Neil Lennon was absolutely fizzing last night as he slammed Motherwell coach Maurice Ross for his anti-Celtic comments on Sportsound.
Ross was speaking on Sunday’s edition of BBC Sportsound as he questioned the fitness of both Leigh Griffiths and Albian Ajeti. He also stated that Celtic’s line-up against Rangers was their weakest in 20 years. It wasn’t a particularly good look for a coach at a Premiership club as he said the following:
“I think Celtic have a good squad but that starting eleven was probably the weakest I’ve seen from them in 20 years. I think the formation played into Rangers’ hands also.
“Griffiths, struggling for fitness? How long does he take to get fit that boy, Ajeti? It takes you six weeks to get fully fit, but pre-season is normally four weeks and we are four months into it now. How can you not be fit? What are you doing?”
And it’s clear Lennon was raging with the comments when he spoke to the press yesterday. The Celtic boss has labeled Ross’ words “embarrassing” and has revealed Motherwell’s Stephen Robinson even contacted him up personally to apologise.
As quoted by the Scottish Sun, Lennon said: “I was surprised and very disappointed. Stephen contacted me to apologise profusely. He found it embarrassing. I think Motherwell, as a club, have really good people there and they found it embarrassing as well.
“And to be honest with you, I found the comments embarrassing for Maurice rather than anyone else. He’s an employee of another Premiership team and I don’t think he should be making any comment at all on any other team or any other players.
“The comments, in particular on Ajeti, on Griffiths, on the money that Shane Duffy may or may not be on, I think were abysmal. There is a professional standard, a professional etiquette, a professional respect and I think Maurice was lacking in all three of those.”
Not a good look for a Premiership club
It’s not so much what Ross says that’s ridiculous, it’s the position he holds combined with those comments that makes this embarrassing.
We’re talking about a coach of another Premiership club. It’s ridiculous to think that he could be sitting in studios talking about other squads being at their weakest for 20 years. It doesn’t reflect well on Motherwell as a club, and it’s clear they know that.
It’s like John Kennedy sitting on BBC Sportsound talking about how bad Aberdeen are and questioning their methods when it comes to building up players’ fitness levels. It’s not on for a professional coach.
Credit to Motherwell boss Robinson for giving Lennon the courtesy of contacting him and apologising for his staff member’s behaviour. You have to expect Ross will now be punished by his club for this. It’s easy to see how excited he got at the fact Rangers beat Celtic on Saturday.
You have to show a bit of respect to all opposition clubs in the league. Ross failed to do that, and spoke too much like a Rangers supporter who was gleeful with the result.
Lennon was absolutely spot on to be infuriated with the lack of professionalism here – regardless of whether Ross was right with anything he said. Yesterday, 67HH writer John McGinley called on Lennon to show some of the old passion and fight we seen during his first spell as manager. It looks like he’s finally starting to do just that.
In other news, we provide our predicted XI for tonight’s mammoth clash with AC Milan.
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