Former Celtic boss Neil Lennon has praised the job Steven Gerrard has done at Rangers after the Gers romped to the Scottish Premiership title last season – but thinks the Liverpool icon “got a bit longer” than others would have to restore the Gers to the summit of Scottish football.
Gerrard’s Rangers ran away with the title, ending the season with their biggest ever gap over their Old Firm rivals and forcing wholesale changes at Celtic Park with Lennon, Scott Brown and chief executive Peter Lawwell leading a Parkhead exodus this summer.
Lennon believes Gerrard hasn’t won as much as he would have liked while in Glasgow but conceded that the Rangers boss has his side in a “good position” as they gear up for the defence of their title.
“I think he’s done a good job, yeah,” Lennon told talkSPORT.
“He’s won the league under a lot of pressure, which we all were.
“We know in Glasgow that we have to win.
“Steven maybe hasn’t won as many trophies as he would have liked but he’s done what he has set out to do.
“I think he maybe got a bit longer than some managers would have done.
“But he’s got Rangers into a good position now.”
Rangers success still gnawing away at Lennon
Despite Rangers having been runaway winners in the Scottish Premiership, there’s still the sense that Lennon feels it was more about how poorly things went at Celtic rather than how well they went at Ibrox.
The improvements at the Gers over the last few years have been clear to see and it shouldn’t have come as a surprise when they romped to the Premiership title.
While Lennon may claim Gerrard may have gotten more time than other Rangers bosses recently, there’s not really much merit to his claims given Gerrard had only completed one full season prior to 2020/21.
The season being halted by Covid in March 2020 meant he was never going to be axed despite the Gers lagging well behind their rivals at that point.
12 month on though, Rangers were champions and their faith in Gerrard was rewarded.
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