Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Celtic manager Neil Lennon hit by fan


Celtic manager Neil Lennon has been hit by a spectator during a Scottish Premier League game against Hearts at Tynecastle in Edinburgh.
The fan clambered from the Hearts section of the main stand after Celtic's second goal and made for the Celtic boss who was on the touchline.
He connected with Lennon before being bundled to the ground and arrested.
Earlier this season parcel bombs addressed to Lennon, his lawyer and a politician were intercepted by police.
Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan issued a statement, saying: "Clearly this kind of behaviour from supporters is wholly unacceptable.
"The safety of players, club officials and match officials is paramount on or around the field of play, and this clear breach of security is a matter I will be discussing with SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster tomorrow."
Mr Doncaster said he was "shocked and appalled" by the incident.
He said the incident would be investigated thoroughly.
Celtic won the game 3-0 to ensure the SPL title race goes to the final day.
The incident occurred after their second goal, in the 49th minute.
The supporter ran along the touchline towards Lennon and clearly made contact with the Celtic manager before being pushed to the ground by police and stewards, handcuffed and bundled out of the stadium.
Trouble then broke out in the Celtic section of the ground between fans and police.
The Celtic manager looked stunned after the attack but was uninjured.
Hearts vowed to give its full co-operation to the authorities during the investigation into the incident.
A club statement said: "An investigation into events which took place in the second half of tonight's game against Celtic is now under way.
"Hearts is a club which prides itself on its 'football for all' policy and these sorts of actions have no place in the game of football."
Former Northern Ireland player Lennon has been in the headlines regularly this season.
In January a package addressed to him containing bullets was intercepted at a sorting office in Country Antrim.
In March, the club confirmed Lennon was under 24-hour security surveillance after a suspicious package was intercepted at a Royal Mail sorting office in Saltcoats, Ayrshire.
On 19 April it emerged that Royal Mail intercepted a total of two "viable" parcel bombs addressed to Lennon

No comments:

Post a Comment