Saturday, 18th October, 2014
Neil Lennon admits that he did have doubts over quitting his job as Celtic manager earlier this year, but insists they quickly evaporated as he became convinced he had made the right call.
The Northern Irishman led the Bhoys to three consecutive Scottish league titles, while he also made progress in the Champions League, with a famous night unfolding at Celtic Park which saw the Scottish side beat Barcelona.
However, Lennon opted to move on and was recently appointed the new manager at Championship side Bolton Wanderers.
It had been thought he could take a role in the Premier League, but no post opened up for the 43-year-old.
"Early on, you have your doubts but I thought about it for so long", Lennon told the BBC, speaking about his departure from Celtic.
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"I've had no regrets. It was a huge wrench to leave but it was the right decision for me from a personal point of view and a professional point of view as well."
Indeed, Lennon explained that the Scottish Premiership was becoming increasingly less of a challenge, especially with the absence of Rangers, while Hibernian and Hearts also slipped out of the top flight.
"We were moving on some really good players and it was difficult to replace them. Rangers weren't there but then with Hibs and Hearts going as well, the two huge Edinburgh clubs, I just felt the competition was diluting even more. We had won the league by 29 points.
"I just thought, we'd done well. We'd won some silverware, we'd won three titles, we'd been in Europe. Unless we got a huge injection of money to challenge in the Champions League – and I knew that wasn't the reality – then I felt it was a good time to go."
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