Former Celtic manager Neil Lennon has claimed that the Cypriot First Division is 'more competitive' than the Scottish Premiership. Lennon joined Omonia Nicosia back in March in what was his first managerial job for just over a year after he departed as Celtic boss in February 2021. Lennon's time at Parkhead was up after a loss to Ross County left the Hoops 18 points behind Rangers in the title race, robbing them of an unprecedented tenth title in a row.
However, despite his sensational accolades in the Scottish top-flight throughout his admittedly illustrious career with the Hoops, Lennon has played down the toughness of the Premiership - with the current Omonia Nicosia boss believing that the league he won five times as a manager and as a player only has two teams that 'run away with it' every year, thus making it much less of a challenge to claim silverware.
Lennon's men won 4-0 against Paralimni on Sunday and while they sit eighth in the table they are just four points behind leaders Pafos but are just three points off third bottom. But while Lennon has only won nine of his 23 games as manager, a Cyprus Cup win last season put his side into European competition; and having beat Gent 4-0 on aggregate in the Europa League playoffs, a double header against Manchester United awaits the Lurgan-born boss. A home tie against the Red Devils takes place on October 6, with the return leg taking place just a week later.
"We have to be more consistent, and there's a long way to go. This league is very competitive. It's not like Scotland, where two teams run away with it," Lennon said of the Cypriot First Division. "It's competitive because four or five teams can win the league. Teams will take points off of each other as they go along, and a couple of wins can take you into the top three. That's what we are focusing on - to make sure we win in the league and really compete in Europe. It's brilliant, it's testing for them and it's new for some of the players because they've never done it before."
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