YOU'RE A LIAR
Lennon hits out at Dons chief
FUMING Neil Lennon last night accused Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack of lying in an “embarrassing” and “disgraceful” attack on Kristoffer Ajer.
And the disgusted Celtic manager has called for SFA
chiefs to intervene after the new Pittodrie supremo’s extraordinary Boxing Day caning of the Norwegian defender.
Cormack took to social media to condemn Ajer for his part in the Sam Cosgrove red card last weekend and accused the centre-back of feigning injury to get the Dons striker ordered off.
He also had a go at a Leigh Griffiths challenge on Lewis Ferguson.
Lennon had already expressed irritation at Dons boss Derek McInnes having a pop at Ajer for “laughing and winking” in the incident. He was left aghast at Cormack’s outburst and branded his statements on the defender as lies.
Asked if the SFA should get involved Lennon said: “Yes. I do. It’s totally irresponsible and not factually correct. In my view he’s telling lies.
“It’s absolutely embarrassing. I’m not having that at all. Kris is the victim in this and was on the end of a very heavy challenge.
“There was no feigning injury, there was no playacting. Kris is a model professional and I am not having someone from the Aberdeen board or anyone else talking about my players like that.
“First of all, it isn’t true. It’s a lie. Second of all, these things should be kept in-house.
“I’m not happy. It’s embarrassing for him to basically lie about my player’s actions. For a chairman or owner to come out and say something like that, we’re not tolerating it.
“I saw it and it made me very angry because we’ve been very balanced about things. For him to come out and attack one of my players like that, it’s naive to say the least.
“We tried to play it down but when you see comments like that from
the Aberdeen chairman, we are not tolerating it as a club and I’m not as a manager.
“It’s an attack on my player and he has done nothing wrong. The comments are absolutely disgraceful.”
Cormack had tweeted: “Law = fairness & consistency. Sam will take his ban but the compliance officer has a duty to review Ajer feigning injury with his triple salvo and miraculous recovery after Sam gets the red.
“Griffiths lunges into Ferguson’s knee with both feet in the air. Fairness for ALL please!”
Lennon was delighted with his team as victory at St Mirren kept them five points clear in the Premiership title race.
The boss said: “It was a comfortable performance. I’d have liked a more emphatic scoreline but they’re giving everything, playing well and creating good chances.
“There was a bit of mental fatigue at the end which I get but it’s a great win which keeps the run going and we look forward to Sunday.”
Lennon confirmed Ivorian midfielder Ismaili Soro is among the names on his target list and hailed Odsonne Edouard for setting up both goals. He added: “He was sublime.”
Saints boss Jim Goodwin said: “The goals are what changes the game. That’s where we lost it, cheaply in my opinion.”