LENNON SLAMS ‘SCANDALOUS’ CRITICISM
CELTIC manager Neil Lennon has complained of a “barrage of absolute hypocrisy” following the club’s controversial trip to Dubai and said the criticism has been “scandalous”.
Lennon and 13 players have missed two matches after a positive Covid-19 test sent them into self-isolation, and another player has since tested positive for the virus.
The club has faced heavy criticism for its decision to fly to Dubai, with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon questioning whether it was essential after pictures showed the squad not social distancing or wearing face coverings.
Peter Lawwell, Celtic’s chief executive, has said the trip was a “mistake” but Lennon has angrily refused to apologise for making the journey to Dubai.
“We’ve been held to a far higher standard than any other club,” Lennon said. “Protocols at different clubs are inconsistent. As soon as Celtic are deemed to do something wrong, bang, you’re all wanting blood. It’s absolutely scandalous. The fallout from this has been way too much.
“My apology is to the fans because 13 players and three staff had to isolate for 10 days, which is ludicrous. I’m not apologising for anything else. I’m not apologising for going out there and training for a week. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. We did everything we possibly could to avoid the damage.
Negative
“The whole squad is negative bar two players. I think that is remarkable and I think it totally blows out of the water the way the training camp has been portrayed by certain quarters of the media, by certain pundits and by certain government officials as well.
“We did not abuse any privilege, we did the right things. We were absolutely totally professional. We had a little drink in the afternoon on a day off, completely allowed, no law-breaking – yet we come back to this barrage of absolute hypocrisy. We’ve come back, we’ve been absolutely decimated by these rules. It seems political.”
Celtic are currently 21 points behind league leaders Rangers, with three games in hand. They face Livingston tomorrow, when Lennon will make his return to the dugout. “We were in our bubbles,” he added.
“The players were in a bar, they weren’t on top of one another. 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 lauded by all and sundry because Scotland qualified for the Euros. Our players weren’t behaving like that at all.”
Lennon also called for Andy Walker to apologise for his assessment of the Dubai trip. Former Celtic striker Walker, speaking in his role as a pundit for Sky Sports, criticised the club for “dismal governance” over the trip, which he labelled “a jolly”.
Lennon said: “You can’t go on a public platform and spread lies and insults about my professionalism, my players’ professionalism.
“About 70-80 per cent of the group are teetotal and you know the inference and innuendo that he is making. It is not a stag do, it isn’t an ‘18-30’ even though it has been portrayed like that.
“We went out there with the best intentions. “I want Andy to apologise because he was demanding apologies from the club.
“I want an apology from Andy because he has questioned my professional integrity, my players’ professional integrity and the use of the word jolly is crass and arrogant.
“He accused the club of being arrogant last week. We weren’t.
“Does he speak for the Celtic support?
Is he all of a sudden the man of the people? Andy’s been in the game here for 20, 30 years, he has made no contribution to Celtic whatsoever.
“He stood up there as if he is a Celtic legend and a stalwart of the club, putting the boot into me, the club and everybody else. He is totally out of order.”
Sky declined to comment when contacted. (© Telegraph Media Group Limited 2021)