Neil Lennon insisted on Sunday night that the return of Rangers to the Premiership is 'essential ' for the good of Scottish football . The former Celtic boss reckons the Hoops have suffered due to a lack of competition in the top flight since their greatest rivals ' liquidation in 2012 . Lennon , now in charge at Bolton , told Goal.com : 'It 's essential for the game in Scotland that Rangers get back to the Premiership as quickly as possible . Bolton manager Neil Lennon thinks it is essential that Rangers win promotion back to the Scottish top flight . Lennon , who managed Celtic for four years , believes Scottish football is struggling due to lack of competition . 'They are struggling , but new people have come in who I think have the best interests of the club at heart . 'Stuart McCall had a fantastic record at Motherwell . They need to get back to the Premiership for the state of the game up there – in terms of revenue , crowds , competition . 'It 's important and I think that 's why Scotland has struggled . Celtic need it as well – the competition has been missing . ' Lennon guided the Parkhead side to the knockout stage of the Champions League during his four-year spell in the dug-out , but revealed that the overall decline of the Premiership 's financial situation had necessitated the sale of key players . Lee Wallace ( centre ) is congratulated by his team-mates after giving Rangers the lead away to Hibernian . He said : 'It all depends on Celtic . When I was there we ended up selling the crown jewels in terms of Victor Wanyama , Gary Hooper , Joe Ledley , Georgios Samaras . 'It 's very difficult to keep churning out those players , but that was the financial situation . There 's no doubt the Scottish game is significantly weaker . 'Hibs , Hearts and Rangers are in the Championship and they were a big loss in terms of revenue , crowds , quality and competition . 'It 's lacking at the minute , it 's not in a great state . There are seven or eight teams in the Premiership who have average gates of 4-5,000 and with that it 's very difficult to compete with other European countries . ' Kenny Miller slots home to put the game beyond doubt for Rangers and close the gap on Hibernian . Lennon believes that smaller European countries may look to combine with their neighbours to create more competitive leagues . 'There is talk of amalgamating leagues – the Dutch league , they 're starting to fall behind a bit , but Belgium have had a resurgence at national level . 'The Eastern bloc , as well – you never see any of those teams participating in the Champions League these days . These countries are trying to make a play for having a fair crack of the whip in terms of revenue or even amalgamating some leagues and creating a better standard . '
Rangers , currently third in Championship , beat Hibernian 2-0 on Sunday . Comment: Rangers will almost certainly be involved in the promotion play-off . Neil Lennon thinks it is essential Rangers get back into the Premiership .