having a contact in Reykjavik who plotted the route there. He is philosophical, too, about leaving Rangers and recognises that his path to the first team had been blocked by cohort of well-paid, big-name players.

"I did everything I was asked in the youth teams," he says. "I don't think I could have done more. But managers were changing at maybe the wrong time for me, when I was moving from the youth, trying to get into the first team. Sometimes you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time and it's unfortunate. Back then they had players like Dado Prso . . . it's difficult for a young player to try to move players like that out of the team."

The season in Norway runs through the summer - from March until November - and comprises just 30 league games. Sandnes Ulf have just played their last match of the year, escaping relegation by the skin of their teeth. A central playmaker, Lennon had been forced out wide to help with defensive duties.

"The manager thinks I've got good work-rate so he puts me out wide to help with the defence," he says. "I'm basically playing like a wing-back; it's difficult to do your best going forward. But hopefully we can get some players in, change the style and win more games."

The squad are gifted the month of December off before resuming training for an extended pre-season at the start of January, despite the league not getting underway until the first shoots of spring begin to appear. "Two and a half long months in the cold!"exclaims Lennon of the season's warm-up.

"I enjoy it. You don't end up playing on shocking pitches in the winter time. You get Christmas and New Year off to spend with the family. When I was playing in the UK, I was training on Christmas Day and then playing on Boxing Day. You also get a two-week break in the summer."

His contract with Sandnes has provision for several paid flights a year, so Lennon can flit back across the North Sea to visit his family and friends in Ayrshire. "If we have a free weekend or international break, that's the time I'll come home," he says. "We have those two weeks off in the summer, but I'd rather be in Spain or somewhere than Scotland."