Coverage of Neil Lennon’s press conference was curated to show the manager angry and apparently confused about the health of his squad. The reason for his anger was omitted from the snippets available online yesterday afternoon, then mocked by those who should know better.
Neil clearly explained what upset him (full transcript from GlasgowLive). The country is following medical advice to maintain a 2m social distance. Football has followed this rule and it was the determining factor in isolating Ryan Christie and Kieran Tierney when they were within 2m of infected Stuart Armstrong with Scotland in October. Only Christie and Tierney had to isolate as the rest of the squad were not within 2m of Armstrong for any period of time.
Clubs across the UK have made travel arrangements accordingly, keeping a 2m distance between players where possible, or accepting the risk if packing them in any tighter. The 2m rule has been absolute and continues to feature in public health adverts.
What happened politically after Celtic left for Dubai is why you saw an angry Celtic manager yesterday.
On 5 January, Nicola Sturgeon used her daily PR conference to reference photographs of Celtic players in Dubai poolside, and while admitting she had no actual information to backup what she was saying, questioned if Celtic were following her rules. Celtic were following the rules, but that is irrelevant to the Show Trial the First Minister launched.
As Neil Lennon explained, the Scottish Government turned on Celtic, creating a brand new 3m rule for them, while every other club in Scotland with a positive case has been asked to observe a 2m rule.
This is the reason our number of excluded players was as high for the Hibs and Livi games. It is the reason we were subsequently forced to keep players 3m apart when travelling, or 3 players to a 52 seater bus. The rule change was not announced by the First Minister at her PR conferences and has not been forced on any other club, it was delivered below the radar on a vulnerable club with a baying mob (including former players who care nothing for us) ready to lap it up.
Despite the acres of gorging media coverage, no one has solicited a comment on Neil’s claim from the Scottish Government. The Celtic manager appears in front of the country’s media to explain how the Government apply one rule to Celtic and another to the rest of the country, and the headlines are all about his anger! Do you want Tony ‘Take it on the chin’ instead?
The First Minister is on the hook for this. She promised action on Celtic despite knowing they followed her rules, and she followed through with this 3m punishment. It keeps eyes away from her day job. But Neil did the inverted commas sign and he’s having a nightmare season, so some would rather mock, speculate about his mental health or drinking habits. I hope it’s worth the clicks.
Maybe my views were forged when the SFA’s Jim Farry had one rule for Celtic and another for everyone else, but I think the only acceptable reaction to this from a Celtic manager or supporter is seething anger. This is no different in execution or consequence.
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Eddie Howe not for me Is he the height of our ambition , Was hoping for better than Eddie Howe .
I wonder if BR would have still been here had the ceo not interfered in his business . Sad to see Lenny get so much grief , for years we have been hoping for someone to take these people on. He got a bit too fiery no doubt , but it was nothing to what they have dished out to him . Still it will keep the cowards who run our club in the bunker till this blows over , They are the people who have allowed the persecution of our club to continue . Clear them out along with Lenny and his coaching team . Time to rebuild HH
MADMITCH on 19TH JANUARY 2021 2:31 PM
Once we stop kneeling for George Floyd can we start to kneel for Sheku Bayoh?
No wonder Not-Jacinda wants to go after football.
The record of her government is shameful.
Stuff happens in broad daylight and nobody seems to care.
This is not the Deep South of the US.
It is the Deep Fife of modern Scotland.
————
EMBRAMIKE on 19TH JANUARY 2021 3:27 PM
Interesting comment from today’s Scottish Financial News …
The administrators of Rangers FC who were maliciously prosecuted have been paid more than £20 million, The National reports.
Mr Whitehouse and Mr Clark were appointed as administrators of Rangers in February 2012 and the club was liquidated in October that year, shortly before both left their positions.
——–
Two posts describing two very different events ….
…. but the same root cause.
Racism in Scottish Criminal Justice establishment.
Will the FM be questioned vigorously on either tomorrow?
Of course not.
The morally corrupt SMSM (funded by some of our own) won’t go near it.
Hail hail
Keep The Faith
Re. 👆 it’s a parody account.
