NEIL LENNON has strongly criticised a section of his club's support for their banner display ahead of their Champions League match against AC Milan as he insisted Celtic Park is "not a place to be making political statements".
The Celtic manager admitted his "heart sank" when he saw the banners that featured images of William Wallace and Bobby Sands, the IRA hunger striker, along with lyrics from a song that read: "The terrorist or the dreamer, the savage or the brave, depends whose vote you're trying to catch or whose face you're trying to save".
The images were unfurled in the part of the stadium that hosts the self-styled "ultras" group the Green Brigade. Uefa, European football's governing body, has opened proceedings against Celtic for "an incident of a non-sporting nature (illicit banner)" and will decide what, if any, sanctions to impose at a hearing on December 11.
Lennon said he felt personally let down by the banner ahead of one of his side's biggest matches of the season, a game Celtic lost 3-0.
He said: "When I saw it, my heart sank. I think it affected the atmosphere in the stadium. I think there was a lot of head-scratching from other quarters of the stadium. I understand they [the Green Brigade] have maybe legitimate reasons to complain about things or make statements about things, but Tuesday night was not the time or the place.
"Do I personally feel let down? Yes, because I think it's tarnished the reputation of the club. We were given assurances the banners would be Celtic-related. They feel they are Celtic-related, but I think the majority of people - the board here and everyone else - would say 'sorry, that's not the case — you've taken liberties here'. Celtic Park is not a place to be making political statements. There are many places you can do that. We are here for the football."
This comes after the Scottish Professional Football League confirmed it had received complaints about a banners displayed by Celtic fans at last Saturday's game against Aberdeen.
Celtic's chief executive Peter Lawwell has accused fans of showing "clear disrespect" and the club has said it will ban anyone involved in a form of political display at a match.
Meanwhile, an early day motion has been tabled at Westminster, noting that a "small number of supporters of Glasgow Celtic have repeatedly displayed banners, some of which have promoted terror and attacked the bravery of British troops".
The motion, tabled by Democratic Unionist Party MP Gregory Campbell and signed by three others, including Paisley and Renfrewshire North MP Jim Sheridan, calls on the boards of all clubs to take action against fans responsible for this activity.
Lennon said Celtic's game against AC Milan "should have been a celebration rather than a political protest by one section of the support". "It was totally unnecessary," he said.
When Celtic won the Scottish Premier League title last year, Lennon made the symbolic gesture of taking the championship trophy over to the Green Brigade and putting it in front of them as a thank you for their backing. He said yesterday he did not regret doing that, instead blaming the fans' group for subsequently "taking things into their own hands".
"I walked out to hear the music [on Tuesday night] and take in the atmosphere which has been brilliant. But then I end up standing looking at that banner asking 'why?' You could feel it, sense it around the stadium. You could. There was definitely an air of a lot of fans being subdued. They were trying to work it out, and they were fed up with it."
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