FORMER SFA referees chief Hugh Dallas has accused Celtic manager Neil Lennon of "bullying" ref Euan Norris in the aftermath of his team's Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Hearts yesterday. Dallas believes Lennon went too far with his on-field protest at Hampden following the 2-1 defeat which killed off his side's hopes of winning the Double. Lennon marched onto the pitch to confront Norris about the award of a late Jambos' penalty for handball, which substitute Craig Beattie converted to take Hearts into next month's final against Edinburgh rivals Hibernian. Dallas, who left his position as head of referee development at the SFA over controversy surrounding an offensive e-mail, (he was sacked actually) reckons Lennon's behaviour did little for the reputation of the game in Scotland. (what did Dallas's e-mail fiasco do for the repuatation of the game in Scotland?) "I can't remember in 25 years of refereeing seeing a manager run that far onto a pitch to bully a referee," Dallas told STV. "These pictures are going around the world and it is not good." (Careful use of words there you see, Dallas being a lawyer does not actually say he's never seen a manager run onto a pitch after the game, he says he's never saw a manager "bully" a Ref, it's still a blatant lie though.) Dallas believes Lennon would do well to take note of Tottenham counterpart Harry Redknapp's reaction to the controversial goal awarded to Chelsea yesterday in their 5-1 FA Cup semi-final defeat at Wembley. "Take another example yesterday in the Tottenham Hotspur game," Dallas added. "It was a huge occasion and a goal was given where the ball didn't cross the line. "After the game, Harry Redknapp said he had a chat with the referee, who admitted he made an honest mistake. "Redknapp said he was disappointed but was keen to move on. That's how we should do it in Scotland." (A lesson in morals, from you? Seriously) I'm afraid that the day I pay attention to anything Dallas says will be a cold day in hell.
So at your work, if somebody starts mouthing off aggressively about your performance in your face, in full view of colleagues and the general public, is this acceptable? No. Lennon needs to realise this. It's the sort of behaviour that is completely unacceptable and is quite correctly identified as bullying. If it was me I'd have told him where to go in no uncertain terms but then it would not have done my career any good as I would have been seen to be as bad as the aggressor. Norris was not at fault at all in this. If he'd done it to my colleagues previously then I'd already know he was a **** and do my best to wind him up. Anyway - Euan needs to get his brother Chuck involved here.
You're right, lennon should not have been spoken to in that manner in the tunnel at ibrox In your work, deliberately doing your work wrong may only end up in a few uncooked burgers being the result....but then people can complain and seek compensation Complain about a referee and you get banned
Lennon was out of order. If you don't realise that his behaviour was wrong then you're as ill-educated as the wee ned himself.
No, of course it's not. Is the reaction to it over the top? Would it be such as an issue if any manager but Neil Lennon did it? Are the laws applied evenly? Lennon says before a match "I hope the referee is strong" and gets hauled up in front of the SFA. A few days later the Killie manager says the exact same thing and no action is taken. Earlier this season Terry Butcher all but accused a ref of being a cheat but what punishment did he receive? None whatsoever. Why is it EVERY TIME Lennon does something (and I'm not condoning what he does) he is hauled up for it while others receive no punishment?
If it was a one off then fine - it would be barely worth a mention in dispatches. Unfortunately it's a pretty common occurence whenever things don't go his way. He continually puts himself into those situations and lo and behold it's a big story. Again. My dog learns quicker than him. It should be even handed and other managers do get punished. Two questions:- If you believe that someone if likely to misbehave, do you: A - Watch his behaviour more carefully as he is more likely than not to explode B - Ignore his bad behaviour - he's already been pulled up for it If you've already been pulled up for your behaviour on several occasions with three hearings to explain your actions still to come do you: A - Shake hands calmly with the Hearts management team and go straight up the tunnel and channel your anger in a more useful way. B - Shake hands calmly with the Hearts management team and make a B line for the ref in order to scream in his face about decisions that you do not believe were correct but the referee cannot change.
Who cheated? Ledley or Wanyama? Hands are not allowed to be used by outfield players. One of them cheated and they got punished.
Bad behaviour should be punished. Rightly so. The token punishment was in light of the nature of the incident and previous conduct.
I've already said I don't condone Lennon's behaviour but how many times has Terry Butcher lost it in post match interviews? And what about Jim Jeffries? Biggest mope in Scotland when it comes to referees. He gave the linesman a right bollocking at a Celtic v Hearts game last season then called him and the ref useless after the match. And replays showed the linesman got the offside call right! All I ask is for consistency.
2/3 years ago when decision after decision went against us on a weekly basis , Tony Mowbray week after week said we will take it on the chin and move on . I prefer Lennon's approach bring the cheating out in the open and let the world know we're getting cheated .
