Football Orphan: Instant Karma is lost on Lennon.
Neil Lennon has finally proved beyond any doubt that he is a liability for Glasgow Celtic. Lennon was sent to the stands just after the half hour mark by Spanish referee Iturralde Gonzalez during a friendly match with Athletic Bilbao last weekend. The Spaniard revealed that Lennon had been berating him for decisions from the first minute. The Ulsterman had also demanded to speak with the referee through the fourth official before a foul mouth tirade culminated in him being ordered off.
This again calls into question the respect or lack of, being shown by the Celtic manager towards match officials. Lennon has stumbled from one disciplinary hearing to the next all season. He was also embroiled in the centre of the referee’s strike that caused mayhem in the SPL earlier this year. Further controversy ensued when Lennon clashed with Glasgow Rangers players and assistant manager Ally McCoist in the Scottish cup earlier in the month. This resulted in Scottish police being brought in to discuss a strategy to contain the aggression of the Old Firm clashes. The number of arrests were significantly higher after the game in question.
The incident at last weekends friendly was described by Lennon as an over reaction by Iturralde, and will not be reported by the Spanish official. This means Lennon will not face any further disciplinary action. This warning must be heeded by the Glasgow giants as alarm bells are surely ringing around the boardroom at Celtic Park. On the football side of things Celtic had been going well this season despite an early exit from European competition. Celtic had been on course for a domestic treble until beaten in the league cup final by bitter rivals Rangers in recent weeks.
Football Orphan: From Russia with love.
Ireland took a massive three points towards qualifying for Euro 2012 last night with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Macedonia. The result at the Aviva Stadium puts Ireland level on top of group B with Russia and Slovakia.
Leaders Russia had earlier been held to a scoreless draw by Armenia, while Slovakia had narrowly beaten Andorra.
A goal in the second minute from Aiden McGeady set Ireland on their way. Soon after Robbie Keane added a second after another bad goalkeeping mistake from Macedonia. At times Ireland looked like world beaters knocking the ball around with ease and were in total control. Maybe this was what Trapattoni was trying to show us all along…..that was until normal service was resumed when just before half time Macedonia equalized.
This instantly brought back memories of the two qualifying games with Israel a few years back, when we shamefully surrendered a two goal lead twice under Brian Kerr. It wasn’t to be this time as Ireland dug deep. It didn’t have to be pretty, but at times Ireland’s wide men Duff and McGeady looked like they had enough fight to go another ninety minutes.
I believe three things were learned last night amid the battle of the Aviva. The first is that we have some fine talent coming through the ranks. The inexperienced players did a sterling job. The second is that regardless of the current climate of the club football of our senior players, they never shirked responsibility. Each one stood up to be counted. Lastly and most importantly, in my opinion Ireland have always had a world-class player on their hands. Last night he came of age. It looks like the move from Glasgow Celtic to Spartak Moscow has really agreed with Aiden McGeady. I just wish he’d have gone to Russia a little earlier!
Football Orphan 