You could not make this up. Hugh Keevins: Neil Lennon and Celtic must ditch their paranoia over media criticism HUGH argues that Celtic's image as an elite European club is tarnished by seeing victimisation at every turn. LET me be the first to say that Celtic will get battered in Barcelona, mauled in Milan and annihilated in Amsterdam.They’ll finish bottom of the Champions League’s Group H – an initial that will ultimately be seen to stand for Hellish. Then again, I’m not a fortune teller. I can’t see into the future. I’ve absolutely no idea how Celtic will get on in Spain, Italy or Holland. But it would appear the media have become Celtic’s greatest ally, simply by saying anything at all about them. I’m happy to do my patriotic bit and fire up Scotland’s champions for what lies ahead in Europe. Neil Lennon’s press conference after their win over Shakhter Karagandy came close to lacking graciousness. And rounding on the press wasn’t the reaction any of us expected on what was, or should have been, a joyous occasion. Neil and his players deserve all the credit that’s going for a memorable night, an outstanding result and reaping the reward of a group stage draw that’ll provide lavish entertainment for a wide audience. Not to say making the club a fortune. But if Celtic now deservedly walk in the company of Europe’s elite and are considered a club of substance on the continent, isn’t it time to bin the paranoia? A huge percentage of the Celtic support have always believed the media have it in for their club and wish ill on them at every turn. There’s a perception of institutionalised bias. Having been around the press’s parish for some time now I can tell you this is absolute nonsense. Plenty of my colleagues went home full of the joys after filing their copy on Celtic’s win on Wednesday night.But while they’re at their work they’re required to go on the evidence of their own eyes and make comment, written or spoken, accordingly. That was all that happened in Kazakhstan when Celtic made defensive mistakes and paid the price. Yet Neil said the hysteria that followed that match was “disgusting”. Chemical warfare’s disgusting. Saying the Celtic defence is dodgy isn’t. It has always been accepted, by the same huge percentage of the Celtic support, their team has to beat the referee, his assistants and the fourth official, as well as the opposition, to win. But this is now narrow-minded stuff from a bygone era. The modern day, sophisticated Celtic should be above seeing victimisation at every turn. If Gary Lineker tweets ‘Bye bye Celtic’ after seeing their group draw, who cares? He’s an average television host who reads an autocue for a living. Your opinion is as good as his. If you’re one of the 1.7 million people who follow him on Twitter, it serves you right if you need to know Gary’s every thought and move. Anyway, if he truly believes Celtic are done for he’s only echoing what a lot of people think. It’s a free country. But ITV4 still felt compelled to publicly refute the suggestion made by Celtic’s manager they were biased against the club in their coverage of their game with Karagandy in Kazakhstan. Why? If Clark Carlisle, the co-commentator at the match, thought Virgil van Dijk and Steven Mouyokolo were having a poor night is he not entitled to say so? Lennon must have agreed with him because he left the pair out for Wednesday night’s second leg rather than trust them to avoid a repeat performance. Take it from me, the Scottish press are delighted to see Celtic in the group stages and thrilled by the glamorous teams they’ll face there because it will sell newspapers. And we value job security more than anything else, such as wishing that Celtic do badly. For the record, I’m still banned from Celtic Park and from attending press conferences at Lennoxtown. That’s been the case for the last 14 months. But I was thrilled at the way Celtic made it to the Champions League proper and wish them every success. No agenda. No bias. Just a willingness to recognise achievement and hope that endeavour finds just reward in the latter stages. It doesn’t make you a bad person. ====================================================== Keevins criticises Celtic fans for making sweeping generalisations by making some of his own
It has always been accepted, by the same huge percentage of the Celtic support, their team has to beat the referee, his assistants and the fourth official, as well as the opposition, to win. But this is now narrow-minded stuff from a bygone era.... Now that The Mighty Morphing Power Rangers are no longer around is, I assume, the bygone era to which he refers
It's quite funny that wee Shug is oblivious to the way in which Rangers were operating by using the media to pursue their own agenda & with quality lackeys like Jabba placing suitable copy in the papers. Of course, you'd have to be paranoid to suggest any of that.
It's a point he seems to have missed totally. I have no argument that some of our fans (maybe a large percentage) do believe there is an agenda but in the last 2 years there has only been one club who think the world is against them. Fenian/Taig conspiracies, Enemies etc. No wonder Celtic banned Shug from Parkhead.