P8DDY on 19TH JANUARY 2021 3:40 PM
How do you call out hypocrisy and double standards without referring to other instances (‘whataboutery’)?
P8DDY on 19TH JANUARY 2021 3:40 PM
Excellent post sir!
IniquitousIV
Ding Dong
Coneybhoy
Thanks for that, cheers. Lenny confirmed yesterday that there were 60 in the party, which – given there are 19 rows of seats, means 3 passengers per row.
The seat pitch is interesting, and might explain the whole bourach. 62 inches is 1.5748m according to DBBIA’s calculator. If PHS has calculated on the basis of two rows forward and back, you get a possible explanation of the 3 metre thing.
Of course, it’s only 3 metres distance (3.15m) if each player’s head was strapped to the back of the seat for the 8 hours in each direction. Reality is the space between (say) row 5 and row 7 is 62″, so you need to go to row 8 to stay outside the 2m, hence the two rows for contacts capture.
With 3 folk per row (FFS!!!), that’s 14 close contacts plus the infected individual.
Hey ho. I doubt we’ll get any such information from the club, but it might have helped avoid a bit of a circus.
JimBob
Thanks. My wife told me within 10 seconds of reading it. I’m currently getting slaughtered for my gullibility 🤣 I typed up a disclaimer almost immediately, went for a half hour walk only to discover I hadn’t pressed the POST COMMENT key. Hence my later post above. Sheesh! Lockdown is not being kind to me.
Let’s all do the conga
THE BATTERED BUNNET on 19TH JANUARY 2021 3:52 PM
Is the 2/3m thing about how you should physically distance in order to minimise the risk of infection, or about who should require to self isolate following a positive test?
ERNIE LYNCH on 19TH JANUARY 2021 3:50 PM
Yes, excellent point. ‘Whataboutery’ can be easily used to shut down legitimate grievances and is classic example of how a wronged party can be put on the defensive.
TOSB,
Don’t be too hard on yourself mate, everyone is a bit tetchy at the moment.
But Jim Traynor….???!!!!
;-)))))
Take care bud.
TOSB
At the moment I am inclined to believe anything and nothing.
It would have explained quite a lot of what has happened :))))
Ernie, as I understand it, both, per https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-how-contact-tracing-works/#:~:text=A%20close%20contact%20can%20be,for%20longer%20than%2015%20minutes.
Who is a close contact?
A close contact can be defined as someone living in the same household, someone who had direct or physical contact with an infected person for any length of time, or someone who has remained within two metres of the individual who has tested positive, for longer than 15 minutes.
What advice is given to close contacts?
Close contacts of positive cases are asked to self-isolate to prevent onward spread of the virus.
The longer the Eddie Howe saga goes on ,the more I think it’s not going to happen,Mark Hughes is one that could happen.
here mate, hiv sum wevver
https://twitter.com/i/status/1351430541086756864
P8DDY on 19TH JANUARY 2021 3:40 PM
………….
I MAY have been wrong about many things in my life…but I certainly am NOT ” ASHAMED of Myself” regarding Celtic and/or Neil Lennon.
I shot from the hip once as a very young and inexperienced criminal justice manager. I was full of righteous indignation about a few things and let the recipients know. My rant cost ten young men with offending backgrounds – who would have been otherwise excluded from employment – apprenticeships at a big company. Massive lesson learned.
I agree with a lot of what the manager said yesterday and he was certainly stitched up with the way a lot of the comments were edited and put together to make him look like he was contradicting himself, when he wasnt.
But, there is a way of doing things and his presser yesterday was not it I’m afraid. No way am I going to hammer the man as he is still and always will be a Celtic legend to me and most others, but this did not strike me like a goal orientated course of action. I suspect he has gone rogue, especially as Celtic FC have not issued any footage of it.
We know the forces at play in this country and yes, they do need to be called out at times but on this occasion, its all wrong. He was firing from a position of extreme weakness, not strength.
Few twists in the title race for me yet tbh. We’re huge outsiders but there is still some way to go. NL should have been taken out of the firing line after Ferencvaros, or Sparta debacles, but we are not chasing Liverpool or Bayern Munich here. Get on a run of form imminently and lets see what happens.
