Neil Lennon has shrugged off the headline grabbing thoughts of serial management failure Bernt Schuster.
The former Fortuna Koln, FC Koln, Xerez, Shakhtar Donetsk, Levante, Getafe, Real Madrid and Besiktas boss claimed on Spanish radio that Celtic shouldn’t be in the Champions League following Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Barcelona.
Lennon is used to be bitter outpourings of pundits closer to home but was surprised by the coverage given to Schuster’s comments
“I am disappointed that the media here wanted to emphasise his thoughts on the game,” Lennon said. “It’s just the ramblings of someone who has failed as a coach.
“I was sitting there 60 minutes into the game thinking ‘God, what is Bernd Schuster thinking of our performance here, I better change it’.
“I did go with two strikers and I did bring on James Forrest and Kris Commons.
“I didn’t set out to be defensive, but sometimes Barcelona can get a grip of the opposition and not let go. So I don’t take too much notice of Bernd Schuster.
“I am more into the thoughts of Gordon Strachan, Martin O’Neill and the Alex Ferguson’s of this world, who I would take advice from before anyone else.”
Lennon also announced his surprise at hearing news that Victor Wanyama had turned down a new contract offer with talks on-going with the highly rated midfielder.
“Unfortunately, for some reason, Victor’s agent and representative has come out and made public that they have turned down a contract,” Lennon explained.
“I am not sure Victor has turned it down. He has not spoken to me. A month ago, he went on record saying how happy he was at the club and I have no reason to disbelieve that.
“I was actually with his representative in Barcelona on Tuesday and had a brief chat and there was no discussion of him having turned down a new contract.
“So this has come out of the blue and I am disappointed that this has come out in public. We don’t want to do our negotiations in public.”
CLICK HERE for Lennon hopeful of Samaras back for Barca match
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‘The ramblings of someone who’s failed as a coach’ haha absolutely brilliant Lenny. We played defensively on Tuesday without playing anti football. We didn’t go into the game with the intent not to score. It’s such a pity Sammy came off when he did, I firmly believe we had it in us to score one more if he was still on the pitch. Schuster’s a joke. A tactically inept and naive, gung-ho extremist. Throughout that game we were forced to mostly defend. It’s only Barcelona Ffs. I assume he never seen us score 3 goals and attack spartak in their own patch a few weeks ago? And to say we don’t deserve to be in the champions league despite having to go through a qualifying round and a playoff to get there? Laughable.
I will put these remarks down to sensationalism from the press. Schuster was a very good player and I recall seeing his Getafe side play extremely well v Barcelona some years ago.
Hopefully we can give him something more positive to talk about in the return leg or by qualifying for the next round – Actions after all talk louder than words.
Let Celtic do all their talking where it matters on the pitch
@uck schuster
The most annoying thing is we are a fantastically run club with a manageable debt, virtually nothing to pay to the bank, totally professional & good character & then their is Schusters beloved Barcelona who are skint, the club is hundreds of millions in the red with the bank & even took out a mega loan of millions a year ago TO PAY WAGES! If all these corrupt superclubs & corrupt UEFA also were made to operate fairly then we’d be closer to on a par with Barcelona & the other mutant superclubs. What Schuster said was disgusting. If he had his way it would just be Barca, Real, AC Milan, Inter, Chelsea, Man U, Man City & nobody else. Just watch same teams year in, year out
Typical of Hun media to trawl Europe looking for a negative story to belittle our achievements!!
tw@!
Perfect response Lenny!!!! Exactly what I was waiting for!!!