BRENDAN Rodgers, the Celtic manager, last night suggested Craig Levein, his opposite number at Hearts, may have landed himself in trouble with the Scottish Football Association for his latest comments about Scott Brown, his captain.
Levein has become embroiled in a war of words with Rodgers and Brown since a Ladbrokes Premiership match at Parkhead last month and that intensified with some further exchanges yesterday.
The Tynecastle manager claimed that Brown had deliberately got himself booked against Kilmarnock on Saturday so he could serve a suspension and be available for the league meeting with Rangers at Ibrox next month.
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However, Rodgers later described his counterpart as “obsessed” and predicted that publicly questioning the integrity of the Scottish champions’ captain may lead to him being cited by SFA compliance officer Tony McGlennan on a disrepute charge.
“He is obviously fairly obsessed by our captain,” he said. “It is a credit to Scott that you’ve got another manager, who is not even playing against him, talking about him. I don’t think you need to say any more.
“If that is what has been said – and I haven’t seen it yet so I have to see it – then he might have something to answer on that.”
Levein called for players to be given greater protection from Brown by referees after Harry Cochrane suffered a bruised collarbone following a robust challenge by the midfielder in the 3-1 defeat Hearts suffered at Celtic Park last month.
Rodgers responded by questioning whether Cochrane, who is just 16, should have been played in a game against a Champions League club away from home and Brown accused Levein of getting him booked by the match official at Rugby Park at the weekend.
But as he looked ahead to his side’s William Hill Scottish Cup fifth round match at Tynecastle tomorrow, Levein said: “Scott Brown said last week that he got booked because of me bringing attention to his proclivity to foul people. I disagree with that completely.
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"I think if you look and see if Scott didn't get booked against Kilmarnock last week and he got booked against St Johnstone then he would have missed the Rangers game. I'll leave you to deduce what that means.
“I'm just pointing out one thing, that's all. I'm just pointing it out as a retort to his statement last week that it was me that got him booked. I think you'll find his intentions were to always get booked in that game so he doesn't miss the Rangers game.
"It happens all the time. Anyone who is sensible would look at the situation if there's a particular game they want to play in and they only need to get booked to miss a game prior to that. I did it myself when I was playing. It happens."
Levein, whose side ended Celtic’s record 69 game unbeaten domestic run with a 4-0 triumph at Tynecastle in December, denied he was deliberately trying to antagonise Brown and Rodgers.
“I'm not trying to get under people's skin, I'm just pointing out things that are obvious, that's all," he said. "I'm doing what I think is the right thing for this football club, for my football club.
"People say things and have said things in the past that I think are having a go at the club for whatever reason and I don't like that. I feel my position in the managerial role is to stand up for the club so I'm going to do that."
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