A picture of rage and fury, he set off with all guns blazing

Word for word, Sportsmail details what happened yesterday when Neil Lennon entered the media room at Hibs’ training ground and immediately announced he was taking the unusual step of video recording the Press conference...

Q) Is there something you are unhappy with?

LENNON: Yes, I’m unhappy with you, I’m unhappy with Jim’s (Duffy) comments after the game. I’m unhappy with the (Morton) statement yesterday. Where do you want me to start? I’ll start with his comments after the game. I’ve got it here in front of me... ‘There was obviously a fracas?’ It was more than a fracas, far more than a fracas. ‘Neil wasn’t happy with Kudus’ challenge’. Understatement of the year! ‘The referee was going to send him off anyway.’ Is he a mind reader? I wasn’t aware of that and I was standing closest to it. And by the way, I will refer to him as the Morton manager because in his statement yesterday he refers to me as the Hibs manager. He doesn’t even have the good grace, courtesy and manners to call me by my name. ‘Obviously, there were a few people involved’. A few people involved? It must have been at least 20, the majority from his staff and his technical area. ‘Maybe it was handbags with a few things inside the handbags?’ It was far from handbags. Somebody tried to compare it to the spat I had with Ally McCoist. It was far worse than that! Far worse than that. ‘I’m sure Neil will say the same. It was just emotion.’ No, Neil won’t say the same. I totally disagree with it. It was disgraceful behaviour. ‘Sometimes you have to stand your ground for your team.’ Why? Why? There was no Morton player injured. What did I do? What did I do?

Q) Would you not have reacted in the same way if a Hibs player had made a similar challenge on a Morton player?

NL: I would have walked away. I’ll tell you another thing. Not one of you has asked about the welfare of the player and not one of you has condemned the actions of their player after the Darren McGregor incident. Nobody asked me about Jordon (Forster). He was lying on the ground and their staff came over and confronted me. Confronting me? I remonstrated once with the player and the referee.

Q) You use the phrase ‘I’m not going to back down ...’ but Duffy didn’t back down either?

NL (SHOUTING): Back down? He started it. What is he backing down from? My player has been halved. What is the Morton manager backing down from. What did I do? Tell me. You make it out to be me. One of the first questions I was asked was ‘what did Jim say to you?’ What was my answer? You were there! What was my answer? I’ll tell you! I said: ‘It was too noisy, I didn’t hear what Jim said.’ But you have quoted me saying ‘he asked me for a square go’ when you knew it was a euphemism for the way he was behaving. And you used that as a headline when I had qualified it.

Q) So you don’t want us to quote you on face value?

NL: Why didn’t you print that I didn’t hear what Jim said because it was too noisy? Why didn’t you print it? Why didn’t you print it? It was one of the first questions and one of the first answers. Why didn’t you print it? Why? Exactly! LENNON ASKS FOR THE VIDEO RECORDING TO STOP BUT HE CONTINUES TO READ AND RESPOND TO DUFFY’S STATEMENT ...

‘I’m not going to get involved in a public debate with the Hibs manager.’

Jim does nothing but get involved in public debates. He’s always on Sky Superscoreboard or whatever it is called and he has a column in the paper. Do you know why he doesn’t want to get into a public debate? Because he is wrong and he is trying to make light of a very serious incident. (SHOUTING): And I am not having it. And I am not having me dragged into it as if I am the protagonist all the time by people like you. I did not say he offered me a square go. It was a euphemism. You were all there. It was metaphorical. What was he doing then? Because after Oyenuga, or whatever his name is, halves my player and feigns a headbutt, by the time I’ve looked up he (Duffy) is in my face — not protecting his players. Coming for me! And his assistant manager (Craig McPherson), who I want cited as well. If I’m up and the Morton manager is up, then I want the Morton assistant manager up as well because he was the one trying to swing punches. Don’t f ****** make me laugh!

Q) But you said ‘the next thing I have the Morton manager asking me for a square go’?

NL: Euphemistically! I qualified it earlier by saying I did not hear what Jim said because it was too noisy. Did you print that? Did you print that? Did you print it, I’m asking you! No you didn’t. It was euphemistically speaking.

Q) But you didn’t say that you were speaking euphemistically?

NL: I qualified it on TV as well. But all I’m getting in the statement is Jim trying to defend himself and saying: ‘I didn’t offer him a square go’. I’m not saying he did ask me for a square go, I’m saying his behaviour and body language was confrontational and he certainly wasn’t coming over for a chat and he certainly wasn’t coming over to defend his player.

Q) So you inferred from Duffy’s actions that he was looking for a ‘square go’?

NL: Yes. Well f ****** print that then. Print it. Print what I said! You misinterpreted it. Your first question was my reaction? What reaction and I will ask you again, what reaction? Standing on the touchline remonstrating with a player and the referee. None of you have gone to him or dug out the player. He has been an absolute disgrace, the player, and that has got lost in this ‘Neil Lennon is at it again!’ You are not doing your f ****** job. This is what is wrong with the game in this country, you want to make stories about things that are not important. The real important issue is a player — who is badly injured by the way — which you don’t really care about because it is not a story and doesn’t sell papers, and the same player feigning an injury to get my captain sent off. But, no, let’s make the headline about me. And now we have Chic Charnley in the paper today going ‘my pal would sort Lenny out’. Brilliant. Brilliant journalism. Brilliant. That’s what is wrong with the country.

Q) Hasn’t Jim Duffy come out of this worse than you?

