SFA impose unprecedented 6 match ban on Celtic boss Lennon
Interesting to see the reasoning behind the length
The SFA have announced that Celtic boss Neil Lennon will be banned from the dug-out for 6 matches. This is the first time the Celtic manager has been in front of the SFA disciplinary panel as a boss and the punishment is far in excess of what is customary handed out to other managers.
Either Neil Lennon was unbelievably out of order at Tynecastle, and if he was, the SFA are duty bound to state what the manager did or this is a completely draconian punishment handed out by the SFA to punish Lennon for other issues.
The standard initial punishment for any manager is a two match ban and then when they next offend, a two match ban plus an additional two matches (making four) is the punishment. There was the likelihood of a 4 match ban being handed to Lennon due to the complaint made by Craig Thomson but a 6 match ban was not foreseen by anyone.
The ironic thing is that television evidence, not for the first time this season, proved Lennon to be right when Thomson badly ignored a blatant handball by a Hearts defender. Celtic were trailing 2-0 at Tynecastle and this award would have afforded Celtic an opportunity to get back into the match.
However, even the fact that television evidence proved Lennon correct did not excuse his actions. The manager lost his top, like many other managers and was rightly sent to the stand, exactly the same as any other manager would have been. Jim Jefferies and Mark McGhee have been notable casualties from the dug-out this season.
If the extra comments made by ref Thomson in his match report were deemed valid then again, Neil Lennon would have been correctly punished by a 4 match ban.
However, a 6 match ban once again proves the problems at the SFA and the lack of transparency in everything they do. This decision will have made a lot of people happy as there has been a baying for Lennon’s blood throughout the campaign but the reasoning behind the 6 match must be outlined.
Otherwise, the actions of the SFA are likely to cause greater ructions in Scottish football.
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