HE arguably benefitted from their meltdown more than most, but Neil Lennon has insisted Scottish football needs a competitive Rangers side back in the top flight - and soon.
Lennon guided Celtic to three Premiership titles in a row while chaos reigned on the other side of Glasgow before leaving Scottish football behind last summer. The Northern Irishman is now five months into his new job at Bolton Wanderers in the Championship south of the border but he is still acutely aware of goings on in his old patch. And he believes the new broom that has swept through Ibrox - with Stuart McCall notching his first win in charge at Easter Road on Sunday - might help bring Rangers back into the thick of things, where he feels their absence has left a major void.
"It's essential for the game in Scotland that Rangers get back to the Premiership as quickly as possible," said Lennon. "They are struggling, but new people have come in who I think have the best interests of the club at heart.
"Stuart McCall had a fantastic record at Motherwell. They need to get back to the Premiership for the state of the game up there - in terms of revenue, crowds, competition. It's important and I think that's why Scotland has struggled. Celtic need it as well - the competition has been missing."
Lennon guided Celtic to the title with points margins of 20, 16 and 29 points between 2012 and 2014 but they were years that marked a steady fall-off in European performance as bigger names made their way out of Parkhead. That wider decline has continued this term with Scottish football left watching on while the English game agreed a massive new TV deal.
"It all depends on Celtic. When I was there we ended up selling the crown jewels in terms of Victor Wanyama, Gary Hooper, Joe Ledley, Georgios Samaras. It's very difficult to keep churning out those players, but that was the financial situation. There's no doubt the Scottish game is significantly weaker," added Lennon.
"Hibs, Hearts and Rangers are in the Championship and they were a big loss in terms of revenue, crowds, quality and competition. It's lacking at the minute, it's not in a great state. There are seven or eight teams in the Premiership who have average gates of 4-5,000 and with that it's very difficult to compete with other European countries."
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