Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I don’t deserve the sack and all this is FAKE NEWS!
LENNON COMES OUT SWINGING AT CRITICS
DEFIANT Neil Lennon last night launched a vehement defence of his Celtic management.
The Parkhead boss is adamant there is absolutely “no justification” for him to be sacked as he blasted back at scalding recent criticism of his work – and labelled media coverage of th e situation as ‘fake news’.
Lennon is also deeply irritated at his players being hammered i ndiv i dual ly and collectively after a three-game winless run where the squad has been decimated by key absentess such as star striker Odsonne Edouard.
Before jetting to France today for t o mo r r o w ’s Europa League tie against Lille, Lennon roared back through the noise and said: “It’s nonsense. It’s completely over the top.
“You have got two newspapers running polls on whether I should be sacked. Where did that come from?
“I haven’t seen that in 20 years. It’s completely disrespectful to me. It is really poor. Who is driving that? It is not the Celtic fans.
“There is no justification for me to get sacked, none whatsoever. I shouldn’t have to defend my record, it speaks for itself.
“I don’t feel under any maj o r p re ssu re . Am I unhappy with this week’s work? Yes, because we would like to play well and win.
“But we are getting better, stronger and have a lot to look forward to and I think I should b e th e man in charge of it.
“We go through a little spell and conspiracy theories come out about dressing room break ups, fall outs, all that nonsense.
“It is fake news. I sound like Donald Trump now, but it is just all fake news.
“There is a minority of our support who need to calm down, let the players settle.
“It has been very disruptive the last few weeks, but I am not using that as an excuse.
“In the main, the majority of the supporters are behind the team and behind the club. “All of a sudden there is this groundswell after a tough week. When we went into the international break we had won eight games in a row and kept four clean sheets.
“What happened afterwards was the squad was disrupted and a little bit STUNNING Aberdeen make it 3-3 on Sunday disjointed and we were playing good teams.
“Players are coming back, players are getting fitter. We have got a lot to look forward to. This knee jerk reaction stuff ? You need to get used to it. But it is well over the top. Some of our ex-players haven’t covered themselves i n glory either.”
Lennon’s reference came after ex-hoops winger Kris Commons (left) annihilated Shane Duffy and called him “rank rotten”ere.
The boss added: “Players getting singled out and abused , it is absolutely shocking. If that’s the way of the modern world. I am glad I am not a player any more.
“I am not happy with the treatment he is getting from certain quarters.
“I think it is hysterical. Comments that he is rank rotten and he is a bombscare. I find that ridiculous.
“I remember i n Kris’s second season , he had hardly kicked a ball for Celtic that year. Now he’s digging out players and personally calling them out, which I think is wrong.”