Leaks from the Ibrox tunnel
The spin campaign to ban Neil Lennon has gone into overdrive.
What exactly was said between the Celtic boss and Calum Murray at Ibrox on Sunday is only known to a handful of people.
When the Celtic boss stated that he had witnesses to what was said it kicked off a whole new ball game that could have far reaching consequences.
The potential for a Dougie McDonald style fall-out is there but the identity of a Steven Craven figure to expose the role of the officials remains unclear.
Overnight the relationship of Lennon and fourth official Iain Brines during the first half has been highlighted.
Apparently the Celtic boss was highly critical of the fourth official, so much so that he was unable to concentrate fully on his job due to Lennon’s comments.
If that was the case then surely Brines would have brought this to the attention of Murray during the match. He didn’t.
Every manager and his assistants works on the fourth official during matches, hoping to influence them or at least make them wary of any decision that doesn’t go their way.
Despite headlines of fuming/snarling/outraged Lennon confronting Murray in the tunnel evidence of this is virtually non-existent.
Sky Sports are usually on the ball for these sort of incidents but it was ten minutes into the second half before they had noticed Lennon’s absence from the Celtic dug out.
With Lennon stating that he spoke to Murray in front of witnesses it now appears that this exchange was also in the presence of various Rangers employees- highly unlikely.
One source of agreement seems to be that Lennon wasn’t informed of his touchline ban until he left the dressing room for the start of the second half.
According to one report this was to ensure that his half-time team talk wasn’t disrupted!
It goes without saying that the team-talk would have been very different if Lennon had known that he wouldn’t be on the touchline for the second half.
What were the Celtic players thinking when they looked over to the dug out once the second half had kicked off and noticed that their manager wasn’t there?
It looks impossible to extract the truth from the whole situation without any casualties, someone’s story isn’t adding up.
The SFA have never been known for decisive action or leadership. Now would be the perfect time to start with all the cards placed on the table.
CLICK HERE for referee Conroy finally admits to Lafferty mistake
CLICK HERE for Lennon: Referee deprived me of doing my job
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