Neil Lennon says Rangers need ‘change of culture’ to put pressure on Celtic

Neil Lennon claims the “chasm” that separates Celtic and Rangers can only be plugged by a transformation of the mentality of the Ibrox dressing room.

Celtic have won 20 of the past 25 domestic trophies while Rangers have claimed three, and the Hoops went 16 points clear in the William Hill Premiership on Saturday following Motherwell’s 2-1 win at Ibrox, which ruined interim head coach Barry Ferguson’s home debut in charge.

It was a third consecutive home defeat for Rangers, whose hopes of success this season now rely on continued involvement in the Europa League past their upcoming meeting with Fenerbahce.

When asked how big the gap was between Celtic and Rangers, the former Parkhead captain and manager said: “It’s a chasm. I couldn’t believe the result from Ibrox on Saturday. I thought with Barry going in there, when he made the change against Kilmarnock, it was a positive one. It was brave, and they got the result and the performance.

“You’re thinking, well, maybe there’s a bit of momentum there, but they go the other way. So there’s a huge fragility there in the squad.

“And whoever takes over, whether it be Barry or somebody else, everyone talks about a rebuild. For me, it’s a change of culture and psychology, really, more than anything else.

“I think they’ve got some good players there, but obviously the psychology of the team isn’t right.

“They do well when they’re not expected to do well. And when they are expected to win games, they can’t do it. So that needs to change.

“I think they have to get things right domestically, first and foremost, before they think about anything else.

“They need to be far more consistent in the league, far more consistent in the cup competitions. Because if they go out to Fenerbahce in the Europa League, the season’s done. We’re only in March.”

Rangers appear to be on the brink of major change as the club look for a long-term successor to Philippe Clement amid advanced takeover talks with an American consortium.

But Lennon said: “You can’t just have a clean sweep. Everyone talks about rebuild, and a new manager coming in, and a clean sweep. I’ve been hearing this for the last three or four years.

“I’m not privy to what goes on inside the dressing room or the training ground, but they’ve got to be far more consistent in their results and performances and grind out results.

“I don’t know if they can do that, but we’ve all had to do that over the years. Winning breeds confidence, it breeds a better mentality.

“The home record was excellent, but the Queen’s Park game obviously rocked them in some way, shape or form. You have to get over that. It can happen once in a blue moon, a result like that, but you have to bounce back from it immediately, and they haven’t done that.

“They’ve lost now to St Mirren, they’ve lost now to Motherwell. Playing for a club like Celtic and Rangers, we all know about the demands and the expectation. You have to handle that.

“There has to be a change for me in the psychology of the dressing room, rather than a complete rebuild, because I don’t think that will work either.”

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