NEIL LENNON has promised to be on his best behaviour at Tynecastle tonight.

The Celtic manager was sent to the stands by referee Craig Thomson during the acrimonious 2-0 defeat his side suffered on their previous visit to Gorgie Road back in November, but suffice to say he has no intentions of returning to the naughty step this evening.

He plans to avoid causing further provocation, but this may or may not be successful. Some would say the Celtic manager’s only hope of achieving genuine anonymity would be to pull the old Jose Mourinho trick, check in to a hotel room in nearby Haymarket and watch the entire match from the sofa.

“I might have to rein things in a little bit and try not to provoke people,” Lennon said. “We just need to see how the game goes, keep cool and be there for the players. They’re going to need all the support they can get. But the fact I walk out on a football pitch seems to provoke a lot of people. Just my very presence -- so I don’t have to do a lot to get the juices flowing.”

Lennon at Tynecastle is a fixture with a life of its own. The Celtic manager -- named the Clydesdale Bank Premier League manager of the month for April -- is reminiscing about a decade’s worth of trips to Gorgie, journeys which have seldom been dull.

Off the top of his head, there is conceding a last-minute Austin McCann goal in 2003 which led to the last-day Premier League title loss, a 3-0 win in Feburary 2004, where Paul Hartley was applauded from the field for aiming a kick at him, or inadvertently causing a 2-1 defeat in August 2006 when he came off the bench to misdirect a backpass straight to Roman Bednar.

“I remember being four up at half-time once, under Martin O’Neill,” Lennon said, “and a night in the snow once, just after we came back from a winter break. But the flip side of that is when you think of the Austin McCann goal. I also had a 40-yard f****** backpass to Roman Bednar which he scored from -- so there have been good days and bad days.

“I came on as a sub that day and Gordon [Strachan] was well pleased. It worked a treat, I had a lot of sympathy from the Hearts fans! Then in 2004 the crowd applauded Hartley off for kicking me and half my own players must have been applauding as well! Another time Rudi Skacel spat on me. Actually he said he didn’t spit on me. It was only when the picture came out that it proved it.”

Tynecastle can be an ordeal for any opposing manager, with the most vocal section of home fans situated directly behind the perspex dug-out. Throw in those comments about seeing little “evidence” of Motherwell or Hearts being able to give Rangers a game, the intermittent enmity between the two sides, and the possibility of ending a title bid, and the latest meeting between the sides promises to be quite an occasion.

“I’d imagine it will be feisty and I’d imagine the Hearts faithful will be up for the game as will our support,” Lennon said. “It can be edgy between both sets of fans, but it is a good stadium and creates an intense atmosphere. I look forward for the players being able to thrive on that. I haven’t seen too much pressure on the players and no notion that they are intimidated. These guys have played all over the world and in big tournaments. Even if they are young they have handled themselves pretty well this season.”

Lennon’s old foe Skacel will be in the Hearts team again tonight, although the exact composition of the remainder of the Tynecastle team is difficult to guess.

Goalkeeper Marian Kello is likely to return after missing several games as he dealt with a mysterious “private matter”. Captain Marius Zaliukas is due to return after missing the 4-0 defeat at Ibrox on Saturday -- apparently after majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov whisked him off the team bus because he feared he would be sent off by Iain Brines.

Andy Webster and Lee Wallace may be fit to return, and even the man who was sent off by Brines, Icelandic internationalist Eggert Jonsson, is available after Hearts appealed against his suspension.

It has all left Lennon -- who has Glenn Loovens and Cha Du Ri back, meaning only Joe Ledley and Biram Kayal are out -- expressing sympathy for his opposite number Jim Jefferies. “I’ve had no intrusion or interference at all -- just bits and pieces of advice here and there from the board, Peter [Lawwell] and Mr Desmond as well. They’ve given me great counsel this season but never, ever once said ‘You have to play this player’ or ‘You have to do that’.”

Lennon lost leagues twice on the last day as a player -- 2003 and 2005 -- but will feel the agony more acutely if it happens again as a manager. He may have been hoping for something else when the Tynecastle side turned up at Ibrox on Saturday, but he already knows where the blame will lie if his side can’t get over the line.

“It would be a major disappointment to me personally and to the club if we don’t win,” he said. “We feel we’ve played very, very well this season and been very consistent. We were right in there.

“And if we don’t win the league then we will have to look back and say we haven’t done enough in some areas in some games. We will look to redress that next season. But it’s not over yet.”