Lennon: He was selfish and stupid
Bolingoli’s actions are among the worst Lennon has seen
NEIL LENNON last night branded the reckless behaviour of Boli Bolingoli as possibly the worst he has ever encountered in his career.
The Belgian full-back is facing the axe from Parkhead after breaching Covid-19 travel restrictions to fly to Spain for a day trip last week, avoiding the necessary 14-day quarantine period on return and then appearing as a late substitute in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock.
Bolingoli (left) failed to declare his trip to Malaga and placed the health and safety of players and management at both Celtic and Kilmarnock at risk. Last night, he was also issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice of £480 by Police Scotland for breaching quarantine regulations.
With eight Aberdeen players already self-isolating following a night out in the Granite City, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has now administered a ‘yellow card’ to Scottish football.
The postponement of Celtic’s fixtures against St Mirren
tonight and Aberdeen on Saturday, meanwhile, raise the possibility of Rangers holding an 11-point advantage before Lennon’s side kick another ball domestically.
Admitting he felt personally disgusted and appalled, Lennon said: ‘It’s one of the worst behaviours from an individual I have come across.
‘Everything has been tight and everything has been strict and he had been warned previously about travelling and blatantly disregarded my instructions. ‘It is a complete act of selfishness. This is a perplexing time for us all — it is so fragile and for someone to put in jeopardy everything that we have been building on and working on is disappointing. We are all disappointed with him. ‘Boli has his own motives for what he did and his own motives for why he kept it to himself. For me that speaks volumes. ‘It is underhand. I am bitterly disappointed and the players are angry, they’re frustrated.’ Lennon had granted his players two days off after a 5-1 win over Hamilton on the opening day of the season but warned them all to stay close to Glasgow.
Bolingoli, a £3million signing from Rapid Vienna last summer, ignored the club edict to jet to Malaga for a day.
Dismissing stupidity as an explanation, Lennon insisted the full-back’s actions were pre-meditated and unforgivable, showing a complete lack of regard for colleagues and opponents. ‘It’s just appalling behaviour and one the club will deal with in the strongest possible way,’ he said. ‘I can’t fathom it. He put everyone associated with the club, the playing staff, the backroom staff, the players at Kilmarnock and their staff in jeopardy.’ Celtic have contacted other Scottish clubs to apologise and provide assurances that the player has now tested negative for coronavirus twice. ‘He’s had two negative tests, but it’s not the point,’ added Lennon. ‘It’s the lack of responsible behaviour which is paramount in all of this.
‘We’re appalled by the actions of the individual. We’re very angry about it and very apologetic to all of the Scottish clubs and our fans. ‘It is something which was unforeseen. We have tried everything in terms of being in a safe environment around the club. ‘We’ve led the way with protocols and practices and we’ve been really let down by an individual. We are going to have to suffer the consequences.
‘He’s apologised but he knew what he was doing. When you book a flight, you know when you are going. Boli took it upon himself to go to Spain and not tell anyone and not tell anyone when he came back.
‘We found out about it on Monday and we were just so perplexed, but also in despair of it, really. ‘Now we have had the message from the government and the First Minister.
‘I feel for everyone who has worked so hard to get everything in place to start football back.’