RETURN TO CELTIC COULD BE JUST THE JOB FOR NEIL

NEIL LENNON should have been a live contender for the Scotland job. Despite a lack of international experience as a coach and a litany of run-ins with officialdom, he boasted a record of punching above his weight, success at a high level and clear ability as a motivator.

What’s more, he was up for it. In any normal run of events, he would, at least, have been spoken to.

Of course, his Hibs chairman Rod Petrie, wearing his Scottish FA hat, was at the centre of the recruitment process and, presumably, didn’t fancy solving one problem by creating another. He pushed for Alex McLeish. And amid all the politics clogging up the top of the game right now, he got what he wanted.

Lennon’s work at Easter Road, though, ought to ensure an opportunity to take on a more highprofile role comes soon enough. Richer clubs must be studying what he is achieving there. And one of them should be Celtic.

It does not need to be said that Brendan Rodgers is currently heading for an historic double Treble at Parkhead. Just a couple of weeks ago, he told this very newspaper of his continued happiness in his ‘dream job’ as manager there.

There is no reason to question that. However, there will come a time when enough is enough.

Speculation linking him with Arsenal, considering it popped up on the same day in a number of places, has to be taken as something more than idle kite-flying.

If nothing else, Rodgers’ name is being discussed actively in England again. There is something afoot. And his expressed desire to one day work in Spain has not been forgotten either.

Ambition is always likely to override contentment in any driven individual, particularly one in a transitory, ever-shifting environment such as professional football. It would be wise then, in the circumstances, for Celtic to have a ‘Plan B’ in mind — and Lennon seems as good a bet as anyone in the price range.

Rodgers’ services do not come cheaply. Yet, his early ambitions of establishing Celtic in the Champions League knock-out rounds appear to have been replaced with a more pragmatic view of what is achievable within budget.

And budgets are everything. While Rodgers will have eyes on returning to a major league in time, the Parkhead board may also be asking whether £2.5million-a-year for a coach is necessary when Europe is proving so difficult.

Lennon, earning a fraction of Rodgers’ wages in Edinburgh, qualified from the group stage of the Champions League in his previous stint as Celtic boss. The game has changed since then, of course, but Lennon has changed, too. For starters, his range of experience is much greater.

He was a rookie first time round. He has since been through a chastening experience at Bolton and is now eking out more than could ever have been expected from his current crop of players in Leith.

Chances are the voting papers will have been filed before the league placings are decided, but, if Hibs do secure second spot in the Premiership, Lennon will deserve the Manager of the Year prizes. Even above Steve Clarke.

What Clarke, a candidate for the Celtic job in the past and surely someone still on their radar, has done in raising Kilmarnock up by the bootstraps is astonishing.

However, Lennon’s achievements at Easter Road are every bit as special. This is Hibs’ first season back in the top flight. What’s more, they are still operating with the nucleus of the side that won the Championship title without really setting the heather on fire.

Some of us were there, watching that side failing to beat relegated Ayr United at home and scrambling a draw against Dumbarton. Even Lennon, one of the few managers who still seems able to give players the hairdryer treatment and get a reaction, branded them an ‘absolute disgrace’ after another slip-up at Raith Rovers.

We scoffed when he said after last term’s Scottish Cup semi-final loss to Aberdeen that Hibs were the second-best team in the country. They were too flaky to harbour any hopes of competing for the European places. Yet, nine of the guys who started at Hampden that day are still at the club.

Martin Boyle and Dylan McGeouch are just two who have gone from strength to strength under him. Operating with far less money, he has won twice at Rangers and drawn with Celtic home and away in addition to tearing Aberdeen to pieces last time they provided the opposition.

He can send out a team to play football, but, as shown in a goalless draw against Hearts at Tynecastle in the Scottish Cup last season, can take a game into the trenches in a way that Rodgers prefers not to.

The thing is, Lennon seemed happy to leave Celtic back in 2014. He looked tired. The club were clearly downsizing with Rangers out of the picture and he wanted greater resources, better players. Would he want the hassle again? Could past issues be ironed out?

Time heals all wounds and Celtic, ever closer to Ten-In-A-Row, have reasons — namely, Champions League group cash and their Glasgow rivals being back in the top flight — to carry on spending, to a certain degree.

Rodgers will be mourned when he leaves Celtic. He has made a lot of players an awful lot better. He is popular and a fan.

So is Lennon, though. It is why he would be such an easy sell to season-ticket holders at a potentially tricky time, should the current manager, who touted him for that Scotland gig, receive an offer he cannot refuse.

And keeping season-ticket holders happy is what it is all about here.

It’s why Rodgers was recruited in the first place.