ian1964 10,761 Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 ITV has rejected Neil Lennon's accusation that its recent Champions League coverage was "anti" Celtic. The first leg of the Scottish champions' play-off against Shakhter Karagandy in Astana was screened live by ITV4, with commentary provided by Jon Champion and Clarke Carlisle. But Lennon claimed on Wednesday night that comments made by the pair during the match - which the Kazakhs won 2-0 - were "disrespectful" to the Parkhead club and its supporters. He was also unhappy with a post sent out from the official ITV Football Twitter account during last year's draw for the Champions League group stages which said "bye, bye Celtic" after the Scottish champions were handed matches with Barcelona, Spartak Moscow and Benfica. However, Press Association Sport report that ITV staff have now reviewed the footage of the first-leg encounter with Shakhter and found the commentary to be fair. And the staff member who posted the offensive tweet was also warned about his behaviour. An ITV spokesman said: "We strongly reject any suggestion our commentary of Celtic's first-leg tie against Shakhter Karagandy was in any way 'anti' Celtic or disrespectful to the club. "The coverage fairly reflected a disappointing performance and result by Celtic against a team they were expected to beat. "But throughout the game the commentary maintained a clearly expressed respect for Celtic's stature as club with a well-established and long-standing pedigree in European football." Lennon made his complaint in the post-match press conference which followed his side's breathless 3-0 win in the Parkhead home leg. Kris Commons, Georgios Samaras and James Forrest all struck to confirm Celtic's place in the group stages but the Hoops boss felt his side were undermined by negative coverage in the build-up to the second leg. Lennon said on Wednesday night: "We live in the age of phone-ins and pseudo intellectuals on the internet and millions of pundits who have an opinion. "I watched ITV4 last week when I came back from the game and I was taken aback by the commentary. it was so anti-us, it was incredible really. "That is the second time that ITV have been really disrespectful to our club. "Last year when the draw was made for the Champions League it was tweeted by someone in their company, 'bye bye Celtic'. "This club is not a laughing stock for anyone. This club has a great history and some great, talented young players who performed heroically tonight. "They will all get pats on the back but it is all superficial." 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueflag 386 Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 better than this years of "lol now this is actually going to be funny" Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4 Beta 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,761 Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 Sally Magnusson laughs at BHEAST FC draw? About 18:30 in http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0391219/Reporting_Scotland_29_08_2013/ 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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