Early kick-off for TV concerns Lennon

NEIL LENNON has expressed his fears that tonight’s 6pm kick off against Udinese may see Celtic Park lack some of its renowned vibrancy on European nights.

Uefa have staggered the kick-off times for Europa League group stage fixtures in order to maximise income from live television coverage.

Celtic’s game against their Italian opponents has been scheduled for the early evening slot, while the other Serie A club in the competition, Lazio, face Sporting Lisbon in one of the fixtures starting at 8.05pm.

Parkhead is expected to be well short of its 60,000 capacity tonight with Celtic still actively promoting ticket sales, at £28 each for adults and £17 for concessions, for the game which will be televised live on ESPN.

“There’s a danger it might take some of the shine off it,” admitted Celtic manager Lennon. “But, as Sir Alex Ferguson says, television dictates your kick-off times sometimes.”

Manchester United manager Ferguson was heavily critical of television’s control over fixture scheduling in an interview last week.

“When you shake hands with the devil you have to pay the price,” said Ferguson.

“Television is God at the moment and has too much power. It shows itself quite clearly because when you see the fixture lists come out now, they can pick and choose whenever they want the top teams on television.”

Despite the early evening start at Celtic Park, which may inconvenience many supporters, Lennon is still hopeful his team can play a role in creating a positive atmosphere.

The match is one which, realistically, they must win to retain any serious hope of qualification for the knockout stages.

“The European nights are fantastic and I think it is down to the players to set the tone,” Lennon added.

“The supporters will respond to that so we will try to get on the front foot.

“I think it’s a game to whet the players’ appetite.

“It’s a home game, so the advantage is with us and, if we have the backing of the supporters then you never know where it could take us.

“The kick off time is a bit different, but from our point of view it just brings the preparations forward a couple of hours or so, that’s all.

“We are preparing for 6 o’clock and, hopefully, we can get a good crowd in and get the atmosphere going. That’s all we can do.”