Lennon calls for clarity on manager guidelines

Neil Lennon has called on the Scottish Football Association’s compliance officer, Vincent Lunny, to “spell out the guidelines” for managers.

The Celtic boss was speaking after his Kilmarnock counterpart Kenny Shiels and St Johnstone manager Steve Lomas found themselves in hot water with the SFA this week.

Lomas was handed a six-match ban for his reaction towards referee Iain Brines over a decision during his side’s draw at Parkhead this month, with a suspended two-game punishment also invoked.

Lennon’s comments though, pertained more to Shiels who was issued with two notices of complaint by Lunny, one of which was for allegedly breaching three disciplinary rules as a result of comments he made in a radio interview and newspaper articles following their defeat to Inverness on November 3.

One of the accusations was that Shiels made comments that “impinge upon the character of a match official by suggesting that the match official may bear a grudge against you should you answer a question relating to decisions taken by him”. The Killie boss also faces a misconduct charge for being sent to the stand for dissent during last weekend’s defeat by St Johnstone.

Lennon, ahead of tomorrow’s William Hill Scottish Cup fourth-round tie at home to Irn-Bru Second Division side Arbroath, called for some instruction from Lunny in respect of post-match interviews.

“The last place you want to be is in the stand, as I know from my own experience,” said the Northern Irishman. “Steve, certainly, will learn from this.

“But I don’t know where, as managers, we draw the line.

“I think Vincent Lunny should come and speak to managers because at the end of the day we are the ones who are brought up in front of him and the SFA disciplinary panel.

“I think Vincent needs to spell out the guidelines, what we can and can’t say regarding referees in post-match interviews.

“That would give us a clearer indication and maybe make us count to 10 a little bit more in the heat of the moment.

“I do have a lot of sympathy for all managers in that situation.

“I was removed from the game at Ibrox last year, unjustifiably so, I felt, and Kenny is obviously feeling that sense of injustice as well.

“So we need the disciplinary procedure spelt out to us in black and white.

“You do have a spell after the game when you are speaking to your players and then you go out and speak to the press so you do have time (to calm down) but at times managers tell the truth.

“I don’t know if Kenny was offensive in any way in his post-match interview or to the referee, but we will end up talking in cliches then because we will be protecting ourselves.”

Lennon admits it would be “fair to say” Celtic fans will see a different side start against the Red Lichties than they will against Spartak Moscow in their Champions League Group G decider at Parkhead next Wednesday night.

The Hoops need a better result against the Russians than Benfica get against Barcelona in the Nou Camp.

The former Celtic skipper said: “Obviously we have Spartak in mind but I will be putting out a strong team tomorrow.

“It is important to keep momentum going for Wednesday night.

“There are players ready to play and Emilio Izaguirre and Thomas Rogne will come into contention.

“But there will be players who play tomorrow who also play on Wednesday night.

“I am not going to change 11 players just for the sake of it. I want to progress in this competition, I don’t want to throw all my eggs into one basket.

“But there will be plenty of players having a rest between now and Wednesday.

“The Spartak game is certainly defining in terms of qualification for the last 16 but that is just the one competition.

“There is a lot of football to be played, we are not even halfway through the domestic calendar yet.

“But in terms of European football, it is a defining game, it will differentiate whether we play in the Europa League or the Champions League and we would all want to be in the Champions League.

“It is out of our hands to a certain extent.

“What we have to do is win the game and make Benfica win in the Nou Camp and if they do that then credit to them.”