Martin O'Neill says Neil Lennon will learn and be a big success at Celtic

O'Neill was back at Parkhead last night for the first time since he left the club six years ago and oversaw a Celtic legends team play their Manchester United counterparts in a tribute match for John Kennedy.

Since becoming permanent Celtic manager last summer Lennon has not been above asking some of his former managers for advice. However, his fellow Northern Irishman believes Lennon, who he signed in a 6?million deal from Leicester in 2000, needs ultimately to follow his own instincts. "My advice to Neil when he does phone occasionally - and it is only occasionally, it is not terribly often - would be, all the time, to have a think about it and analyse it yourself because you are the one who is closest to it," said O'Neill.

"He certainly couldn't talk to me about formations when he knows the players better than I know them. He will learn. He will learn through mistakes and he will learn through some good days.

"When I signed him in December 2000, I only thought about him as a player. I didn't envisage him being a Celtic manager - primarily because I was! But he's pushed on and he knows the game very well indeed. He was an excellent player and if he becomes half as good a manager as he was a player, that would be excellent."

On Lennon's appointment it was suggested that a mentor could be brought in to help and inevitably O'Neill's name was mentioned. But the former Northern Ireland international does not buy into the concept. "It wouldn't have been my way of doing it," he said. "I know he is inexperienced in terms of management, but when is he going to get that experience? I'm not so sure that would have been the way forward. I might be wrong, I might be right, but I think he would have handled things on his own, particularly as he had been a player here for some time."

The proceeds from the 55,000 crowd went to Oxfam's East Africa Charity Appeal, with former defender Kennedy, who had to quit the game early through injury, donating his share of the gate to the fund. With another ex-Celtic manager, Gordon Strachan, asked to take charge of United, it gave O'Neill the chance to again manage some of his former players such as Lennon's assistant Johan Mjallby, first-team coach Alan Thompson, Henrik Larsson, John Hartson, Chris Sutton and Bobby Petta. Both teams were littered with celebrities, but it was a genuine Celtic legend, Larsson, who scored a hat-trick with Petta notching a double in Celtic's 5-2 win.

At the post-match press conference, O'Neill, who declared he is ready to get back in to management after a year out - "I have been in hibernation so maybe in the not-too-distant future" - was as studious as ever when answering questions. During the high water mark of transfer fees paid out by Scottish clubs, he forked out big money to assemble the Celtic side which reached the Uefa Cup final in 2003 while winning domestic trophies.O'Neill acknowledged that Lennon is working within more rigid financial constraints. "It is a difficult task because expectations are very high," he said. "In terms of the economic situation it seems to be getting tighter and tighter in the SPL. The calibre of player that you would want to attract to the football club - perhaps now they see their future in some other country - that makes it more difficult and the European scene is getting more difficult. Rangers were knocked out (of the Champions League] by Malmo and each year seems to get harder and it is obvious - you can trace it back to the fact that the finances are not there any more."