Neil Lennon says Hearts should have been fined for Tynecastle incident

Despite admitting he had struck Lennon on the head, Wilson was cleared of assault after a jury at Edinburgh Sheriff Court found the case against him not proven. Wilson was found guilty of breach of the peace and jailed for eight months. He was released from prison on 14 September, having served half the sentence. He also had a five-year football banning order imposed.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow's SPL fixture between Hearts and Celtic at Tynecastle, Lennon was unwilling to offer a view on the merits of the criminal proceedings against Wilson. But he was insistent the SPL were wrong to take no action against Hearts.

"The guy served time," said Lennon. "Whether it was long enough or not is not for me to say. As regards the footballing punishment, it didn't seem to be anything. Hearts seemed to get a slap on the wrist and that was that. So I'm disappointed with that.

"I don't want to sit here and chastise any club, and it's not Hearts' fault, but I do feel that the authorities should have imposed some sort of fine on them."

The 11 May match, which Celtic won 3-0 amid a malevolent atmosphere and which also saw visiting supporters clash with stewards, was investigated by the SPL in accordance with their rule H7.5 which states a home club must ensure "policies and procedures have been adopted and implemented to prevent incidents of unacceptable conduct".

In June, the SPL announced their findings and were happy that Hearts had taken all possible measures to police and steward the game effectively.

A statement from the SPL at the time concluded: "The SPL Board decided that no action should be taken against either club as the action taken by each club before, during and since the match was reasonable in all the circumstances."

Lennon hopes the match was a "tipping point" in the series of threats to his personal safety which blighted his first full season as Celtic manager, including internet hate campaigns and the sending of parcel bombs which are the subject of ongoing court and criminal proceedings.

"I'm glad that these people are being brought to task for it and hopefully they'll get punished accordingly and that'll deter anybody else who's thinking about it," he said. "For me, what happened at Tynecastle was the most distasteful episode of the lot. Hopefully it was a tipping point. I think we're past that stage now. Things have calmed down this season.

Taken from the Scotsman