IT'S easy to be forgotten when you step out of the management game.

That's a truism of which I am sure Neil Lennon is only too aware.

Not that I am suggesting he is in danger of suffering that fate.

The fact he is keeping himself in the public eye with insightful and impressive appearances as an analyst and guest on various TV football shows will ensure that his abilities are kept to the fore.

However, there is no denying that it is a surprise to most of us - and no doubt himself - that he is still without a club.

Without claiming to know everything about his personal business, who has spoken to him and what positions he may have been offered, I would have thought he would have been snapped up by now.

I have to be honest and admit that, when he announced he was leaving Celtic back in May, I was sure he must have already had something else lined up, and I don't just mean a spot as an analyst at the World Cup finals.

Clearly, that was not the case and his reasons for leaving Celtic were purely down to feeling his time there had run its course.

Initially, after more than four years in that particular job, I am sure he would have appreciated the opportunity to enjoy life without having to worry about the next game, the next signing, the next sale.

But, when you consider all the jobs that have become vacant and have been filled since he left Celtic, he must be wondering what he has to do to kick-start the next chapter of his career.

The longer his time out of work has gone, the more time he has had to reflect on exactly what it is he is now looking for, and what he can reasonably expect to be offered.

I am sure he would love the chance to manage in the Premier League, and will remain confident he has the ability to do that.

But, the longer he is out of work, the more he might have to think about lowering his sights in terms of the level of club he is prepared to manage.

That might even include working abroad if the right position doesn't present itself in this country.

Sure, Neil has his media work - at which he is excellent - to keep him busy and in the spotlight.

But he's still only 43, and there's plenty of time for that later on.

When he sees some of the people who have got jobs in the last few months, he must be wondering what he has to do even to get an interview.

I know what it feels like, having been 'between jobs' a few times myself when I was a manager.

And I remember one of the best bits of advice I ever received came from Ally MacLeod.

He gave me my first job, as his assistant at Motherwell after I had been forced to give up playing at Chelsea.

Ally said to me that management is all about timing.

Maybe Neil's is not quite right.

His stock was at its highest when he took Celtic to the last 16 of the Champions League.

But last season's European campaign - which is the level at which a manager outwith the Premier League in England will be judged by owners and chairmen down there - did not go the way Neil would have wanted.

Perhaps to get back in, he might even have to consider returning to the game as an assistant manager.

That might sound a bit drastic, given what he has achieved as a manager in his own right.

But Roy Keane has just done precisely that at Aston Villa, so maybe it is not such a wild idea.

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