Picture used in The S*n today
Well it was only a matter of time before Neil Lennon was back up in front of the beaks at Hampden.
It is in the last year that I’ve closely watched the media in Scotland, well via the internet anyway as I refuse to buy most of them, just to view how certain people are portrayed.
Now certainly Neil Lennon can be animated on the touchline and might possibly even cross the line at times however having dabbled in psychology briefly a pattern seems to be developing.
Adjectives describing Neil Lennon in the papers at times leave a lot to be desired. I’ve seen him at press conferences as an intelligent individual only to see words like ‘bristled’, ‘exploded’, ‘raged’ attached to comments that have been delivered without a raised voice and in an articulate manner. Now, at most of these press conferences, you can clearly hear cameras going off at regular intervals and yet there never seems to be one picture available of Neil Lennon in a thoughtful pose or laughing. No the ones that generally make it into the papers are the ones of a snarling Neil Lennon that hasn’t even been taken at that particular meeting.
This paints a picture of an individual who is constantly at war, not only with the SFA or SPL, but with the world at whole.
Meanwhile other managers are portrayed in a completely different light; Craig Brown actually punched another manager during a European tie and it was laughed off. A few weeks after our own ‘shame game’ he was involved in an actual scuffle with the then Motherwell chairman John Boyle but as the limelight was happily elsewhere at the time virtually nothing was done then either.
Ally McCoist, who has been in the media for quite some time, was also caught on camera at the ‘shame game’ attempting to get into the Celtic dugout after Neil Lennon had words with Diouf on the touchline and yet this picture, of a manger out of control, was never published as far as I’m aware in a newspaper anywhere in Scotland.
This is not balanced reporting or proper image representation of real events and creates an atmosphere which resulted, at its height last season, in bullets, bombs and an attack.
In recent weeks Celtic have lost to Kilmarnock in the League cup where there was a major decision in the dying seconds of the game. Now I was at Hampden so it is obvious that I couldn’t see the incident as it is quite clearly the worst stadium in Scotland to actually watch football in but that is for another article.
However the following day we had a former referee in the paper taking us through, step by step, why it was not a penalty.
After the latest Old Firm game the very same referee was in the paper telling us that the official was correct to send off Neil Lennon. Now the referee may have been correct but this prejudging of the incident by a former official is bizarre to say the least because, as far as I know, the referee’s report at that time would not even have been received at Hampden. So how does he know what took place?
Roll back to the Old Firm game on the 28th December when the ball briefly crossed the line before Fraser Foster scooped it out. Was there a referee in the papers after this game explaining why the goal was not given? No the clamour was for goal line technology to stop these awful decisions ever happening again.
The debate raged for days and was only beginning to settle down when a similar incident occurred at Tynecastle. This was even compounded by the fact that Celtic went straight up the park and scored. The ball had struck Joe Ledley on the way over the line but at one point on the radio Chick Young wanted the goal given, Ledley sent off for handball, and Hearts given a penalty. So one goal, a man sent off and a penalty from the one incident. One of Chick Young’s best radio moments. Thankfully there are limits to what even a sports editor will allow to go into a paper.
My paranoia is alive and well.
we cannot continue in this fashion,I dont know how many times these situations will arise before the celtic board take cognisance of the bulk of the celtic support and get to hell out of this shitehouse ,because the alternative is remaining and getting up the ying-yang .Lets g o and leave the shite to one another.
Yogi I’m usually in the “jock stein” school where I think we should hump teams so even if the decisions go against us we are hopefully three or four up and it won’t affect the result….
But for me this demonisation of Neil Lennon is an afront to Scotland (AKA the best small country in the world) but as I see it a bigoted backwater full of rednecks and shameful fascists…
sean, I to belong to the era of big jock and you must agree people and even rival supporters were were easier to get along with.That clown we have just encountered on the blog is indicative of what is walking about there.the rangers support is never going to understand our crusade in the pursuit of getting a fair deal in this part of the country,although I am fortunate to have some fellow trade union rangers supporters who are aware of it.
