Tom English: Lennon would get shock if refs retaliated

[ian1964 10,761]

Published on Thursday 29 March 2012 12:33

 

Imagine if referees spoke about managers the way some managers speak about referees.

 

Take Neil Lennon, for instance. Picture a scene that has Willie Collum taking questions from journalists after this seasonâ??s League Cup final:

 

â??Willie, your decision to deny Celtic a penalty has been described as â??criminalâ?? by Neil Lennon. How do you respond?â?

 

â??Criminal? From the man who thought it was a good idea to start Kelvin Wilson at centre-half? Aye, right.â?

 

â??But didnâ??t you get it wrong?â?

 

â??Not as wrong as Lenny got it. He was up against a team with a tiny fraction of Celticâ??s budget today and he failed.â?

 

â??He says that decision was the key moment and you stuffed it up...â?

 

â??Right. Nothing to do with Gary Hooperâ??s miss or all the other misses? He doesnâ??t blame anybody but the referee? Maybe he should look in the mirror.â?

 

â??He says you cost him a treble...â?

 

â??I say thatâ??s a pretty arrogant statement.â?

 

Revenge of the whistlersâ??. Oh what fun we would have if they could trade insults with managers. Sunday would have been incredible if the officials were given the right to reply. Weâ??d still be there now transcribing the tit-for-tat. Lennon comes in and blasts Calum Murray and Iain Brines and then the two boys are afforded an opportunity to respond? Wow.

 

â??Iain, weâ??ve just had Lenny in here and he says that during the first half you came over to have â??a wordâ?? with him...â?

 

â??It was more than â??a wordâ? to be fair. I warned him about his behaviour. Heâ??s not exactly telling the whole truth there.â?

 

â??Calum, he says that your decision to send off Cha Du-Ri was a joke...â?

 

â??It was a decision I had to make in a split-second. Neil had a week to pick his team and he still made a mistake putting Ki in his midfield. Weâ??re not perfect, any of us.â?

 

The point of this sketch is that Lennon has demanded a level of precision from officials these past weeks while at the same time apparently refusing to apply the same lofty standards to himself and his team. Referees are the easiest scapegoats sometimes. A manager knows they have to soak up criticism without responding to it. For some bosses itâ??s a handy deflection tactic. The tactics are wrong and the result is bad? Letâ??s hammer the ref and change the headlines.

 

Lennon talks witheringly â?? and correctly â?? of the ridiculous suggestion that their title, when it comes, will be tainted because of Rangersâ?? ten-point deduction but at the same time he sees no problem in calling Rangersâ?? victory on Sunday â??souredâ? while stating that â??there are mitigating circumstances in the way theyâ??ve won.â? He was talking about the red cards and the second Rangers goal, which he thought was offside, but any reasonable analysis of the game would have to mention that even before Cha was dismissed Celtic were being over-run and out-played, an admission we have not heard from Lennon as yet.

 

Most managers view their football world through one eye. Lennon and his contemporaries donâ??t want consistency from referees, they want decisions, good or bad, in their favour. If this was about integrity and fairness, where were Lennonâ??s condemnatory words for the officials when Lee Wallaceâ??s header in the Old Firm game in December was not given despite pictures showing that it was probably a goal? Where was his criticism of refereeing standards when Hearts were denied a perfectly legitimate goal against Celtic last month? Why did he not protest when Georgios Samaras collapsed in a heap under a non-challenge from Invernessâ?? Greg Tansey earlier in the season? Tansey got sent off unfairly and Celtic went on to win.

 

Referees are imperfect, just like players and just like managers. If the guy with the whistle made a mistake last Sunday then Lennon should have the good grace to admit that he wasnâ??t the only one.

 

http://www.scotsman.com/news/tom-english-lennon-would-get-shock-if-refs-retaliated-1-2202101

[BlueMazza 0]

I thought this was a really good article by Tom English, I have to say he is fast becoming one of my favourite sports writers.

[Danny 0]

Quite liked that!

[Guest superrcooper7]

Great read

[Gers4Life 0]

Fantastic read Ian

[bluebear54 0]

Thanks Ian

This guy comes in for somestick, and accusations from all sides about bias.

My take is that he's pretty unbiased, but doesn't miss the mark when he has an axe to grind.

I don't mind the guy, and - in comparison to his peers - his presence is important in the Scottish media.

