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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Robbie Copeland

7 Neil Lennon flareups from Celtic Ferencvaros flailing to square go with Jim Duffy

Love him or loathe him, you can't deny he's box office.

He might have left Celtic more than one year ago now but Neil Lennon is still in the headlines for his touchline antics.

Now in charge of Omonia Nicosia, the Irishman led his side to domestic cup glory on Wednesday and made himself a hero in Cyprus in the process.

But in true Lennon style, he's also facing a touchline ban after a furious bust-up with officials.

He was seen raging on the sidelines, making a smoking gesture towards the referee before sarcastically applauding them off the pitch and he could now have the book thrown at him for bringing the game into disrepute.

As we all know though it's far from his first rodeo.

In his 12 plus years as a professional manager, everyone from Jim Duffy to Ally McCoist have had a taste of his fury and he's never been one to hold back in his press conferences either.

Here Record Sport take a look at a few of his most infamous flare-ups.

Love-in with Ally

Old Firm derbies are typically fiery affairs but one Scottish Cup tie in 2011 took it to another level.

The game itself was decided by a lone Mark Wilson strike but the football was a mere sideshow as the bad blood between the sides spilled over.

Steven Whittaker's first half red card for wiping out Emiliano Izaguirre set the tone and the game finished with 12 bookings and THREE Rangers players sent off.

Lennon and McCoist had to be restrained following Celtic's fiery 1-0 Scottish Cup win (Internet Unknown)

But even that was only the start of the chaos as it was the managers' turn to steal the show once the final whistle went.

What started as a seemingly respectful embrace between Lennon and Ally McCoist quickly turned sour as the Irishman was seen whispering something into his ear and then pointing in his face.

He then had to be held back by his coaching staff and both managers were handed touchline bans – Lennon's for four games as it was his second offence of the season. And we’ve never really been told exactly what was said between the two that night.

Sparring with Jim

Kudus Oyenuga's shocking challenge on Jordon Forster was the catalyst for this one as Lennon and Jim Duffy nearly came to blows.

It's water under the bridge between them now but at the time it was furious as the Hibs and Morton managers had to be torn apart by players and coaching staff.

Speaking after the Scottish Cup tie, which ended in a 0-0 draw at Easter Road, Lennon claimed Duffy offered him a "square go" - something Duffy vehemently denies.

Jim Duffy and Neil Lennon confront each other as a row breaks out before full-time (SNS Group)

A raging Lennon said after the game: “Here’s my take on it – the guy tried to break Jordon’s leg and then he feigns a headbutt from Darren (McGregor).

“The next thing I have got is the Morton manager asking for a square go, which is fair enough, I am not going to back down.

"If it comes to blows to blows. I wasn’t starting it. I’ve got the Morton assistant manager, I have got the Morton players (coming at me), but it will be ‘bad old Lenny’, ‘Lenny started it’ - all that rubbish."

The Bolton Wanderer

It seems Lennon took his job title as manager of Bolton a bit too literally as he wandered out of his technical area during his first game in 2014 – and was sent to the stands for his troubles.

The football itself was mad enough in his dugout debut in Lanarkshire as Birmingham finished the game with striker Lee Novak in goal after Darren Randolph was sent off.

Matt Mills had given Lennon's team the lead but the game descended into anarchy when Bolton won a penalty and Lennon left the dugout area to give instructions to his players.

Before the kick could be taken, he was sent to the stand for frequent encroachment - and Craig Davies then sent the ball to join him as he ballooned it over the bar.

Bolton still managed to win 1-0.

'I didn't find it funny'

Those five words from Lennon have been immortalised in meme format after he took Craig Levein's bait hook, line and sinker.

The Levein-Lennon period of the Edinburgh Derby's history was a colourful one and one Hibs will think of fondly as they had the upper hand for the most part.

A Hearts win in the Scottish Cup though led Levein to claim the "natural order" had been restored and when the Hearts boss was asked if he regretted it, he insisted it was "a good laugh".

Cue fury from his Hibs counterpart.

Neil Lennon addresses the media (SNS Group)

“A laugh? I didn’t find it funny.

“In my time in Scottish football, I’ve seen a lot of people with a misguided sense of superiority in the game – without actually earning it or achieving anything.

“I think he was pandering to the masses with the comment.

“It’s derogatory to my club, my players, our supporters and me. And it was very, very poor, in poor taste."

Threw away the derby

It would be January 2019 before Lennon left Hibs although the writing was on the wall long before that.

In the wake of a 2-1 defeat at Tynecastle, towards the end of the 2017/18 season, he threatened to walk out on the club - branding his players "unprofessional" after several of his players slipped early on.

“I can’t accept players slipping over because they don’t have right footwear. That’s amateur stuff.

"Not defending set plays. Amateur stuff. We had three good chances but didn’t have the gumption or stomach to make the difference.

“We threw it away. Unprofessional. Not good enough.

"I can’t watch that in derbies. It’s not good enough. We’ve got a board meeting next week. So, we’ll see. Nothing last forever but I’ve been here two years, made great strides."

If you want to leave, leave

Lennon's second spell at Celtic started well but ended in disarray and it seemed it had been a long time coming when he was shown the door in March last year.

Fans will feel the club should have seen the signs earlier as they crashed out of the Champions League to Ferencvaros.

Speaking after that game, a devastated Lennon unloaded on his players for their mentality - calling out some who "didn't want to be there".

He said: "Get your mentality right, get your attitude right. If some of you don't want to be here, leave.

"If they're making waves to leave the club then they're obviously not committed and I want players who are committed to the club."

'A barrage of absolute hypocrisy'

After a defeat to Rangers left Celtic 19 points off the pace in the title race last January, Lennon and his players jetted off to Dubai for a warm weather training camp in the midst of a pandemic.

You can imagine what happened next.

Pictures of Lennon and captain Scott Brown lounging by the pool sparked fury from all angles, be it supporters, pundits, or even First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Especially after the club recorded 13 positive cases in the days after returning.

But Lennon slammed the criticisms as "hypocritical" - claiming he and his players were held to a higher standard than the rest of the country.

“We did not abuse any privilege,” Lennon said. “We did the right things. We were absolutely, totally professional.

"We had a little drink in the afternoon on a day off, completely allowed, no law breaking, yet we come back to this barrage of absolute hypocrisy.

"We’ve come back, we’ve been absolutely decimated by these rules. It seems political.”

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