Jackson responds FAR be it from me to offer up advice to Neil Lennon. Celtic’s manager can live perfectly fine without it. But excuse me if I give it a go anyway. Stay away from the phone-ins. Lay off the internet. And if it bothers you that much, don’t even pick up the morning papers, with one obvious exception of course. Trust me, there is more to life than fretting over every single word that is written or spoken about you and your team. Wednesday night’s win over Shakhter Karagandy and the resultant Champions League adventure to follow proves it. Celtic are about to embark on some real life fantasy football. A £20million bounty and a fixture list that could hardly get any more stimulating if it featured a no clothes allowed sleepover at Jennifer Aniston’s house. Barcelona, AC Milan and Ajax? It simply doesn’t get any better than Group H. Which is why there was something jarring about the way in which Lennon “celebrated” that monumental recovery job against the sheep slashing Kazakhs. And, no, I’m not talking about the impromptu Louie Spence routine down the touchline, moments after little James Forrest had slammed home the winner. That wasn’t jarring at all. That was the stuff of legend. No, what jarred was the way in which Lennon brought a scatter gun with him into the post-match press conference and, by letting it rip, managed to blast a humongous Lennon-shaped hole in the dizzying, feelgood factor which had only just prevailed upon all lucky enough to have witnessed the evening’s events inside a heaving Parkhead. No one was spared. The fans got it. The Press got it. The internet’s pseudo-intellectuals (#bampots) got it. The phone-ins got it. Even chief executive Peter Lawwell, albeit in a nudge and a wink kind of way, was mown down in Lennon’s crossfire. If indeed there is a time and a place for such outbursts then Wednesday night, in the wake of such a magnificent adrenalin rush, was neither. Lennon’s gripes were nothing more than a decidedly out-of-place downer. Getting them out there may have made the manager feel better but, really, this was self-indulgence on a grand scale. Worst of all, it was entirely unnecessary. Which is precisely why Lennon should turn off his tranny and put down his iPad because quite clearly he’s been paying too much attention to the virtual extremists who populate such places and it’s been bad for his state of wellbeing. He needs it as much as he needs a last-minute, deadline bursting £6m bid from Benfica for Fraser Foster this afternoon. Put simply, if he can’t ignore it, then he shouldn’t expose himself to it. And if it spoils or detracts from what Lennon himself described as “the greatest achievement of his career” then surely it is time for Celtic’s manager to think again about how best to spend his spare time. By responding to his critics in this manner, when his own joy ought to have been unconfined, Lennon unwittingly gave them a credence that was undeserved. In the case of Forrest, he also managed to highlight their agendas just when their barbed and twisted logic had been shown up and made to look ridiculous. Two or three callers to a radio show on the one night do not the Celtic support represent. Anyone doubting Forrest’s worth to Celtic need now only take a glance at the balance sheet which has been boosted immeasurably by the youngster’s impeccably timed contribution to Wednesday night’s tie. And then they should put the phone down and stay away from Hugh Keevins. They won’t though and that’s the problem. As a wise man once said, opinions are like a***holes – everybody’s got one. Which would be a great analogy were it not for the regrettable reality that, in this country, so many want to show theirs off in public. And in many cases, force them upon others. Lennon doesn’t need me to point this out. He’s spent long enough on these shores to know how it works. But that just makes it even harder to fathom why, after all this time, he still allows himself to be so deeply wounded by it all. As the manager of Celtic he has earned the right to be bigger than that. And let’s get it right, Lennon is doing a very fine job of it too, no matter what any of his detractors might say on whichever media platform. Two successive Champions League campaigns? Back-to-back league titles? Two Scottish Cups? Yes, to some extent he has been advantaged and maybe even assisted by the self-harmers from across the city but even so, Lennon’s achievements in his three-and-a-half seasons in charge are hugely admirable, especially his European successes. What he really should be focusing on now is how on earth to survive Group H with Celtic’s pride and professionalism intact because as sections go, this one has a ferocious look to it. Should Celtic go down to a defeat at the San Siro on matchday one, which is a perfectly plausible scenario, no doubt Lennon will come under fire again from the usual suspects. Presumably, they will argue Scotland’s champions should be aiming to secure a place in the last 16 and blame it all on Lennon’s lack of tactical nous, Forrest’s lack of a killer final ball or Georgios Samaras’s lack of a Gillette Fusion. Who cares? If these people do not realise the size of the task that Celtic face now that Lennon has led his team safely through another qualification minefield, then they don’t deserve to be listened to. Nor are they worth engaging with as they render themselves and their arguments invalid. Lennon proved that to be true on Wednesday night before he pulled out his blunderbuss. But it only gets harder for him from here. Seeing off Borat United is one thing. But Lennon’s team is about to be examined and maybe even picked apart by AC Milan, Barcelona and Ajax. There will be trouble ahead, that much is certain. But Lennon should remain focused on the job in hand and not allow himself to be distracted by irrelevances.
I'd be intersted to know if Union Jackson was so outspoken when Fat Sal was acting up and scattergunning people.
Lets face it, if we had lost out to Karagandy, Neil Lennon would have been the fall guy for everything that would have been seen as having gone wrong so he must have been under intolerable pressure. I, for one, don't blame him in the slightest for having a go at all the doubters - it would have taken a sleazy politician to endure it all and resist having a go at them ... at least he was honest, unlike the hacks and some other managers of whom I can think.
Dev & EC, you're both right. I find it so funny yet so ****ing irritating that journos expect to write exactly what they want whilst Lenny has to be "bigger than that" when it comes to his response. Maybe if the journos wound their necks in and started writing quality rather than the shock horror ****e we've been subjected to for years, then they might have a point, but first these journos need to be "bigger than they are" right now.
It puzzles me as to why so many ****s give a **** what some other prick thinks. Press 1 for like Press 2 for dislike
Celtic are the establishment club and get all the decisions going. Because of the **** stain that is Lennon refs and their families were getting threatened. But is was not okay for him to be threatened. Everyone know that Celtic as an institution is founded on paranoia. Try being a non old firm team then you'd find out about bias. Lennon is a prick and most people feel the same about him. Especially his pregnant girlfriend who receiced abusive texts from this paragon of virtue.
Because Celtic fans are paranoid. Always have been and always will be Edge. Always looking for the sympath vote, pretty much the Liverpool of the North, mopes and want everyone to love them.
Notice you're not disagreeing. Speaks volumes. But then you're a glory hunter anyway who has never even been to a Celtic match and then complains about the board treating the fans like **** Aye good one sonny
