Lennon: charges are ‘trumped up’

People are ‘deflecting’ and smearing Brown, says Celtic boss

Celtic manager Neil Lennon has derided th es fa’ s“trumped up” charges against the club and captain Scott Brown following the ugly scenes at the end of Sunday’s 2-1 victory over Rangers at Parkhead.

Both clubs have been issued with notices of complaint for failing to control their players in a melee at the end of the game, when Brown celebrated in front of the travelling support and Andy Halliday led a posse of Rangers players who raced over to confront the 33-year-old.

Lennon argues that the hosts are not guilty of any offence, other than preventing their opponents from getting to Brown.

“I think it’s a massive deflection from some people,” he said. “We have a great disciplinary record at this club. In the last seven years we’ve had the best-disciplined team in the country five times and been runners-up twice.

“Our players handled the occasion very, very well and theirs didn’t. People are trying to drag Scott into this but he handled the game as well as anyone, even though he was elbowed and pushed in the face.

“He celebrates at the end of the game and now people are trying to tar him with the same brush and I’m not accepting that.”

Brown has been cited for “not acting in the best interests of association football” and Lennon admitted he did not know exactly what that meant.

He added: “We’re all football men and we can maybe surmise but I won’t know until I see it in writing.

“From what I gather, you can’t be punished retrospectively for gesturing – and what Scott did wasn’t even an abusive gesture, which I’ve been guilty of myself in the past.

“What he did was raise his hands aloft… what a bad boy that is. [Rangers’] Josh Windass wasn’t done for some