Neil Lennon still harbouring sense of injustice as he returns from ban

Those who had expected Neil Lennon to return a changed man after his five-match exile from the touchline were quickly disabused of the notion yesterday.

The Celtic manager re-engaged with pre-match media duties and revealed that the need to occupy a different seat at recent games has not also lent him a new perspective from which to judge his own behaviour. He still maintains he was harshly treated and is concerned at how the football authorities have sought to "demonise" him.

With Celtic's next fixture after tonight's league clash with St Johnstone being Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final meeting with Aberdeen, Lennon created the prospect of a frosty meeting with Craig Brown, the Pittodrie manager, when yesterday remarking that he would be watching closely how the veteran is treated by the Scottish Football Association after his recent spat with Motherwell owner John Boyle. The incident is set to be discussed by the disciplinary committee next month.

Lennon's own touchline clash with Ally McCoist, during a heated Scottish Cup replay with Rangers, saw the manager handed a four-match automatic ban, later reduced to one. This was controversially served at the same time as a suspension for an earlier incident during a game against Hearts last year. He was still protesting his innocence yesterday. "I do not think my role in the cup game was that bad," Lennon said. "There were a lot of people joining in."

He added that he would not do anything differently if given the chance to turn back the clock and said he had received support from both Martin O'Neill and Gordon Strachan, two managerial predecessors at Celtic Park. "The only people who can give you advice on this job are the ones who've done it and they were two of the best Celtic managers in the club's history," he said.

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Lennon insisted Celtic were right to exploit a loophole in the SFA's disciplinary rules which saw the governing body unable to impose an eight-game suspension in total on the manager. "Obviously the ban could have been longer, so we got a result there," he said. "I'm pleased about that." However, Lennon said he will be watching closely to see what action is taken with regard to Brown and Boyle. He suspects the media portrayal of him as a firebrand means he is prejudiced against.

"Is there anything different from what Craig Brown did to what I did?" he asked. "Is there? All these people are telling me I've got to grow up and I need to show more maturity. (But] there is the oldest manager in the game, with 30, 40 years of experience, probably doing a lot worse than what I did. It gets laughed off, I get demonised for it.

"You know what, lads, I am used to it," he added. "I am not looking for sympathy. I am just looking for fairness. That's all. Other managers criticise referees.Am I the only manager to in the world who criticises referees? Sometimes it seemed that way this season."

Lennon said he felt "vindicated" that both bans he has been handed this season ended up being reduced. Asked whether Scottish football will welcome back a different man tonight, when Celtic look to establish a five-point lead over Rangers with victory at McDiarmid Park, Lennon replied: "I wouldn't have thought so."

"I felt, after the Rangers game, that there was an over-reaction," he added. "And I felt that I didn't deserve an extra ban for what happened. But we took it and got on with it. I learned a little bit from that as well. Am I going to change? No. Well, I might not give the referees as hard a time as I used to."

Pressed on this, he back-pedalled slightly. "Well, maybe the fourth official."

Lennon thanked the Parkhead board for the support he had received, but revealed that his future is still no clearer. At present he is on a one-year rolling contract. He remarked that no-one should read too much into the fact he was present at a board meeting as recently as Friday.

"I haven't had any assurances one way or another," Lennon confirmed. "I've always been told that we'll sit down at the end of the season and take things from there. I'm not saying that I need to win the league to keep the job, although I want to do that to repay the faith they've shown in me. I want to bring silverware here.

"There's a good connection at the club from top to bottom and certainly between the players and the supporters so it would be a huge disappointment if we didn't deliver something," he added. "I'm not disappointed because I'd rather not discuss my contract until the end of the season. If we'd held talks earlier it might have been a distraction."

Earlier in the day, Peter Lawwell praised Lennon and said he has brought the thunder back to Celtic.

Lennon made a vow last summer to restore passion to a jaded support after a dismal few months under Tony Mowbray. And despite a humiliating Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Ross County last season and a feeble European campaign this season, Parkhead chief executive Lawwell believes Lennon has worked hard to bring unity back to the club.

He said: "That was the plan, to bring back the thunder, but you never know how things turn out.

"We know Neil well because he has been around the club for a number of years and one of his qualities is his understanding of the support.

"He understands what they need and desire and although we haven't won anything yet we have come on leaps and bounds from this time last season."