Neil Lennon has confirmed that he asked players not to play in international friendly matches.
The club v country debate is in full swing following England’s dismal World Cup performance and Harry Redknapp’s claim that players asked him to keep them away from international duty.
It’s an open secret that clubs keep players back from international fixtures- look at Ryan Giggs cap total over 20 years- but is rarely admitted to or discussed.
Lennon suffered more than most from international call-up’s with television schedules often requiring Celtic to be playing Saturday lunchtime fixtures following international breaks.
In his first season in charge of Celtic the hoops boss lost Ki Sung Yeung and Cha Du Ri to the Asian Championships with the Korean duo missing a Glasgow derby just days after scoring vital goals for Celtic in a 2-0 win over St Johnstone.
Speaking to BBC 5 live the former Celtic boss said: “When it came to friendlies there was certainly an aspect of that (players asking to be excused). I do feel that some foreign associations treated my players pretty badly. I’ve known players to go away not fully fit and end up playing international football then I’ve lost a player for six to seven weeks.
Asked if he had spoke to players about withdrawing from international fixtures Lennon added: “Absolutely, of course I did. There comes a time in the season when you have big Champions League fixtures coming up and you have players with 40 international caps, do they really need to go and play a friendly in Eastern Europe?
“They train on the Monday, travel on Tuesday, play on the Wednesday then maybe don’t get back until the Thursday or Friday.
“I’ve had international players from Japan and South Korea leave on the Sunday after the Saturday game and I don’t see them again till the following Friday, just before a 12.30 kick off at Aberdeen.”
Emilio Izaguirre, Fraser Forster and Efe Ambrose haven’t had any break since the end of last season with their Celtic team-mates resuming pre-season training yesterday.
