Lennon faces Thursday hearing but further punishment may be pending

Hugh Macdonald
Chief Sports Writer

CELTIC and Neil Lennon will have to wait to discover the full extent of the fall-out from the William Hill Scottish Cup defeat by Hearts on Sunday.

The Celtic manager, who has three disciplinary cases pending, two of which will be heard by the Scottish Football Association's judiciary panel on Thursday, faces further action in the wake of the 2-1 loss. Lennon confronted Euan Norris, the referee, after the match and then posted comments on Twitter. He was angry after Norris awarded Hearts a penalty when Marius Zaliukas' shot hit the arm of Joe Ledley before brushing the hand of Victor Wanyama, and was further enraged when the official refused Celtic a penalty in injury time when the ball struck Andy Webster.

Lennon tweeted: "Referee told players he thought [Victor] Wanyama handled . . . feel so sorry for players and fans . . . I think it's personal myself." He later retweeted a comment suggesting Celtic "pack our bags and get out of this league that is run by crooked SFA officials".

However, Lennon will have to wait until Vincent Lunny, the SFA's compliance officer, reviews a report by Norris. This is not expected to be submitted until today and is likely also to include details of the discussion the official had with Lennon in the referee's room after the game.

It is not yet known if Alan Thompson, the first-team coach, will be the subject of a further inquiry after saying Celtic had been ''done again''. Ledley and Anthony Stokes also tweeted comments.

Any action on Sunday's controversy will have to wait until the SFA's judiciary panel deals with charges against Rangers and Craig Whyte. Lennon also has two cases scheduled for Thursday.

Lennon will appear before the judicial panel on Thursday where he will contest two charges relating to criticism of referee Willie Collum after the Scottish Communities League Cup final defeat to Kilmarnock and his half-time dismissal by Calum Murray during the recent 3-2 league defeat by Rangers at Ibrox.

Lunny wrote to Lennon demanding an explanation for his comments about referees ahead of a Clydesdale Bank Premier League game against St Johnstone at Celtic Park at the start of the month, but Lunny will review any response before acting.

Meanwhile, Hugh Dallas, the former head of refereeing development at the SFA, entered the debate yesterday, accusing Lennon of bullying Norris. Dallas, who left the position after his involvement with an offensive email, said: "I can't remember in 25 years of refereeing seeing a manager run that far on to a pitch to bully a referee. These pictures are going around the world and it is not good."

Dallas said that Harry Redknapp's reaction a goal awarded to Chelsea on Sunday in their 5-1 FA Cup semi-final defeat at Wembley should be an example to the Celtic manager. "Redknapp said he was disappointed but was keen to move on. That's how we should do it in Scotland," said Dallas.

John McKendrick, chairman of the Scottish Senior Football Referees Association, said: "There are no concerns just now about the backing the referees are getting from the SFA and we get 100% backing from the SFA's referee development department.

"We have faith in the new and robust [disciplinary] system and we are sure the right decisions will be reached."

Taken from the Herald