By KENNY CLARK Published: 30th March 2012 NEIL LENNON is a complete enigma. The Celtic boss is intelligent, articulate,entertaining and amusing. But all of this is AWAY from a football park. If anything, he is now more out of control at the side of the pitch than he ever was on it. When he was on the park he at least realised if he was sent off he'd be accountable to others. If he lost the place he was answerable to his team-mates at the end of the game and Martin O'Neill his then manager. When he played for Celtic there were restraints placed upon him. Now, as manager of Celtic, I can't help but feel there are no controls on him at all. Right now he is a loose cannon and the slightest thing seems to set him off. Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell is not doing enough to stop this from happening.He should be meeting this head on and telling Lennon enough is enough. He should be pointing out to Lennon this is no way for the Celtic manager to behave.Lennon can't keep going in the same vein. But the danger is no one at Celtic seems prepared to pull him aside and tell him straight, this is not on.There is no doubt Lawwell should be doing more. Rangers and Celtic are the two most influential clubs in the country.And I know from watching my own son play football, this is true now more than ever before. Youngsters and coaches are watching and mimicking their every move. Ironically, Lennon was talking at the weekend about not being able to do his job. Really? Why then was he sticking his nose into ref Calum Murray's affairs? Murray, right, should have been allowed to do his job too. Given his side's first-half performance at Ibrox, Lennon should have been walking up the tunnel thinking about what he was going to say to his players. What does he want the ref to say: 'OK Neil on reflection considering what you have said, and with the language you have used, let's replay the first half'. That is not going to happen. Lennon should have been concentrating on galvanising his own players. Can you imagine the furore if Murray had approached Lennon in the tunnel at halftime and said: 'Hey, Neil, I want to have a word with you about your tactics and why Lee McCulloch is running amok against Charlie Mulgrew and Thomas Rogne'. Lennon would have been apoplectic â and rightly so. (what a completely ludicrous argument) Everyone remembers what happened last season when referees decided enough was enough and withdrew their labour. The pressure on them at the time was remarkable, they were driven to that decision. For a while after the strike, coaches and managers recognised they had to be a bit more restrained with their comments. They recognised refs had a part to play in the game and that, just like the players,they will make mistakes. It seems to me we are now sliding back down the slippery slope. I don't think refs will go on strike again this season â purely because we've only got seven games to go. But I wouldn't be surprised if the events of the past two weeks are discussed at length by the officials in the summer. We simply can't have a repeat of the scenario where the referee is blamed for every defeat. When Celtic were on that great unbeaten run we heard very little, if any, criticism of referees. All of a sudden, after back-to-back domestic defeats, things are getting piled on refs again. Is Lennon being manipulative? Is he trying to take the heat off himself? Is he trying to create a siege mentality? Who knows. I suspect he simply explodes at the side of a park. () I was at a dinner last week, before the Old Firm game was played. I was sat next to a couple of Celtic fans and I left with the distinct impression that Lennon has now become an embarrassment to the silent majority. They have had enough of his outbursts.Remember, these guys were saying all of this BEFORE last Sunday's match at Ibrox. Lennon keeps pushing it and pushing it and I've no doubt a dim view of his actions will be taken by those in power at Hampden. Quite simply, he can't be allowed to conduct himself in this manner every time a result goes against him. And that brings us to this Sunday and the clash with St Johnstone at Celtic Park. George Salmond is the man in the middle and I don't envy him at all. Under the circumstances (what circumstances?)it will be a difficult game to referee. But I'm sure he'll do what all officials would do in that situation. Shut out the outside influence and concentrate on taking charge of the match. That's all he can do â that's all any ref can do. ----------------------------------------------- Here we go again, Kenny Clark blaming Neil Lennon (it seems) for the Ref's strike last season and rolling out the same tired old garbage about the "silent majority" of Celtic fans wanting rid of (or being embarrassed by his "Antics"). It's absolutely amazing that Clark can talk to 2 Celtic fans and that allows him to gague the mood of the rest of us. I for one don't believe that neil Lennon is "Out of control", or a "Loose Cannon" or that "the slightest thing seems to set him off". It's an absolute joke of an article but then this seems to be common currency with the 4th estate. Lazy and ****ty journalism which excludes actual "Facts" and prefers to trumpet the view of one Ex Referee. Doubtless we are all supposed to accept Kenny Clark's words seeing as how he's "Neutral" or beyond reproach? In my experience any Referee who has gone on to whore himself to a rag such as The Sun is to be ignored simply because the redtops are not interested in careful considered reporting, they want to get people fuming or nodding sagely in agreement. The article reprinted here is full of nonsensical statements which I have read a million times before and they are no truer now than they were 10 years ago. That this sort of ****e is still being churned out shows that the press have still not learned the lessons, they still want to demonise Lennon and make him a target for nutters, this sort of garbage helps no one, least of all "Wild Man" Neil lennon.
well said that man please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Please feel free to highlight them Kenny seems to know EXACTLY what Lennon is alleged to have said to the Refs, he's not interested in both sides of the story, only what his mates have told him.
please log in to view this image He sent Novo off so he isn't ALL bad. Although, this is the ****'s wiki page
Last seasons shame game Mccoist approached our dug out , stuck his nose in and started pointing fingers , compare that behaviour to that of Lennon last week, that is why our game is corrupt . Least next season will be stress free , when that horrible side from south of city disappear .
Well he points out that when Celtic were on their unbeaten run nothing was being said about refs, 2 losses and it's back to being the refs fault again. There's a pattern with Lennon, he never takes resposibility for any defeat. You never hear him come out and say he got it wrong or anything like that, more often than not his excuse for losing will be something to do with the ref He's also right with what he says about what happened at halftime at Ibrox. Why did Lennon need to have a word with the ref at halftime? We don't know what he said and if he deserved to be sent off but was there really any need for him to go to the ref? Whats done is done, nothing he said was ever going to change anything
Managers talk to the referee at half-time all the time. But when it's Neil Lennon it gets blown out of all proportion. Has Neil Lennon ever tried to attack another SPL manager like Walter Smith did to Mixu Paatelainen? Naw, but the press paint that old **** up as whiter than white. The quicker these 3rd-rate hacks are out of a job the better it will be for Scottish football.
I'm not trying to make comparisons with anyone or make Lennon sound bad but it's just things I've noticed about him, especially the thing about not taking resposibility for defeats. I've never once heard him say he got his team or tactics wrong, I think he'd rather blame the players for a defeat than take any resposibility himself About the thing at halftime, we don't know what he said so it's hard to make any real judgement without that key bit of information. The ref obviously didn't like what he had to say whatever it was
Scottish referees? http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/4232746/Refs-in-tax-fiddle-probe.html Tax avoiding cheats, just like their Hun masters.
Everything said about Lennon is true He should do exactly what Clark says But then So should Lomas McCoist Butcher Levein Brown Jeffries Shiels Walter McPherson Ferguson Wenger The Special One I'm all for it as long as everyone else is treated the same
Ol' treacle teeth had to get pulled away from McCoist cos he got told to wind his neck in. On the flipside wee Craig Brown punched a manager of some visiting team when he was at Motherwell and that was seen as a bit of a laugh and a joke.
To be fair, it was funny seeing that... As for Mr Kenny Clark, he got a few of my mates off a charge of sectarianism after they got charged for singing on the train back from a celtic game at tannadice. Not 100% **** after all.
Even Hector has realised that scottish refs are prone to dishonesty I assume if found guilty they will be charged by the sfa with bringing the game into disrepute ?
