Celtic Manager Neil Lennon targeted Referees before season started

Celtic Talk


Celtic Supporters Question & Answer Session in Dundee on 25th July 2010With Peter Lawwell & Neil Lennon 


Quote provided by Celtic Talk, The Home of Celtic FC Discussion


This quote from Neil Lennon was given more than two weeks before the football season has even started.

Question: Now that Rangers are in a bit more trouble than last season and given that the amount of "honest mistakes" that happened last season from the referees, will we do anything to combat the inevitable "honest mistakes" that will go against us this season?

Neil Lennon: Do you not remember me getting in Stewart Dougals face? I want to create a siege mentality, us against them, we are anti-establishment!




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By Iniesta. Tuesday, 26th October 2010 In the job little more than six months, the newcomer needs to be properly dealt with by the authorities, as he struggles to cope and to remember his own expressed opinions.

It's possible you might have missed Neil Lennon complaining about Sunday's referee but his club has repeated the trick from the week before and written to the SFA asking for 'clarification'. So far, so par for the course. But wait, here's what he said today (see link) to try to suggest this isn't a regular habit. "Up until last weekend I don't think I've mentioned a referee in any of my post-match interviews." http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/9129435.stm Really? SC Braga 3 - 0 Celtic Lennon was critical of referee Serge Gumienny and his assistants for giving the penalty when a cross hit the arm of Ki Sung-Yeung. "His arms and his hands are down by his side; it's ball to hand," said the manager. "He [Gumienny] made some strange decisions. He booked Charlie Mulgrew after less than 10 minutes for time-wasting. That was just incredible. "He didn't book any of the Braga players until maybe the final five minutes. "So I'm not pleased with the referee's performance at all." http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/8863959.stm FC Utrecht 4 - 0 Celtic Lennon continued: “It feels as bad as Ross County. We had a decent advantage and we only needed to score one goal. But it’s the overall performance; we were second best in just about every area. “The first penalty was soft and for the second we shot ourselves in the foot. We’ve gone one down and just need to weather it and we get one goal and win the game. But we never gave ourselves a chance. “Refereeing decisions? I’m not going to go on about the referee because that would take away from a poor display. I would just be making an excuse, but two penalties is really poor from us.” http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/...ason-1.1050827 Celtic 1 - 3 Rangers Lennon had issued a veiled warning to the referee, Willie Collum, who was taking charge of his first Glasgow derby, on Friday. Sadly for Celtic's manager, Collum proved the main post-match discussion point after his decision to award Rangers a dubious second-half penalty, which Kenny Miller scored to earn a 3-1 lead. "It looked soft to me," Lennon said of the penalty, given after Kirk Broadfoot tumbled over the Celtic defender Daniel Majstorovic. "If you look at him [Collum], I'm not sure he saw it so I don't know why he has given it. He has a lot of questions to answer." Lennon was riled that the Rangers midfielder Lee McCulloch, already on a booking at that juncture, was not dismissed for a challenge on Georgios Samaras. "I want to know why McCulloch was still on the pitch after a blatant obstruction when we were breaking," Celtic's manager added. "I'm not going to go on about the referee because I have my own problems regarding the team but you have to get the big decisions right and there's another big decision that has gone against us. I will be asking for an explanation." Smith believed the home side's concentration on the referee in the preamble to today's game was unwarranted. In what is merely their latest battle with the Scottish Football Association, Celtic had written to complain about the performance of the officials during last weekend's win at Dundee United, an issue which became public knowledge during the build-up to yesterday's encounter. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/oct/24/celtic-rangers-scottish-premier-league At best Lennon is being one-eyed and wrong-headed; at worst he is in danger of displaying signs of a mental breakdown. In the meantime, referee Collum has been subject to death threats from "members of the public" (Celtic fans) and last week's assistant Steven Craven, who got the decision right, has removed himself from the sport due to the intolerable pressure being placed on him by 'someone/something' (Celtic). This is a turning-point for the game in Scotland. New SFA chief Stewart Regan has to tell Celtic and Lennon, by return post, that they will not encourage or tolerate this type of behaviour from a member club. Regardless of the implications for the game at club level, this sanctioned paranoia does little to calm a support notorious for violence, conspiracies and claiming permanent victim status. If the asociation does not stick up for their officials it seems likely that refs' chief Dallas and some of their senior members may have to consider matters themselves. People having to consider their career is one thing; let's not wait until tragedy strikes and an official or his family have to say goodbye to something more important.