In a strange way Hartson believes that Celtic’s early exit from Europe may work out to the benefit of Lennon and his side, "I do, things happen in a strange sort of way for a reason, I was out of control before I got cancer and I am a different person for it, I appreciate values in life and simple things in life. Neil maybe went into the job thinking he could do certain things and going out of Europe has helped him as he doesn’t have the same number of games. He can concentrate on getting the League title back where it belongs back at Celtic Park, he can work on the squad and get the best out of them."
He also believes the smaller number of games will help his former team mate on a personal level, saying: “Neil also has a lot going on, he has a couple of kids and dealing with things in Glasgow, there is someone in jail at the moment for threatening Neil. He also has his self confessed depression to deal with. People tend to forget these types of things. For example, people see me out of hospital and think I am big bad John again but I am no where near that again after having to fight for my life. Neil’s got his problems and issues he has to deal with on a daily basis, it’s just part of life. He has been brave to take on the Celtic job, and he has won 15 out of 15 games."
There are still many doubters when it comes to the early days of the manager’s reign as they point out the defeat to Ross Co in the cup and then crashing out of Europe but Hartson believes this is unfair. He compared this to his own situation with regard to his spell at West Ham. He said: “This is what happens, I had two years at West Ham, 20 months were unbelievable when I couldn’t stop scoring goals but people only talk to me about the last four months after the training ground bust up. They never ask me about the goals at Villa, or Liverpool or Tottenham. It is the same with Neil’s results, no one remembers the Old Firm win last season, the wins at Hearts and Aberdeen when they had to dig deep. He just has to win games against teams who lift their game when the come up against Celtic."
In a strange way Hartson believes that Celtic’s early exit from Europe may work out to the benefit of Lennon and his side, "