Neil Lennon is staying on as manager of Celtic says agent

Celtic fans can relax – Neil Lennon has no intention of walking out on the club despite the recent sectarian attacks on his family home.

Lennon is currently under 24 hour police surveillance after a second threatening letter was sent to his home from his native Ireland.

The 39-year-old former Celtic midfielder has already had bullets sent to him through the post and a suspicions package, intercepted, both from Ulster.

His sideline spat with Rangers coach Ally McCoist and strike El-Hadji Diouf last week could yet land him in disciplinary trouble with the Scottish FA.

And Rangers fans have complained to both the FA and Glasgow police about Lennon’s behavior in the derby win, including allegations that he made racist remarks to Diouf which Diouf himself has denied.
Speculation about Lennon’s future intensified last weekend when Celtic coach Alan Thompson claimed his close friend could quit at the end of the season.

But Lennon’s agent Martin Reilly has now firmly refuted those worries despite the off-field problems currently besetting his client.

“He was a winner as a player and he’s a winner as a manager,” Reilly told BBC Scotland’s Sportsound programme.

“As far as quitting as a manager goes, it’s not in his nature. We won’t even talk about Neil’s future until the season is over.

“We will have these discussions at the end of the season, but all Neil wants to do at the moment is concentrate on his job.

“He’s got a contract to fight for, a six-month rolling contract, so he’s got things like that to sort out in his life but he’s got to put up with all this stuff off the park as well.

“He certainly hasn’t spoken about quitting or walking out on the club, but I dare say it must have gone through his mind because it’s certainly gone through mine.”

Meanwhile Celtic and Rangers have agreed to a set of measures designed to combat trouble in future Old Firm games after the chaotic scenes at Parkhead last week.

The new deal was agreed at a meeting hosted by Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond involving the two clubs and representatives from Government, police and the football association.

The two clubs meet again in the Co-operative Insurance Cup final at Hampden Park on Sunday week with another league clash to come before the end of the campaign.

The clubs have now reached agreement on a number of measures which include:

-        The creation of a stand-alone pan-Scotland police football intelligence unit as part of the ongoing review of police forces in Scotland.

-        Greater enforcement of existing legislation to deal with sectarianism and drink related offences.

-        The establishment of a task force comprising senior police officers, Government representatives and club security personnel to deliver more consistency in policing of football matches across Scotland.

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Nster.com