Rangers blame Neil Lennon

[ian1964 10,409]

CELTIC manager Neil Lennon and Rangers assistant manager Ally McCoist had to be pulled apart last night at the conclusion of an explosive Old Firm Scottish Cup tie which is likely to be subject to SFA disciplinary proceedings.

The Ibrox club, who lost the fifth-round replay 1-0, had three players sent off by referee Calum Murray who dished out 13 yellow cards in total, just three of them to Celtic who secured a quarter-final visit to Inverness Caledonian Thistle on 13 March.

 

Steven Whittaker was dismissed in the first half, Madjid Bougherra followed him in stoppage time and then El Hadji Diouf was shown his red card after the final whistle. The indiscipline extended to the technical areas and saw Lennon react furiously as he shook hands with McCoist, apparently in response to a comment made by the man who will be his direct opponent in the Old Firm rivalry next season.

 

Rangers manager Walter Smith revealed McCoist had been unhappy with what he regarded as confrontational behaviour from Lennon towards Diouf during the match. The controversial Senegalese striker had picked up his first booking in the first-half after squaring up to Lennon on the touchline.

 

"These things happen," said Smith. "I'm always reasonably quick up the tunnel, so I didn't see what happened. But the problem there was quite simple. Alistair was quite annoyed that Neil was being aggressive towards one of the Rangers players. That annoyed him more than anything else."

 

Asked if he would still attend the traditional post-match meeting of the rival managers, Smith added: "I always go for a drink with the opposition management team after a game. It might be an interesting cup of tea this time, right enough. I'll referee."

 

In the immediate aftermath of his final assignment as Rangers manager at Celtic Park, Smith defended his team's conduct and claimed referee Murray was wrong to send off both Whittaker and Bougherra. He accused the official of being influenced by the home support.

 

"I felt Steven Whittaker's first yellow card was a soft one," said Smith. "I wouldn't argue with the second one, but he is unfortunate to have got the first one. Madjid Bougherra's first one was a yellow card, but the second one was clearly not. He slid in and clearly got the ball. The Celtic player's momentum made it look worse than it was.

 

"I think the referee got carried away by the crowd's reaction on both occasions. It was a competitive cup tie but there were challenges I didn't think were worth yellow cards. As I say, I couldn't complain about Bougherra's first caution or Whittaker's second, but I felt they were both unlucky to be sent off. I'm not sure we committed that many more fouls than Celtic. There was nothing that left anyone seriously injured but there were yellow cards handed out throughout the game. It makes the reflection of the game worse than it actually was."

 

Smith made no defence of Diouf's red card, earned when he berated Murray after the final whistle, but did claim there was an element of provocation involved.

 

"He is an easy target and lets himself get wound up," said Smith. "There was a lot of frustration at the end of the game. He gets a bit het-up, that's the way he is."

 

The teams will meet for the sixth time this season in the Co-operative Insurance Cup final at Hampden on 20 March and have one more SPL fixture to play at Ibrox. Smith, who joked that he agreed with a call from senior police officer Les Gray earlier this week to ban Old Firm games, admitted that the number of times the teams face each other increases the tension.

 

"Playing each other seven times a season doesn't help, but there has to be a balance there from everyone in terms of what is a level of competitiveness and what isn't. It certainly gives you plenty to write about, so I don't think you should complain too greatly. I have been involved for a long time in these games now. How many Rangers-Celtic matches have been like this? It is worse if you don't compete. We didn't compete at all in the last game here and got battered.

 

"From our point of view, it was a better performance than the last time here. At least we made a tackle in this game, we never made one the last time. So there was a slight improvement there.

 

"We were disappointed to lose a goal as early as we did in the second half. It settled Celtic. We had one or two flurries going forward, but there were not many clear-cut opportunities for either side."

 

http://www.scotsman.com/rangersfc/Rangers-blame-Neil-Lennon39s-treatment.6727585.jp

[metlika 0]

Asked if he would still attend the traditional post-match meeting of the rival managers, Smith added: "I always go for a drink with the opposition management team after a game. It might be an interesting cup of tea this time, right enough. I'll referee."

 

This annoys me why the hell would you go and do that.

[johnnyk 158]

Win, lose or draw that's what managers do......

[theboyharley 5]

Win, lose or draw that's what managers do......

 

Martin O'Neill when he lost used to not attend them when we beat them and Neil Lemon never went in after the first old firm game. Doesnt mean we shouldnt, we have some class. Lemon doesnt

[Danny 0]

Martin O'Neill when he lost used to not attend them when we beat them and Neil Lemon never went in after the first old firm game. Doesnt mean we shouldnt, we have some class. Lemon doesnt

 

Class isn't winning us much right now. I am as proud of our dignity and integrity as the next man, but unfortunately we're not backing it up with ability against timmy. So it's a bit useless on its own.

[craig 5,195]

Class isn't winning us much right now. I am as proud of our dignity and integrity as the next man, but unfortunately we're not backing it up with ability against timmy. So it's a bit useless on its own.

 

You are trying to mix two different things though.

 

Someone above suggested WS shouldnt do the post match interview - theboyharley posted that MON didnt and neither did the Lurgan Bigot after we pumped them last year, but that we have far more dignity than that.

 

I agree with theboyharley - be a good winner AND a good loser - WS at least shows the position respect and understands his responsibilities to the media. It also comes off petty, childish and petulant if you dont do the post match interview after a loss.

 

We may not be winning against them but not doing the post match interview would also diminish our integrity and dignity - win, lose or draw we should retain these latter traits - Lennon doesnt have them nor will he ever possess them. Let him carry on down his path of persecution.

[Frankie 8,146]

I thought Smith handled himself very well after the game last night.

 

However, I cannot believe he can't motivate his players (or himself) to beat that lot given Celtic's recent and ongoing behaviour.