Neil Lennon was always likely to be the central figure here, but not in this way, not as the victim of an attempted assault.
The game had become an untroubled occasion for Celtic, with Gary Hooper’s second goal emphasising their control, and the Parkhead manager barely even celebrated the strike. But then a lone supporter ran out from the stand next to the Celtic dugout and reached Lennon just as he was hauled down by Alan Thompson, before stewards arrived.
Lennon landed several kicks on the grounded man before he was dragged back by Thompson and Johan Mjallby. Once the police hauled the assailant away, and some kind of order returned on the field, what suddenly reared around Tynecastle was a vicious intensity.
In the directors box, three individuals were singled out by stewards, and reacted with fury before then approaching Dr John Reid, the Celtic chairman, to smooth out whatever the disturbance had been.
Then in the away end, Celtic fans began to fight with police and stewards as some were pulled from of their seats and dragged out of one of the exits. It prompted a fierce, almost visceral chant in support of the IRA, which in turn caused a tumult around the stadium. There had been similar chants earlier, with the home fans responding by singing The Billy Boys, but that dark edge had diminished.
Now it returned, full of vengeance and aggression, and it seemed once more that what was taking place on the field bore no relation to what was happening around it. A flare was let off during the commotion and it was only by the time the green smoke had carried off into the dark sky that some of the fury dissipated, too. It had been nasty, but also short-lived.
Even before it began, so much of the drama of this game was focused on Lennon. As he watched his side warm-up, the Hearts fans sang about how much they hated him. It is this exposed figure, one who generates a harsh vehemence, that Lennon has become this season, while Celtic supporters see him as a presence to gather behind.
He is an unabashed, forthright character, forever fighting his corner. There will always be excesses in such an adamant personality, and Lennon’s last visit to Tynecastle saw him sent to the stand by referee Craig Thomson, who was in charge again last night. Jim Jefferies was also riled by Lennon’s observation that Rangers’ recent opponents, including Hearts, had not competed against them.
The Celtic manager claimed that he was misrepresented, and he and the Hearts manager walked out of the tunnel together, their arms around each other, laughing. Lennon then looked up to the director’s box, where Reid responded with a salute, and Peter Lawwell gave the thumbs up.
They replaced an almost ambivalent manager in Tony Mowbray with a hard, feisty character, but they could not have foreseen how the divisiveness of Lennon would prompt parcel bombs and now an attempted assault.
Lennon, too, must wonder if it is worth the threat; particularly if he cannot be safe even on the touchline. After the final whistle, he walked on to the pitch and towards the Celtic fans, who chanted his name.
As he raised his hands to applaud them, he was followed by two policemen, two stewards and a stern-faced man wearing a suit and a Celtic training jacket. It seemed sad, alarming even, that he needed to be protected; that this is what the Scottish game has come to.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article