THE Scottish Football Association placed three new charges of misconduct against Neil Lennon, the Celtic manager, last night after his behaviour around the Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Hearts.
Lennon confronted Euan Norris after the referee had awarded a late penalty for a controversial handball decision against Victor Wanyama. Hearts' Craig Beattie scored from the spot to give them a 2-1 win.
Following the match, Lennon used his Twitter account to say that some of the decisions against Celtic in the semi-final had been "personal".
Vincent Lunny, the SFA compliance officer, yesterday issued a notice of complaint, charging Lennon with breaches of disciplinary rules 203, 68 and 71, relating to his conduct towards Norris at the match, criticising the referee via Twitter, and acting in a way that was not in the best interests of football. He has until May 3 to respond to the SFA.
Lennon will complete an existing two-game touchline ban at Sunday's home game against Rangers, a suspension imposed for criticising referee Willie Collum's handling of the Scottish Communities League Cup final loss to Kilmarnock.
He was also sent off by referee Calum Murray at half-time of the Old Firm game at Ibrox on March 25. A Judicial Panel subsequently imposed no further punishment on him for that, deciding that the sending-off was sufficient.
Lennon has one further charge outstanding having made comments about the need for a strong referee ahead of the league game at home to St Johnstone on April 1.
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