Neil Lennon warns of further media blackouts at Celtic

NEIL Lennon will continue to intermittently blank the Scottish media if they do not “get a grip of themselves”. The Celtic manager refused to speak to reporters before and after last weekend’s William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final win over Dundee United at Tannadice.

Lennon, though, told one media outlet before the 4-0 win on Tayside that he was angry at suggestions his club were trying to benefit from the financial woes of administration-hit Rangers.

Speaking at the club’s Lennoxtown training complex yesterday, ahead of tomorrow afternoon’s Scottish Communities League Cup final against Kilmarnock at Hampden, Lennon was asked if he believed Celtic had been unnecessarily dragged into Rangers’ problems.

“Yes, spot on,” he said.

“I have not been happy with some of the coverage our club has been getting.

“Unless attitudes from some journalists change to myself and the club I will continue to refuse to speak to them.

“I am as professional as possible with the press and give them the respect that I think should be reciprocated but at times I don’t think it is.

“It is up to some people to get a grip of themselves and behave in the professional manner which myself, the club and my players give to them.”

Last week at Tannadice, Lennon had accused some journalists of “muckraking”, saying: “There’s a lot of muckraking going on between some hacks. There’s going to be a lot of media outlets disappointed, because me and the players are not going to be speaking to you.

“We decided not to hold a press conference this week because of all the nonsense going on elsewhere. People [have been] accusing our club of trying to put people out of work at Rangers. It’s in the hands of our legal team and it’s probably best not to talk about it.

“We’re going to get our heads down, not look at a newspaper. We want to talk about football and the achievements. We’ll maintain that for the rest of the season.”