Former Celtic player Chris Sutton has urged his former club to consider Preston North End manager Alex Neil as they weigh up their options to replace Neil Lennon, per the Daily Record.

Lennon's second stint at Celtic Park ended last month after a disastrous season which saw the Hoops fail in their quest to win 10 Scottish Premiership titles in a row.

Steven Gerrard has led Rangers to success as the green half of Glasgow faltered, and it's left the club's executives searching for Lennon's replacement.

Bookmaker odds suggest that the likes of Roy Keane, Enzo Maresca and Eddie Howe are the front-runners, but everyone has their own ideas on who should be Celtic's new boss.

One man who is generally an outsider is PNE boss Neil, who has been at the Championship club for four years now but is yet to crack the play off places with them, despite coming so close in his first season.

The Bellshill-born 39-year-old currently has the Lilywhites sitting in mid-table but Sutton still believes that he would be a good fit for Celtic.

Speaking on potential Lennon replacements, Sutton told the Record Celtic podcast, per the Daily Record: “Alex Neil is another one. He gets a bit of a bashing at times for the job he does at Preston but I don’t see them as a team with a budget up there with the teams who are going to push for promotion.

“They play a decent brand of football, he’s an organiser and knows the Scottish game.”

The Verdict

This isn't the first time that Sutton has tipped Neil up for another job, having recommended that Everton should have looked at him in 2019 following the sacking of Marco Silva.

That was around the time where North End had turned down an approach from Stoke City for Neil, with the Scot being courted by a number of clubs during his time at Deepdale.

And whilst a move to Celtic would certainly be tempting for the former Hamilton manager, there's nothing to suggest that he's applied for the job or that he will definitely be in the running - but you can see why Sutton is a fan.