Lennon believes he does not get 'fair deal'

NEIL LENNON claims he is at times “demonised” by the Scottish media. The Celtic manager admits “deeply” regretting confronting Euan Norris after the Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Hearts at Hampden over a fortnight ago and plans to apologise to the referee. However, the Northern Irishman, alluding to the furore which followed the touchline bust-up he had with then Rangers assistant manager Ally McCoist at Parkhead in March, 2011, believes his persona is unfairly represented.

“I saw the greatest manager in the game last night (Alex Ferguson) having a spat with Roberto Mancini and people enjoyed it, enjoyed seeing Sir Alex show that passion, that he was up for the fight,” said Lennon. “I enjoyed it. Two managers sticking up for their own team. Has there been a huge public outcry about what happened? No . . . When we do it up here, it’s two pages full and I get singled out, I get demonised, I’m this snarling sort of presence on the touchline.

“I don’t think I get a fair deal at times. I see it so many times. I have seen managers on the pitch remonstrating with referees before, some of them a lot more experienced than me. Yet they don’t think they get half of what I get. I just think I should be cut a bit more slack at times.”

The Celtic manager, who has just served a two-match touchline ban for criticising referee Willie Collum following the Scottish League Cup final defeat by Kilmarnock at Hampden in March, has been issued with a notice of complaint accusing him of breaching three Scottish FA rules relating to Hearts’ 2-1 victory which came courtesy of Craig Beattie’s controversial late penalty. Lennon ran on to the pitch to confront Norris over the penalty award, which came when a Marius Zaliukas shot hit the arm of Joe Ledley and brushed against the hand of Victor Wanyama. Celtic were denied a penalty when the ball struck Hearts defender Andy Webster.

“I deeply regret what happened,” said Lennon. “It was an instinctive reaction action born out of frustration more than anything else.”

The two other charges Lennon face relate to comments made on Twitter. He tweeted soon after the game: “Referee told players he thought Wanyama handled . . . feel so sorry for players and fans . . . I think it’s personal myself.” He then retweeted a comment from a Celtic supporter which suggested the club “pack our bags and get out of this league that is run by crooked £SFA officials”.

Lennon revealed about six players will be let go at the end of the season. “We want to add three or four quality players and we don’t want to clog up the young ones coming through, we want to give them the opportunity.”