Lennon wants change to schedule

Published: 31 Jul 2010 - 12:01:22

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Neil Lennon insists Scottish clubs' perennial struggles in Europe would be helped by an earlier start to the season.

Celtic and Hibernian both crashed to 3-0 defeats in the first legs of their respective European qualifiers this week, their first competitive matches of the campaign. The results have reopened the debate over whether the Scottish season should begin sooner so sides are able to hit the ground running in the Champions League and Europa League.

"I'd be in favour of a winter break, certainly," Lennon said.

"In my first few years of Celtic, they brought it in. We found it very beneficial as players in the squad.

"The season didn't run on too long after that into the summer.

"As regards playing these important games early, I do think it would be beneficial if we had some game time before we went into these games."

Asked if the change should be adopted as quickly as possible, Lennon said: "If they can, yeah. It's something that obviously we'd need to discuss with the SPL."