FORMER Celtic manager Neil Lennon is understood to have sought legal advice over Rangers’ decision to deny admission to himself and one-time Celtic striker Chris Sutton, who has originally been named as BT Sport’s analysts for the Europa League opener against Lyon at Ibrox tonight, citing security reasons for their action.

Rangers had earlier contacted the broadcasters to inform them that they had not been given sufficient notice of their choice of pundits and could therefore not guarantee their safety.

BT had followed their standard protocol by contacting UEFA and Rangers with the names of those who would be working for them on Wednesday.

That led to text messages later that night, which resulted in the club rejecting BT’s request for accreditation for the ex-Celts.

Former Rangers stars Ally McCoist, Neil McCann, Derek McInnes and Kris Boyd have worked as pundits from Parkhead recently without any such problems.

Read more: BT Sport details Rangers' reasons for denying Celtic heroes Chris Sutton & Neil Lennon access

McCoist, who also managed Rangers, and David Weir, who captained the club and then acted as Mark Warburton’s assistant, have stepped into the breach and will work at the Rangers match in place of Lennon and Sutton, while the Celtic game will now be covered from BT’s studio in London.

Lennon is believed to have subsequently contacted legal experts to determine whether he might be entitled to compensation for loss of earnings or restraint of trade as a result of the decision which prevented him from working at the two ties featuring Scottish clubs last night.

He and Sutton had been scheduled to be their analysts for the 5.45 kick-off between Real Betis and Celtic in Seville from a mobile outside the ground and then asked them to repeat the feat from an open studio inside Ibrox – a 40-yard walk away - for the 8pm kick-off in Glasgow.

That plan collapsed when Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson told BT that the club could not vouch for the duo’s security at such short notice and that, as a result, they could not be granted admission to enter the stadium, which left BT feeling disappointed.

"We had hoped that Darrell Currie and the team would be able to present the coverage of both the Celtic and Rangers UEFA Europa League games live from Ibrox this evening, as we have done in the past," said a spokesperson.

"Rangers have since raised security concerns and so we have had to change our plans.  This evening Paul Dempsey will now present our UEFA Europa League coverage of Real Betis v Celtic alongside Stiliyan Petrov live from the BT Sport Studio in Stratford.  Darrell Currie, Ally McCoist and David Weir will present Rangers v Lyon live from Ibrox.”

Sutton, for his part, attacked the club’s response on social media. “I’m not allowed to work on the Celtic game tonight from a studio at Ibrox along with Neil Lennon as Stewart Robertson the Rangers CEO says we are a security risk,” he tweeted.

“Good to see Rangers ground-breaking diversity and inclusion campaign ‘Everyone Anyone’ is working well…”