TJ
THE BATTERED BUNNET on 19TH JANUARY 2021 4:02 PM
So if it’s two metres for fifteen minutes, what’s the distance for eight hours, or whatever the duration of the flight was, for the purpose of deciding who has to self isolate?
Saint Stivs
Watched the whole thing but have no idea what the weather is going to be.
Away to lie down.
Mark Hughes, you’re having a laugh surely. Nice guy, great player but as manager he’s a serial loser, check his record.
My choice woulld be Steve Clark, theN Howe
SCHUMMI
Did The Pilots on Celtics trip to and from Dubai…keep a social distance from the Co Pilots ? Did the Polits and Co Pilots keep a social distance from those sexy Air Stewardess’s
Just asking ?
HH.
henriks hat-trick humps ra hertz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GkF_oXB7XI
So many things that were good.
Thommo free trick delivery for a classic hang in the air henrik heidie.
Thommo picking the ball up edge of our own box and runs the length of the pitch, with a hop and a skip and a delivery that is one of my most unforgettable passes, for another world class finish.
Henke winning the ball in the circle them a layoff to road runner agathe, beep beep, and he is on the end with wonderful in the box movements.
It was a night of magic
Ernie, as far as I’m aware, it’s 2m for 15 minutes or more within any 24 hour period. Doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s 10 minutes each way on the train, 2 hours down the pub or 8 hours on a flight.
IniquitousIV- many thanks, the weather is a fascinating subject…😜
Malcolm Tucker spotted at Celtic Park…..
Airplane- Another Sequel,……
ERNIE LYNCH on 19TH JANUARY 2021 3:31 PM
BIG GEORGES FAN CLUB – HAIL, HAIL, WEE OSCAR on 19TH JANUARY 2021 3:28 PM
People less inclined to use buses and trains though
————————-
Very true.
I see six-carriage trains every day (Ok – on the days I go for a walk, so most days) bombing through on the main Glasgow – Edinburgh line with absolutely not a single human being on board other than the driver.
HH
BGFC
A wee tune for Big Jimmy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUpDslHSLbU&ab_channel=DannyB.Harvey
HH
BGFC
” Malcolm Tucker: “How are the hacks?” Steve Fleming: “Ready to eat their own c*cks.” “They’re only journalists, they’re not Rangers supporters.” Malcolm Tucker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnbOKH9Oe9s&feature=youtu.bec
SAINT STIVS on 19TH JANUARY 2021 4:19 PM
……….
Thanks for the video mate..it was great to see Celtic and wee Henke once again in full flow that night.
HH
Muck was flying in all directions yesterday at Lenny’s press conference and it will be interesting to see if some his allegations will get the backing from the club’s men at the top. We should hope so.
All of a sudden media outlets throughout these islands who normally wouldn’t give Celtic football club or the Scottish game a mention have dived into this media frenzy. So Celtic is a big football club after all.
Good to get back to football tomorrow night and with a full team to chose from. Surprised that young Welsh was not retained for the game on Saturday thought he did well against Hibs with Duffy. Changed times when the makeshift Hoops come in for some criticsm after two clean sheets. back to winning ways hopefully tomorrow night.
Just seen St Johnstone’s Head of Ops has dismissed NL’s “completely inaccurate and unfounded comments”
Lots of collateral damage from this
TJ
Noticed St Johnstone posted a statement refuting yesterday’s press conference
BIG GEORGES FAN CLUB – HAIL, HAIL, WEE OSCAR on 19TH JANUARY 2021 4:32 PM
……………..
Superb stuff mate.
BOTH those Babes are just my height and weight.
WOW !
HH.
MARTIN42 on 19TH JANUARY 2021 2:38 PM
Couldn’t agree with you more bud, a typical keyboard warrior, insulting people – in this case Paul – who he knows will not respond to personal attacks – very brave of him.
How would anyone from St Johnstone KNOW what the Scot Gov told Celtic on the morning of January 2nd ?
Do St Johnstone have Celtics emails and/or phones TAPPED ?
That mob would have went to Dubai in Feckin Tractors anyway !