Well said yogi,but you can’t polish a turd. Too many “rangers fans” are too entrenched in their supremacist we arra people mentality that I fear it’ll be generations before we get a fair crack of the whip….
and i suppose spitting on a rangers scarf or singing ‘oh, the rangers are shite’ drunk in a pub is the stuff of a celtic manager.
oh, how low have a such a club sunk – he is a disgrace to the celtic managers who preceded him.
tell me one previous manager who would conduct himself on and off the touch line the way this inidividual does?
how many times has a celtic manager been attacked by a hearts fan.
he incites violence and your board know it.
and if you dont like it in scotland yogi then you are free to leave. but it is so ironic that the place you drool going to is the EPL – a british league! to pine over playing in the league of a country most celtic punters despise – too funny
wait till you sing the terrorist IRA songs down there!
and if the country Eire – so idolized by celtic punters then why not play in that league?
oh, i see, you don’t want to play there coz its shite, OK.
re baxterboy, I have no truck with the ira and the only person who introduced that to the conversation was you,so how about an apology you clown. My two family members are currently serving with the british army at present so the hysterical outburst re. the armed forces is another nonsense.I could continue but what is the point your obviously have no class or common decency,so do us a courtesy and disappear,leave room for the decent rangers sopporters who want to debate a point.
Who left the window open? I’ve told you before we are too close to the mad house for it to be left open and sometimes escapees get in.
When did Lennon as manager of Celtic Football Club ever do the deeds you say?
Previous managers? There is a thread previously which list misdemeanours of managers, which show Lennon’s behaviour on the touchline is not just the will of him. In fact, it’s the will of most managers.
How many times has a Celtic manager been attacked by a Hearts fan? Was he attacked? Really? I’m sure he didn’t get done with assault so in the eyes of the law that attack didn’t happen. Plus, I’m sure a Celtic manager was attacked by a Celtic fan in the early 80’s.
Your attempted point proves that Lennon isn’t to blame. The reason? It highlights the depth of feeling towards Lennon and ALSO that there is an extra factor in it. The last manager that was so universally hated in Ecosse was Graeme Souness. He was loathed even by his own mother.
Why was this? We were told it was his style of play (sounds familiar?) his arrogance (sounds familiar) and his panache for being a sore loser (fuck me wie a brush that sounds familiar!).
Was he ever attacked at work or got bullets and bombs sent to him?
Nah, he was with the Mighty Raunjers he got decent press plus our idiots maybe just know the line between football and real life.
Well done you hit the nail on the head. Have some glue.
baxterboy, why don’t you go and shite on follow follow? I would never dream of going onto a rangers site, cos its shite.
Could name a few Rangers players who have been to terrorist money spinning evenings in N.ireland and Blackpool.
Have seen a few things with my own eyes with your darling manager……..all swept under the carpet…the ulster Scots press make sure you don’t choke on your cornflakes when reading their “made up” stories in the morning.
do us all a favour….GYTF
Sorry, but I will not visiting your website in future due to all these chuffing adverts that popup and don’t close after they’ve started. I know you will receive income from having them but you’ll receive less traffic, from me at least.
Sorry.
Ever heard of a pop-up blocker?!
Heads down and eyes on the championship.
There are too many side issues, Neil has taken one or two for the team.
He is OUR guy, he is too red headed, too moany, too Catholic, too Irish for many people. It`s no use asking those people to love him.
Forza Celtic!
The constant barrage of crap Lennon takes shows how biased this country is. If you look at the best manager to have blessed the game Alex Ferguson he is as animated as Lennon when POOR decisions are being thrown at his team but because of who he is it’s all justified. It is a side show and should be viewed as that. Lennon is a young but very good Celtic manager. Let’s back him and forget this rubbish.
Great point. That’s my view. Lennon is taking it for the team. Just like The Special One.
isnt it very strange when walter,dont know his surname never heard it, stated that he sang orange sectarian songs,the press met this with with such humour that you would not have beleived it except it was in this part of the world,so you very quickly get a reality check.
One of the points I tried to highlight in the article is the fact that, yet again, the media dictate the agenda and crank issues into a very high pressure situation.
Unfortunately there are some people out there who cannot, for various reasons, see through the trick being played out in front of them.
Once you see through the trick, whether it is by a magician or a journalist, you can begin to understand what is being played out in front of you.
Think back to Fergus McCann; a man who arrived as a saviour at Celtic Park yet, in the months leading up to his departure from the club, there was article after article attacking the financial running of the club while at the same time highlighting the amount of money he was about to walk away with.
For months this continued culminating in him being booed by a large section the day he unfurled the first league flag a Parkhead in a decade. A truly shameful scene.
I had many a disagreement with fellow supporters who forgot what he had done for our club.
What I would ask is that the next time anyone buys a paper, or indeed reads it online, remember you are reading someones article written at the behest of an editor who wants a specific slant on a story who in turn is at the beck and call of a chief editor who is ultimately responsible to a board of directors who have their own agenda.
Attempt to pick apart the story to see the reality behind it.
New month, new confidence. Come on the Celts!