LENNON LIVID OVER ULTIMATE BETRAYAL
I’m hurt by this, physio is devastated and players are angry ... whole club’s worked so hard and he puts a huge dent in it all SAYS NEIL LENNON
NEIL LENNON admits he’s been personally wounded by the scandalous actions of Boli Bolingoli. Five days ago the Celtic boss spoke passionately in the wake of the Aberdeen Eight’s outing in the Granite City and laid down renewed protocols for his own players. Lennon said he wanted his troops to be Scottish football standard bearers in terms of adhering to the rules. Completely unbeknown to him as he was making his speech, Bolingoli had already jaunted off to Spain and betrayed both his trust and that of everyone inside his dressing room and entire football club. Lennon has seen plenty in his time as a manager which has made him angry and irritated. But, although he used words such as livid and appalled when castigating Bolingoli, there was also a palpable sense of despair and anguish. Dressing rooms are built on togetherness and trust. When a “rogue” breaks ranks, it hits the leader hard. Lennon admitted as much when asked if he was personally hurt by the incident. He said: “Yes I am. “My physio Tom Williamson has been working all the hours God sends and he is devastated. We talked about the Aberdeen situation and this was all going on in the background without my knowledge. “The player knew about it and said nothing and it really grates with me. The Aberdeen incident should have been: That’s it, no more. But Boli had already gone to Spain and come back before the Aberdeen story had really broken. “Boli took it upon himself to go and not tell anyone and not tell anyone when he came back. Obviously, we found out about it on Monday and we were just so perplexed, but also in despair of it, really. “I can only apologise to all the other clubs and all the other supporters and we’ve got to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again for the sake of the game.
“We were at the forefront of this, trying to get football back.
“We worked so hard on the stadium and the training ground, with all the testing we’ve done, all the loggings we have to do with the health and safety aspect and this has just put a huge dent in all the work that has been going on behind the scenes.
“Now we have had the message loud and clear from the government and the First Minister. I feel for the club and everyone who has worked so hard over the lockdown to get everything in place to start football back.”
It’s little wonder Lennon felt perplexed. The entire globe is aware of the various restrictions imposed and the dangers of the virus. Yet Bolingoli didn’t care. Returning from Spain, he kept silent and mingled with his colleagues and staff. He took to the pitch on Sunday clearly without a solitary consideration for the home players and staff.
Lennon said: “We have been totally oblivious to it for the whole week leading up to the Kilmarnock game. Obviously he played some minutes and, again, we were oblivious to it.
“But all this came out and blew up in our faces. In terms of the club responsibility, the club can’t do any more.
“We’ve had umpteen rounds of testing now and everything is negative but we can’t legislate for the behaviour of an individual and can’t legislate for tracking them 24 hours a day.
“Sometimes you have to take accountability for this. I’m not saying the club is not taking accountability.
“We are holding our hands up. We’re all desperately disappointed with him.”
Punishment will follow and Lennon said: “That will be down to the club. It’s been total disregarding of the outcome and the risks involved, so he’ll be dealt with in the strongest possible way by the club.”
But no sentence is worse in any walk of life than losing the trust of your colleagues and Celtic’s players are understandably as disgusted as their manager.
Lennon said: “Why wouldn’t they be? We were looking forward to playing the games. We have been out of the game for so long, we had a lengthy pre-season, we had been organised. It has been stopped for the short-term anyway by an act of brazen selfishness. Yeah, the players are angry.”
The club’s name has been tarnished by Bolingoli. Staff and hierarchy must have squirmed as Nicola Sturgeon referred to Celtic in name as she laid down the law in the wake of the controversy.
In administering a booking from Holyrood, the First Minister put the game on red alert again and Lennon just hopes there is no further damage.
He said: “I hope not. The First Minister was asked about that and she said it is almost like a yellow card for football off the back of the incidents. “I don’t think she’d have any hesitation in shutting the game down again if something else was to happen. So, while we have to accept our responsibilities we can only apologise to all the other clubs and all the other supporters and make sure something like this doesn’t happen again for the sake of the game.”