Neil Lennon thinks Celtic's rivals Rangers are growing stronger season by season, but feels the Scottish game does need the Bhoys and Gers battling it out for silverware.
Rangers completed their journey up through the leagues to re-enter the Scottish Premiership under Mark Warburton in 2016.
But the weight of expectation at Ibrox has already claimed two managers, with Warburton and then his successor Pedro Caixinha being shown the door.
Now under Steven Gerrard, Rangers are chasing Celtic at the top of the Premiership standings and, heading into March are eight points behind their fierce rivals.
Lennon, who quit as Celtic manager in 2014 but has come back on an interim basis until the end of the season to replace the departed Brendan Rodgers, feels that Rangers getting back on their feet is good for Scottish football.
And the Celtic boss believes Rangers are continuing to become stronger.
"Of course [it is good for Rangers to be competitive with Celtic again]", Lennon said on Friday's beIN SPORTS Keys & Gray show.
"I left in 2014 and there was no Rangers. We'd won the league by 30 points. Part of my reason for leaving was, was I developing, was I going to get any better, was there a challenge, and there wasn't.
"Slowly they [Rangers] have built their way back up and they're getting stronger and stronger each season.
"They had a very good Europa League run this year; that was a real bonus for them and Steven handled the qualifiers and the group very, very well.
"They turned Celtic over end of December and that psychologically was a big lift for them as well.
"It feels more and more like a championship race now as the years progress, which is obviously very good and very exciting for the public."
Lennon had been due to fly over the Qatar before he was handed the interim job at Celtic, where he will look to help the Bhoys clinch an historic treble-treble.
