Neil Lennon’s appointment at Dunfermline is great for him … and maybe for Celtic.

Last night, my final act on the podcast was to congratulate Neil Lennon on getting the job at Dunfermline. Now, I framed it as a bit of a dig at one of my exes. She was a Pars fan and, like many people in Scotland, suffered from an irrational hatred of Lennon—one she could never properly articulate or explain.

I hope she finds some semblance of happiness in this appointment somewhere down the line. And maybe, just maybe, she won’t be so intolerant in the future.

But the greater point stands—I do congratulate Neil on being back in management, and I do wish him well.

I’ve long said that he’s a better commentator than he is a manager, and I mean that. If this means he’ll be stepping down from his media duties or cutting them back, then that will be a loss. He’s sharp, insightful, and genuinely good at that job.

But he believes he belongs in the dugout, and he’s returned there at a club where he can potentially do some good.

I think Lennon will be a good manager at Dunfermline, just as I thought he’d have been a good choice for Aberdeen a couple of years ago. He knows the Scottish game inside out. His brand of attacking football—once he settles into it and the team gets used to his style—will be entertaining to watch.

And if he can make some of their players better, if he can utilise his resources properly, then I imagine he’ll do well.

We could help him out a little and help ourselves at the same time by sending some of our best young players to play under him at Dunfermline. That would make a lot of sense. It’s a very progressive option for us. I cannot see any reason why we wouldn’t do it. Lennon is trusted by people inside Celtic—we already know this.

So, it’s a good option.

In fact, one name lends itself automatically to this idea, and that’s Johnny Kenny. Kenny has looked good in a Celtic strip so far, but if we’re to make real progress, we’re going to need to go out and sign a big-name striker in this window.

That means Johnny Kenny isn’t going to get the opportunities that he’d like—or that we’d like to give him. So it makes good sense to send him out on loan, and Dunfermline would be a great option. It’s a good level to play at, and under Lennon I think he’d do very well indeed.

So with a couple of loan signings—especially from Celtic—augmenting the squad that he has, along with the players he’ll be able to bring in, Lennon’s got a real chance of being a success. He’s got a real chance of putting his name into the frame for other jobs further down the line. He might even earn a career renaissance—if he’s good enough. But that’s the big question.

The simple truth is that this is probably Lennon’s last real chance in management. I didn’t think he’d get another opportunity. He has to succeed here. He has to use this as a springboard for whatever future he wants to carve out in the management business.

In some ways, I feel bad for Lennon. He was given his dream job far too early—before he was prepared, before he was ready. It must have created the false impression that his managerial career would be much easier than it has been.

It was never going to be like that. Whatever risk this move represents for Lennon, it’s an even bigger one for Dunfermline. But it’s one they can probably afford to take. I’m sure they’ve gone through a rash of underwhelming managerial options to get here. This is at least an exciting one for their fans—those who don’t reflexively hate Lennon for reasons they can’t even understand.

I want him to succeed. I want Lennon to prove me wrong about his managerial nous. I want him to show Scottish football—and the wider game—what it’s been missing all this time.

I thought he would have transformed Aberdeen into a proper attacking force, a team that would’ve been fun to watch. I thought he did wonders at Hibs—at least initially, before it all fell apart. But his time away from Scotland has been wholly uninspiring, and his end at Hibs was unedifying, to say the least.

But if he can bring his brand of stylish football—if he can bring that devil-may-care attitude—to the Championship, fans are going to get a lot of pleasure out of watching his team. His presence will also increase interest in the club and in the game across Scotland’s second tier. And that’s something the game here needs. Lennon brings colour. He brings life. He brings character and flair.

So yeah, I’ll miss him in the commentary box if he’s stepping back from it. I’ll miss his analysis, which is some of the sharpest and most honest in the Scottish media. And I will continue to believe, until it’s proven otherwise, that punditry is what he does best. It’s what he’s best suited to.

But by God, I hope he does it here.

Not just to annoy my former girlfriend, but because this is his passion. This is what he wants to do. This is the path he wants to walk. And I’ve always respected, liked, and wanted to stand up for Lennon the man—even if Lennon the manager drove me closer to madness than I ever thought possible.

So when I said last night, “Congratulations to Neil Lennon on getting that job,” I meant every word. I am pleased for him. I am pleased for the club. I hope we can find a way to lend him a hand, because it will be good for him and it will be good for Celtic if we can send some of our promising young players to play a full campaign in Scotland’s second tier instead of the Lowland League.

And those Dunfermline fans willing to keep an open mind—who don’t already have a baked-in dislike for the guy—are going to love him. And they’re going to love next season. Or at least I hope so.

Because this might be Lennon’s last chance to do what he really wants to do.

He can’t afford to get it wrong.