LENNY HITS BACK OVER DUBAI TRIP
Middle East jaunt that left central defender Christopher Jullien with Covid and 16 players and staff ordered to quarantine.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon joined the pile-on after pictures emerged of the Celtic manager and club captain Scott Brown sinking beers by the poolside alongside others, while SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell revealed plans to investigate potential protocol breaches.
Hoops chief executive Peter Lawwell issued an apology after the outcry but the manager has accused the beaks of having it in for his club.
Lennon is convinced Celtic followed the rules but that the number of players and staff ordered to isolate was politically motivated.
He said: “The fallout from this has been way too much and a bit of bullying going on – and we have been held to a far higher standard than any other club.
“I’m not going to get into a fight with the First Minister but I will take umbrage on her use of the term ‘R n R’, which she selectively picked out of interviews – completely ignoring the hard work we were intending to do and the intensive training.
“There seems to be some sort of agenda being driven here. We have been decimated by these rules. I’m not convinced they’re a public health issue. It seems political.
“Another player has been deemed positive, it is someone who is self-isolating.
“Everybody’s negative, the whole squad is negative bar two players.
“I think that’s remarkable and I think it totally blows out the water the way the trip, 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 the day off – completely allowed, no law breaking.
“Yet we come back to this barrage of absolute hypocrisy.”
Lennon fired the same claim at the Scottish Football Association after they laughed off apparent Covid-19 breaches in Serbia at the end of last year when Scotland players celebrated Euro 2020 qualification with a conga line and a sing-song behind closed doors.
The Parkhead manager said: “As long as they (the SFA) investigate that that’s fine. It is hypocrisy of the highest order.
“I am feeling aggrieved and my staff and players are feeling aggrieved as well. It is all political.
“We are all sitting outside in a bubble. We may not be exactly two metres apart, but we are in our bubble. There was no Chris Jullien in any of the photographs.
“It’s not a stag do, it wasn’t an 18-30 holiday even though it’s been portrayed like that.
“We went out there with the best intentions, the lads had one day off, they got into Dubai at seven in the morning and they are entitled to a bit of downtime.
“It’s not as if we were doing a conga at three o’clock in the morning in a dining room or dancing to Baccara in a dressing room – which was lauded by all and sundry because Scotland qualified for the Euros.
“We were not traipsing up and down the country with Covid in a train from Glasgow to London (like SNP MP Margaret Ferrier).
“My players’ behaviour was exemplary. They are top professionals. The way this has been portrayed has been a total distortion of the facts.”
Lennon insisted the second positive test won’t affect his squad as the unnamed player was already in isolation.
The manager, his assistant John Kennedy and the original 13 players who were ordered to quarantine returned to training ahead of tomorrow’s Premiership clash with Livingston in West Lothian.
Lennon said: “There is 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. It was a difficult time considering I was isolating for 10 days.
“You can see how people get frustrated and a little bit fed up because there is nothing you can do other than try to keep your mode of thinking in the right way.”