NL: So he should! So he should! So he should! But I’m being dragged into it. It was wrong and if I had done it you would be f ****** nailing me to the cross. How did I react? I was stood on the touchline and I told the player he was a disgrace and then did that to the referee (gestures), get him off. That does not warrant a manager running at me wanting a fight, or his assistant or his kit-man or his first-team coach. We will see what the beaks make of it. I didn’t see it. I saw the headlines about me. I see the punters in the street talking about me and saying: ‘Lennon is at it again. He brings it on himself, the usual’. Jim has made a joke of it, saying ‘maybe I should ask Lenny what it is like to go to the SFA’. Very funny! I don’t find it funny.

Q) Shouldn’t we report what is said?

NL: Why don’t you then? Why don’t you? Because when you asked me what did Jim say to you, I said it was too noisy. I didn’t see you print that. I didn’t see that. I said it was too noisy and I couldn’t hear if Jim was saying anything or not. No one quoted me on that and not one of you quoted me on that.

Q) Your problem is that Duffy has seized on the ‘square go’ comment?

NL: Yeah because you printed it. Jim has jumped on it because you stitched him up. You made him look stupid. His statement is petty and unnecessary. He didn’t need to

put a statement out about what I said. If you printed ‘Neil Lennon couldn’t hear what Jim Duffy had said’ then we wouldn’t be having this discussion but you didn’t. You had to get your story out there. You had to get the headline out there. And that’s not what it is about. It is about their player behaving appallingly on the pitch and no one has dug him up about it yet, no one has asked him the question what happened between him and Darren McGregor or what happened with the tackle. I don’t see any quotes from the player apologising. I don’t see anyone from Morton apologising for the tackle. Jim said it was reckless, but I didn’t see Jim say anything about the player going down under a headbutt when it was a phantom headbutt. There was no headbutt. If that was a Celtic or Rangers player, like big Kyle Lafferty years ago, then you would have been full of it. If it’s Neil Lennon, you would be full of it. So don’t stand there or sit there and try to qualify what you have done. I have been nothing but professional with you guys, respectful. I warned you don’t make it out to be big bad Lenny and you have done it. You are taking f ****** liberties with me.

LENNON THEN ASKS ONE JOURNALIST TO LEAVE AND NOT COME BACK AND THEN COMMENTS ...

I’m looking forward to Jim’s column in your paper. That’s a conflict of interests as well. He’s got an opinion on everything, hasn’t he? Are we done? Q) How is Jordon Forster? NL: (Sarcastically) Well done! He might be out for three or four weeks with a grade-two shoulder injury. Thankfully, there’s no leg injury, so he’s lucky. If his leg had been planted, he would have been looking at a lot more serious injury. He was lying on the ground while all them lot were running over, trampling past him, to get at me; not caring a jot about him. But I have to look after the welfare of my players, that’s my job, and it’s his career. It could have been a career-ending challenge.

Q) Have you spoken to Jim Duffy since the incident? NL: No and I have no intention of it either, none whatsoever. Why should I?

He’s coming at me for a fight, while I’m trying to do my job. It was 20 times worse than me and Ally. That was a verbal spat. When people get involved and when they start jumping in between people they make it look a lot worse than what it is. That was bad on Wednesday night. The venom, the intent, the aggression was bad.’

SPORTSMAIL THEN STRESSES THAT THE POINT ABOUT THE OLD FIRM GAME NOT BEING AS BAD AS WEDNESDAY NIGHT WAS IN OUR COVERAGE. SO, TOO, WAS A MENTION OF LENNON DEFENDING HIMSELF AND STRESSING THAT THE REAL VILLAIN OF THE PIECE WAS OYENUGA.

NL: Well done! Good, so you should. But you haven’t asked him (Oyenuga) a question, you haven’t interviewed him, you haven’t gone to him and got his take on it.

Q) Would you let Oyenuga near the Press if he was your player?

NL: He wouldn’t play for me again. He would not play for me again. I would come out and condemn that behaviour, not only for the tackle, but the disgraceful behaviour afterwards. He’s a coward.

Q) Is it the best thing if Oyenuga is banned for the match a week on Saturday at Cappielow? NL: No comment. It’s irrelevant if he plays or not. I’ll probably be banned for it.

Q) Is the whole dressing room and club angered by what happened? NL: I’ve got my chairman, my chief executive and my directors all 120 per cent, if you can get 120 per cent, behind me.

Q) How fired up are the boys for tomorrow? NL: I don’t know, I’ve not spoken to them today. We’ll find out tomorrow at three o’clock. They don’t need fired up when we’re going for a title win. By the way, the foul count on Wednesday was 20 to 10. They had double the fouls. I don’t know what the yellow-card count was. Yet, we have a player sent off and they have a player sent off. It doesn’t make sense to me. We’re not getting protection. It’s more or less like that in every game.

Q) Is this the angriest you have ever felt in football?

NL: Yes. I’m angry with the way it’s been handled, I’m angry with certain quarters of the media, obviously. I’m angry with what’s been said afterwards, as if it was light and it’s played down and it’s handbags and it’s emotion and passion and all that c**p. Sorry, I’m not having it. I don’t agree with the Morton manager at all on the situation. He played it down because he knows he’s in the wrong. But I’m not letting him get away with that. I had time for him, or I did have time for him, but not any more.

Q) Have you always got on well with Jim Duffy?

NL: Yes. I’ve never had an issue with Jim.

Q) Was there anything said that reignited the situation as it went on?

NL: I couldn’t hear. There was a lot of shouting, a lot of things going on. Jim was pulled away and then his assistant was trying to square up to me, whoever he is.

Q) Have you any regrets?

NL: None, whatsoever. Regret about what? Tell me, what should I regret? I’m not embarrassed, nothing whatsoever. I’ve got nothing to be regretful about at all.