"Out of control", "Ready to explode", "Manic", "Becoming an Embarassment to Celtic", "Madman", "Snarling with fury", "Jock Stein will be spinning in his grave", "lacks class", "At war with the SFA", "His war with Referees". Just a few of the expressions which have been used with regards to Neil Lennon, but these are sentiments/arguments I don't personally agree with. I find it hard to take when Celtic fans talk negatively about Lennon but I respect their opinions all the same because they quite clearly looking at it from Celtic fans' point of view, however, where I do draw the line is in listening to anyone who is not a Celtic fan's opinion regarding the Celtic manager. Especially when Non Celtic fans say "he's an embarassment to Celtic" or similar. I'm afraid the day I listen to sanctimonious pish regarding the club most of these people despise, there will be a blue moon in the sky. I'm simply not interested, because when it comes to Lennon no one outside Celtic is totally neutral, no one seems to be able to give him a fair hearing and too many people seem to be only to happy to jump aboard the bandwagon when he does something, even something as trivial as kicking a drinks bottle. I'm not really surprised in all honesty because plenty of people have been led by the nose down this path of falsehood and exaggeration by the Media in Scotland. Since Neil Lennon first signed for Celtic as a player, he has been made into a pantomime villain, a fiery individual, tailor-made for the press pack to turn into the bogey man. Each and every action of his has been blown out of all proportion and embellished to ludicrous levels. It's no wonder some have become brainwashed into knee-jerkism as far as Lennon is concerned, "he must be a nutter, look at all the photos of him, he's always angry". And that's one of the problems with the press, I very seldom see fair comment in the press about his behaviour, hard as it is to believe there are Managers in Scotland who have acted far worse than Neil Lennon, there are managers in Scotland who have made far more serious accusations of bias against Referees and the SFA than Neil Lennon, in fact there was a Manager in Scotland (albeit in the past) who actually assaulted a sports journalist, but faced nothing like the wrath and vitriol reserved it seems for Neil Lennon. I personally do not care one iota what people think of Neil Lennon and what annoys me most is that our parochial, insular Media have not learned any lessons. Their demonisation of Neil Lennon was , I believe, the direct cause of the assault at Tynecastle and for the death threats and parcel bombs. I had hoped that they would have toned it down a bit (as they promised they would), but they seem to have short memories or they just don't care about the consequences of their actions, it is absolutely shameful.
Boring as fk. Lennon has anger management issues. ^^^^^^^^^^ This is your article condensed into 5 words.
The Lennon persona created by the press is quite far removed from the reality and I couldn't give a flying **** what they say. I do think he got it wrong on Sunday with his tactics. Having heated words with the ref is no big deal it will happen to every manager, but when its Neil Lennon its reported in a very perverse way.
I don't care what the Press say either and I have tried to ignore their ravings, but even though they talk utter ****e some cretins actually think it's true, hence the totally unreasonable hatred from anyone who is not a Celtic fan. I doubt very much anyone is interested in my opinion of Ally McCoist, so why would I be interested in what Rangers fans think of Lennon?
Scottish media were quite happy reporting " we'll take it on the chin and move on " when we got cheated weekly under Mowbray . I prefer Lennon's approach
The hatred towards Lennon from Rangers fans is totally irrational. When you ask them why they hate him so much they simply cannot come up with anything that justifies such hatred. So he gets angry occasionally. Which manager doesn't? He bawls and shouts at officials? Again, which manager doesn't? Applying the same rationale that Rangers fans use to hate Lennon, they would hate nearly every manager in Scotland and beyond.
there is no doubt he gets bad press but he also gives them ammunition. nothing good was going to come of charging onto the pitch on sunday. all that happens is it creates a media frenzy, where they roll out the lennon is out of control headlines. i feel it would have far more effect if he came out yesterday or today and stated his opinion.
The problem is they don't think it's irrational at all. The "Lurgan Bigot" who called them "Orange Bastards", spat on a scarf, called Djiouf a ******, even though these are all blatant lies they still use it as areason to hate him.
I agree. The press should say nothing when Lennon bullies refs anytime a decision goes against his team. What's the world coming to when a highly paid professional can't vent his spleen like a petulant adolescent?
Do you honestly belive that Hugh Dallas has never seen a manager run onto the pitch to confront a Ref in his 25 years as an official? Or is that typical of the rats infesting the Scottish newsrooms? These are the sort of outlandish lies i'm talking about, I have no problem with them reporting what they see but they tend to go over the top where Lenny is concerned, I personally would have done the same thing I was that angry, and I have seen plenty of managers confront the Ref on and off the pitch, it's the insinuation that he's the ONLY manager to act like this that grinds my gears.
Even if that were true it still doesn't justify the level of hatred and vitriol he receives from Rangers fans and others. Do Terry Butcher and Jim Jeffries get the same treatment? Did Walter Smith get the same treatment?
Do Terry Butcher or Jim Jeffries go postal every bloody week? Your manager is a bad tempered git with a persecution complex. Get over it and move on.
Does Neil Lennon? No. Walter Smith was bad tempered (Easter Road, Rugby park etc. etc.) and thought he was being persecuted by an offical with a kafflick sounding surname. I don't remember him being villified the way Lennon is. And NO MANAGER in Scotland has ever had to do his job against the background of hatred that Lennon has.
Last season Craig Brown threw a punch at his European opponents manager , our media laughed it off. Imagine if Lennon had done that !!!