[ian1964 10,761]

NEIL LENNON is a complete enigma.

 

The Celtic boss is intelligent, articulate, entertaining and amusing.

 

But all of this is AWAY from a football park.

 

If anything, he is now more out of control at the side of the pitch than he ever was on it.

 

When he was on the park he at least realised if he was sent off he'd be accountable to others.

 

If he lost the place he was answerable to his team-mates at the end of the game and Martin O'Neill his then manager.

 

When he played for Celtic there were restraints placed upon him.

 

Now, as manager of Celtic, I can't help but feel there are no controls on him at all.

 

Right now he is a loose cannon and the slightest thing seems to set him off.

 

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell is not doing enough to stop this from happening.

 

He should be meeting this head on and telling Lennon enough is enough.

 

He should be pointing out to Lennon this is no way for the Celtic manager to behave.

 

Lennon can't keep going in the same vein.

 

But the danger is no one at Celtic seems prepared to pull him aside and tell him straight, this is not on.

 

There is no doubt Lawwell should be doing more.

 

Rangers and Celtic are the two most influential clubs in the country.

 

And I know from watching my own son play football, this is true now more than ever before.

 

Youngsters and coaches are watching and mimicking their every move.

 

Ironically, Lennon was talking at the weekend about not being able to do his job. Really?

 

Why then was he sticking his nose into ref Calum Murray's affairs?

 

Murray, right, should have been allowed to do his job too.

 

Given his side's first-half performance at Ibrox, Lennon should have been walking up the tunnel thinking about what he was going to say to his players.

 

What does he want the ref to say: 'OK Neil on reflection considering what you have said, and with the language you have used, let's replay the first half'.

 

That is not going to happen. Lennon should have been concentrating on galvanising his own players.

 

Can you imagine the furore if Murray had approached Lennon in the tunnel at half-time and said: 'Hey, Neil, I want to have a word with you about your tactics and why Lee McCulloch is running amok against Charlie Mulgrew and Thomas Rogne'.

 

Lennon would have been apoplectic — and rightly so.

 

Everyone remembers what happened last season when referees decided enough was enough and withdrew their labour.

 

The pressure on them at the time was remarkable, they were driven to that decision.

 

For a while after the strike, coaches and managers recognised they had to be a bit more restrained with their comments.

 

They recognised refs had a part to play in the game and that, just like the players, they will make mistakes.

 

It seems to me we are now sliding back down the slippery slope.

 

I don't think refs will go on strike again this season — purely because we've only got seven games to go.

 

But I wouldn't be surprised if the events of the past two weeks are discussed at length by the officials in the summer.

 

We simply can't have a repeat of the scenario where the referee is blamed for every defeat.

 

When Celtic were on that great unbeaten run we heard very little, if any, criticism of referees.

 

All of a sudden, after back-to-back domestic defeats, things are getting piled on refs again.

 

Is Lennon being manipulative? Is he trying to take the heat off himself?

 

Is he trying to create a siege mentality? Who knows.

 

I suspect he simply explodes at the side of a park. I was at a dinner last week, before the Old Firm game was played.

 

I was sat next to a couple of Celtic fans and I left with the distinct impression that Lennon has now become an embarrassment to the silent majority.

 

They have had enough of his outbursts.

 

Remember, these guys were saying all of this BEFORE last Sunday's match at Ibrox.

 

Lennon keeps pushing it and pushing it and I've no doubt a dim view of his actions will be taken by those in power at Hampden. Quite simply, he can't be allowed to conduct himself in this manner every time a result goes against him.

 

And that brings us to this Sunday and the clash with St Johnstone at Celtic Park.

 

George Salmond is the man in the middle and I don't envy him at all.

 

Under the circumstances it will be a difficult game to referee.

 

But I'm sure he'll do what all officials would do in that situation.

 

Shut out the outside influence and concentrate on taking charge of the match.

 

That's all he can do — that's all any ref can do.

 

Read more: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/4228489/Lennys-now-a-loose-cannon-HES-the-one-who-needs-to-get-a-grip.html#ixzz1qaDEatA3

[Guest Dutchy]

On the Tom English article, he says all the right things, but falls short, which is to be expected I suppose, of calling a spade a spade and saying what in his opinion lemons punishement should be.

 

I mean, he's a journo and lives on speculation, so why stop where he did.