LENNON RAGE
++Celtic boss hits out at ‘hypocrisy’ of Holyrood & SFA ++ Defends Dubai trip despite revealing another player tested positive for Covid ++ Says Parkhead club has been ‘bullied’
NEIL LENNoN launched an astonishing attack on the Scottish Government, the SFA and players-turned-pundits yesterday — and said charging Celtic for alleged Covid breaches in Dubai would represent ‘hypocrisy of the highest order.’
Lennon hit out in his first public appearance since the club were publicly hauled over the coals by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who accused them of abusing their elite-athlete privileges during the contentious mid-season break.
He accused Sturgeon of cherry-picking evidence to suit her own agenda, insisting there were ‘political’ motives behind the clamour to punish Celtic. And he cited Scotland’s Euro 2020 qualification celebrations, as well as referencing the alleged lockdown-breaking railway journey of MP Margaret Ferrier, as a defence against his players being pictured poolside in the Middle East.
Lennon confirmed yesterday that a second Celtic player — already in isolation as one of 13 squad members identified as close contacts of Christopher Jullien — had tested positive.
But the Celtic head coach, out of quarantine and with 11 players available to return for tomorrow night’s trip to Livingston, insisted that SFA chief
Ian Maxwell could not possibly expect the Compliance Officer to hammer his team.
‘We were sitting outside, in our bubble,’ he said of the online photographs showing players and staff lounging by the poolside during their winter training break.
‘We may not be exactly two metres apart but we are in our bubble. There was no Chris Jullien in the photographs.
‘All the people in the photographs were negative. And it’s not as if we were doing a conga at three in the morning in a dining room, dancing to Baccara in a dressing room — or traipsing up and down the country with Covid in a train from Glasgow to London.
‘As long as they investigate that, then fine. It’s hypocrisy of the highest order. That’s why I’m feeling aggrieved, along with my staff and players. It’s all political.
‘There’s been a bit of bullying going on and we’ve been held to a far higher standard than any other club.
‘We were outside, in our bubble, having a beer for half an hour. This has been made out to be something that it is not. We weren’t doing a 20-man conga, which is
This has been used as a stick to beat us with. It’s completely preposterous
lauded by all and sundry because Scotland qualified for the Euros. Our players weren’t behaving like that at all.
‘There is nothing wrong with the photographs. We weren’t hiding anything. We were there on our day off, having travelled through the night.
‘We had some downtime, as it was impossible to train. This has been a stick to beat us with — these photographs — and it is completely preposterous.
‘My players’ behaviour was exemplary. They are top professionals. The way this has been portrayed has been a total distortion of the facts.
‘It wasn’t a stag-do, it wasn’t an 18-30, even though it’s been portrayed like that.
‘The lads had one day off. They got into Dubai at seven in the morning and they were entitled to a bit of down time. So I think we’ve been harshly treated. We are in an area. Some players are in a bar, not all of them drinking.
‘They are maybe not totally distancing, but they are sitting there quietly watching the football for half an hour with masks on. We got treated like common criminals for it.’
Lennon’s reference to ‘traipsing up and down the country with Covid in a train’ was clearly aimed at Ferrier, who was expelled from the SNP and now faces a criminal charge of reckless conduct, after she was accused of travelling from London to Glasgow after testing positive in September.
And he criticised Miss Sturgeon for questioning whether Celtic’s trip was really a necessary training break, saying: ‘I’m not going to get into a fight with the First Minister.
‘But I’ll take umbrage on her use of the term “R&R”, which she selectively picked out of interviews
— completely ignoring the hard working we were intending to do and the intensive training. ‘And also that we abused our so-called privileges when we were out there. That couldn’t be further from the truth.’ Confirming yesterday’s positive test, Lennon said: ‘There’s another positive, but he’s already been isolating and the rest of the squad is negative. ‘It won’t affect the squad at all. No one else is affected.’ Lennon also demanded an apology from former Celtic striker Andy Walker, now a Sky Sports pundit and co-commentator, for accusing his old team of being in Dubai on a ‘jolly.’