Neil Lennon: Rules are rules, Old Firm should not be ‘special case’

CELTIC manager Neil Lennon insists his Rangers counterpart, Ally McCoist, is wrong to claim the Old Firm should be treated as special cases by the Scottish football authorities because of their disproportionately large commercial value to the sport in this country.

The Scottish Premier League clubs will meet at Hampden today to vote on proposed new regulations which would be applied to clubs which suffer insolvency events. Rangers, who have been in administration since 14 February and are still under serious threat of liquidation, would be the first to suffer from any new sanctions passed. They include a ten-point deduction and loss of 75 per cent of SPL income for two years for any liquidated club which retains its top flight status as a ‘newco’.

McCoist last week railed against the punishments imposed on Rangers by an SFA Judicial Panel, including a 12-month transfer embargo, and suggested that the Old Firm clubs should receive special dispensation on account of their size and importance to Scottish football’s value for sponsors and broadcasters.

But Lennon, who savoured Celtic’s convincing 3-0 defeat of Rangers at Parkhead yesterday in the final Old Firm fixture of the season, firmly countered McCoist’s argument and made it clear he feels the Ibrox club merit any punishment meted out to them by the SFA and SPL.

“No, I don’t agree with Ally, not if you break the rules, not if you break the law or the laws of football,” said Lennon. “There is an issue of moral sporting integrity as well. I understand Ally’s point to a certain extent, but if you have flouted the laws in the capacity they have, then I would imagine the powers-that-be will punish you accordingly.

“It’s out of my hands. If you break the rules, then you should expect to be punished. I cannot comment on what’s been going on at another club. The powers-that-be will deal with it as they see fit. It’s not my place to talk about the outcome of whatever sanctions they are going to get. I’ll leave it to other people to do that. ”

Lennon admitted he would miss the competitive element provided by the Old Firm rivalry in the event of Rangers’ ultimate demise, if not everything which surrounds the matches against his greatest rivals in his current capacity.

“As a player, you would miss them terribly,” added Lennon. “As a manager, they are horrible. Honestly, even today when there is no real pressure on the game. You are always apprehensive going into it. The build-up is a week in advance and then there’s the fall-out. But I don’t want to see the back of the fixture, because it really ups the ante. I’ve got to say that both sets of supporters today were fantastic. There was a lot of humour going around out there and that’s really what we want to see. We don’t want to see the other side, the nastiness. Both sets of supporters were a credit to their clubs today.”

Lennon was hugely satisfied by the manner of Celtic’s victory yesterday, achieved through three fine goals by Charlie Mulgrew, Kris Commons and Gary Hooper. He believes it was the perfect response to those who have questioned his team’s ability to win their highest profile matches. Lennon also dismissed talk of Celtic’s title win being undermined by Rangers’ financial crisis.

“People have thrown it at us, that we can’t handle the big games,” he said. “Well, that accusation has been diminished today. I’m very proud of the team. I’m proud of the way they played and the way they passed the ball. We scored three great goals and things we have worked on on the training ground have come to fruition.

“We changed our system to maybe suit some of our better players and it was just a really good day for us. We were brilliant from start to finish. Once we found our feet in the game, we were magnificent. We didn’t need this result. We are the champions and have only lost one game in the league since October. You set a really high standard here if you think we are bottle merchants.

“People in the game and other people outside the game are saying the championship is devalued, it’s tainted. The only way it’s tainted is if you’ve won it and you cheated to win it.

We’ve done nothing wrong. We’ve played the best football, scored the most goals, conceded the fewest goals and have the best disciplinary record in the league. So I think we are worthy champions.”

Although the title was already clinched, Lennon admitted that Celtic felt an obligation to win yesterday after losing 3-2 to Rangers at Ibrox at the end of March.

“We have our pride,” he said. “We were disappointed with the way we started at Ibrox last time. We hadn’t started games against Rangers well in the previous three this season. So it was imperative we got a foothold in the game early on today.

“I thought Scott Brown and Joe Ledley were fantastic in midfield. They covered every blade of grass. They got it in to Kris Commons who was exceptional as well. So they did everything I asked of them today.

“At 3-0, I’m thinking ‘I don’t want Rangers to score and get back into the game’. Everyone else is thinking we can get four or five. But I couldn’t ask any more of my team today. They’ve answered all the questions and shown they are worthy champions.”