Celtic take on SFA again to claim Neil Lennon bans must be concurrent

Celtic stated last night that they did not challenge the four-match suspension received by Lennon over his clash with Rangers assistant manager Ally McCoist during the recent ill-tempered Scottish Cup tie to take into consideration "the wider interests of the club and Scottish football".

But they also declared that Lennon would be serving the ban concurrently with an earlier suspension, also four matches, the second of which was last night's Scottish Cup clash at Inverness. The SFA's position is understood to be that both bans will run consecutively, meaning Lennon would sit out a total of eight matches.

Lennon's first ban came following his dismissal against Hearts in November, and subsequent reaction, which saw his automatic ban doubled for "excessive misconduct" in a decision finally reached following an appeal earlier this month.

His second ban was triggered when he was charged with misconduct following his angry reaction to comments made by McCoist at the end of Celtic's 1-0 Scottish Cup win on 2 March.

Celtic last night issued a statement which read: "Celtic Football Club confirms that Neil Lennon has not challenged the imposition of an automatic four-match suspension arising from the Celtic v Rangers match on March 2.

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"Neil and the club have decided, in the wider interests of the club and Scottish football, not to appeal against the imposition of the ban, or the reasons for it.

"In accordance with the SFA's disciplinary procedures and the SFA's original intimation of the ban issued on March 9, Neil will be serving this suspension concurrently with his existing suspension. He will therefore not be in the dugout for the four Celtic first-team matches from and including the game against Inverness Caledonian Thistle this evening."

The SFA rules on disciplinary procedures for club officials' misconduct states that "a suspension will be imposed from the 14th day following the date of the match when the misconduct occurred". With Lennon having served one game of his first ban, this would mean his total number of matches in the stand would be five instead of eight if the bans are concurrent. Had Celtic lodged an appeal yesterday against their manager's latest ban, this would have delayed the start of any punishment until the SFA disciplinary committee next meets on 12 April – by which time the first ban would have been served, and the two punishments could not have been served concurrently.

The differing interpretations of the bans mean Celtic and the SFA are set for another dispute in a season of tension between the organisations.

The pair have clashed over referees, most notably when the SFA failed to act against Dougie McDonald following his confession he lied to Lennon over the circumstances surrounding his decision to rescind a penalty for Celtic. The club have also complained about the disciplinary procedures, although SFA chief executive Stewart Regan has vowed to reform the system.

Rangers earlier appealed against the two-match ban handed to McCoist for his part in the disagreement, and he is free to take his place in the dug-out at the Co-operative Insurance Cup final against Celtic on Sunday. His appeal is due to be heard on 12 April.

The Celtic manager was handed double the punishment of McCoist because it was his second offence in the relevant period.