The one subject that had Celtic boss Lennon annoyed today

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There was one subject today which clearly rankled with Celtic boss Neil Lennon.

Today’s pre-match press conference for tomorrow’s clash against St Mirren in Paisley was certainly tamer than usual. Back-to-back wins will do that of course, as the Hoops look to continue their positive momentum.

However, the Celtic manager couldn’t hide his frustration when it came to over-the-top online abuse. He was asked today about the situation involving Premier League referee Mike Dean down in England. The famous ref has been granted permission not to referee this weekend after receiving death threats on social media regarding red cards dished out to Southampton and West Ham in recent weeks.

And Lennon today moved to defend Dean from the sickening abuse. Speaking via Celtic TV today, the Hoops boss sent out a rallying cry we can all get behind:

“Absolutely appalling”

“I just think it’s appalling – absolutely appalling. This is again the days we live in. I’m sick of it. I’m fed up with it. I’m fed up with the racist abuse that players are suffering from as well. Or anybody in any walk of life. It’s disgusting.

“For Mike, I just hope he has his family around him, the referee’s association and all the support from managers and players in the game. He’s an excellent referee – he has been for a long, long time. He might’ve made a mistake, or VAR changed his mind, but he made the decision in good faith.

“For him to be subjected to this insulting, threatening behaviour it’s just totally unacceptable. I’ve seen it a lot with these associations talking about social media platforms doing more – but they’re not doing enough to stop this. There’s no accountability and people can basically say what they want. It’s against the law and they don’t know the damage they’re doing to these individuals.”

Celtic boss spot on; not a shred of accountability

There’s a big question to be asked of social media companies here. As to whether they police this kind of hate speech and violent language enough. Given the fact that it still gets thrown around so carelessly is proof that it isn’t.

Lennon knows all about death threats of course. He’s had to suffer countless times from them throughout his time in Glasgow. And that’s both as a player and as a manager of Celtic. In short, he’s had to endure more than any person should.

What’s happened to Mike Dean is absolutely shocking. However, the sad thing about it is that it isn’t unexpected. This is exactly the kind of vitriol people know they can get away with on social media. Only the likes of Twitter, Facebook etc can solve this long-term problem themselves.

People being allowed to delete tweets and think they can forget about it isn’t enough. The damage is more often than not done the moment they post their drivel. At least the emotional damage on the recipient is.

The Celtic boss was clearly angered with this topic today. It was as fired up as he got throughout his press conference and no wonder. It’s a subject that strikes close to home for him, and something that years on he’s still seeing occur to other individuals.

We all hope this kind of hate speech can be eradicated in the long-term. But it’s not going to be done so long as the platforms that allow lowlifes to vent their spew continue to sit on their hands.

In other news, the Celtic fans were left buzzing with a promising Tuesday update.