Neil Lennon feels he must win cup to have chance of keeping Celtic job

CELTIC manager Neil Lennon believes his future at the club could be dependent on the outcome of the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden this afternoon.

Despite a groundswell of support from both his players and the Celtic fans for Lennon to extend his tenure, the 39-year-old is yet to receive any clarification from the club's board regarding his position.

Lennon insists he is "relaxed" about the situation as he waits to find out if his rolling contract, due for renewal at the end of the month, will be extended. But after losing out to Rangers in both the SPL title race and League Cup final this season, he admits victory over Motherwell in today's Scottish Cup showpiece could hold the key to him remaining in charge for the 2011-12 campaign.

"I wouldn't be so presumptuous as to think it has already been decided," said Lennon. "But if we win the Scottish Cup, then it will certainly help. We'll probably know sometime next week, or the week after that, what's happening with me.

"I'm quite relaxed about things either way. Basically, my full focus this week has been on this cup final. The board have always maintained that they will do what they do every year.

"They will sit down with the manager at the end of the season and discuss whether I take it forward, or whether it should be someone else.

"It would obviously be good for me to get the first trophy won as manager. If you finish the season with nothing, there will be questions asked and fingers pointed. I understand that. It's just the nature of the job.

"So we have to play as well as we can in this final. But it's not just for my position. The players will want a trophy, they'll want medals to show for their efforts this season.

"The supporters will want it as well. To finish the season with nothing would be hugely disappointing."

As he looks to end his first full season in charge of Celtic on a high note, Lennon has also hit back at outgoing Rangers manager Walter Smith for his parting shot at the Parkhead club. In the aftermath of last Sunday's SPL title success at the expense of Lennon's team, Smith claimed Celtic had "set the tone" for the negative atmosphere which has plagued Scottish football this season.

According to Smith, Celtic's feud with the SFA following referee Dougie McDonald's controversial rescindment of a penalty award at Tannadice was the catalyst for the chain of events which have subsequently made back and front page headlines.

It is a view Lennon completely refuted yesterday as he expressed his dismay at Smith's comments and insisted the SFA is responsible for the problems.

"I didn't think a lot of his comments at all," said Lennon. "I was disappointed by it. He (Smith] could have spoke to me about it first. He had plenty of opportunities to do that. I didn't think there was any real need for it either."I think he's wrong, he's totally wrong. Listen, I went into a referee's room (at Tannadice] and the guy (McDonald] didn't tell me the truth. Then his assistant (Steven Craven] came out two days later and blew the whistle on him. I didn't, our club didn't. They did.

"How have I done that? Have I fuelled it? What set the tone? So if another manager had gone in, and the whole thing got exposed, would they be pleased about it? Would they? Then there were cover-ups and non-truths. It led me to think 'Well, I'm not the first Celtic manager not to be told the truth'. You know, I wasn't even going to go into the room that day. It was the SPL match delegate who told me just to go in and get a clarification on it.

"Our club were just looking for transparency. I don't think that's a lot to ask for. I mean, you are being lied to. It's not even a major lie, but it just grew and grew and grew into something they created themselves.

"I could pick up a lot of points. I went to an SFA disciplinary hearing for the first time and got a six-game ban. The SFA president (George Peat] was there and was in and out of the meeting. Is that right or wrong? Should he be there? He's got a right to be there but was he at other disciplinary meetings this year? So then we had to bring in legal advice to say it was fundamentally wrong, what they did in the disciplinary meeting. If I see unfairness or something I don't think is right, then I will speak up about it. I don't see anything wrong with that. If any other manager wants to do it for his club, then I don't see anything wrong with that either. If I get criticised for it, fine. You get criticised for doing things as the Celtic manager anyway. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't."