Celtic have thrown their support fully behind manager Neil Lennon after a week of unprecedented attacks on the Celtic manager.
Police protection of the Celtic boss has been stepped up following further death threats with media attention on the after match clash with Ally McCoist focusing almost solely on the Celtic manager.
The club newspaper, The Celtic View, devotes it’s editorial to the issues that Lennon has dealt with over the last ten years concluding with “But I’m still waiting for some moral outrage to be shown by the Scottish media or our own politicians on this extremely serious matter.”
Tony Hamilton’s Final Word opens with: “Even when we’re winners sometimes it feels like we’re losers.”
Celtic were called to the speak to First Minister Alex Salmond at Edinburgh yesterday and after agreeing an action plan to tackle some of the issues surrounding the fixture Peter Lawwell was quick to highlight the cicumstances that Lennon is working under.
Speaking about last week’s Scottish Cup win the Celtic chief said: “There is no way you can condone Neil’s behaviour that night. He would agree that he slipped below the very high standards he has for himself and for the club, and he recognises that.
“There are mitigating factors, however, and you need to understand what is going on in his life at the moment.
“This is a man who is under enormous pressure as Celtic manager. Other than that he has to put up with live ammunition being put through the post, bomb threats and 24-hour surveillance.
“He also has to contend with the security measures the club have put in place and which Strathclyde Police have endorsed.
“Neil has a lot to take on at the moment.
“From our point of view, looking back to last Wednesday, I congratulated our players on their discipline and their composure.
“I congratulated our supporters in terms of their positive, full and dynamic support of the team. In terms of the coach, Neil reacted to a particular situation. He didn’t incite it, he reacted in a way that he regrets.
“He quickly apologised to the Celtic board and the matter is now closed.”
Lennon looked relaxed at yesterday’s u-19 match with his main worry coming from watching Celtic twice go ahead only for Aberdeen to equalise.
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