Neil Lennon
For reasons known only to himself Danny Lennon has decided to hand out managerial advise to his Celtic namesake Neil!
Over the last couple of weeks the Celtic manager hasn’t been short of ‘well wishers’ offering advise and help from their own limited experiences.
The Celtic boss will watch tomorrow’s match against St Mirren from the stand after pointing out an honest mistake to the fourth official at the Hearts-Celtic match on Wednesday when Craig Thomson and his assistant referee both failed to spot Hearts substitute Ryan Stevenson handle the ball away from Gary Hooper in a goalscoring position.
Yesterday’s media conference from the Celtic boss was short and sweet as he body-swerved recent controversies.
Over in Paisley however the St Mirren manager- who has won two out of 12 SPL matches- was reassuring Lennon that nothing untoward was going on against Celtic.
Writing to the SFA for an explanation of decisions made in three matches is hardly a crime but has been interpreted as something more sinister by the former Cowdenbeath supremo.
“Neil’s a very passionate guy and entitled to his opinion and I’ve been frustrated myself at times,” said the other Lennon. “But I don’t think there is anything untoward going on towards any given team.”
Asking for a written explanation of decisions isn’t suggesting anything untoward.
Danny continued: “The officials go out and referee a game of football the way they see it, regardless of who it is.
“They are under pressure at the moment, but where would we be without them? I say we give them a bit of a break and let them get on with it. Let them relax, because when you’re in relaxed mode you make better decisions.
“Although I may get frustrated at times, [arguing with referees] is not going to get you anywhere. They are only human. They make the same mistakes as we do. It’s how you handle it and those experiences that matter.
“My message is to give them a break. I don’t go into the referee’s room at all after games. What can you do about it? I know Hugh Dallas is approachable, we speak on the phone and send in DVDs of our games. The SFA appreciate that.
“I think we as managers put them under added pressure. Neil is doing a terrific job and he shouldn’t lose his focus on that.”
Danny may have heard the friendly Dallas go on national radio to explain why a Celtic penalty was over-turned against Dundee United knowing that the Celtic manager had been lied to.
Only the resignation of assistant referee Steven Craven brought this to light.
This week there have been newspaper allegations that Dallas sent out an offensive email linking the pope to child abuse, a clear breach of contract in any civilised workplace.
Rather than publicly offering Neil Lennon managerial advice Danny would probably be best served using his time working on the difficult task of helping St Mirren to avoid relegation.
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