Excellent article - Neil Lennon

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Found this one last night, need to subscribe but it's free for a couple of articles.

https://www.thetwopointone.com/how-h...ce-once-again/

Now that's what I'm talking about!

Terrific article - tempted even to pay some money to see more ....

Particularly interested in LD's reaction to the way broadcasters and commentators were going on about us 'Hibsing' it.

Why don't they talk about 'Potterball'? Or the 'Houston-You-Are-A-Failure-Syndrome'?

Or discussing the question of whether it's actually possible to play football when you're up to you knees in Fenian (or any other kind of) blood?

And why neither the Scottish football authorities nor Police Scotland seem to be either able or willing to do anything about the frequency with which that song and others like it ring out over Scottish football pitches still, now in the 21st century?

[Hibbyradge]

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Now that's what I'm talking about!

Terrific article - tempted even to pay some money to see more ....

I agree. I'll read a second article soon and if it's as well thought out, and written, I'll subscribe.

[Keith_M]

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Thank you, sir. Neil By Mouth.

Rather you than me!

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Rather you than me!

Oh crap.

[Bostonhibby]

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I think he's concentrating on one major point - the way Neil is constantly being blamed for 'attracting' the sectarian bigotry and hatred of the Loyalist hordes to himself by things he allegedly does - does, that is, to 'deserve' the abuse and the defamation of his character and the death threats.

Too many people in Scotland and the Scottish media use the "Well, he doesn't really help himself" line to avoid saying straight out that sending bullets in the post to a man you've never met and who hasn't harmed you personally in any way is a criminal act - as is posting death threats against him on Twitter, or making an unprovoked attack on him in the street because he plays for (or manages) the 'wrong' football team.

It's the same mindset that claims that a woman has 'asked' to be raped because of the way she's dressed, or the argument that some school students are 'natural' targets for the school bullies, as if the victim of violence and abuse somehow shares the responsibility and guilt of their violent abusers. "He/she was asking for it" doesn't wash in a right-minded society, but it's convenient when society doesn't wish to address its own ills and injustices out of fear, complacency, or complicity.

"I'm no Nazi, but you have to admit the Jews don't help themselves ..."

"I'm no racist, but you have to admit the Pakis/Wogs/Paddies/Taigs/Polacks/******s/Papes/Frogs/Dagos/Wops/whoever don't help themselves ..."

So when I bad-mouth them, abuse them, insult them, harass them, make insulting jokes about them,attack them, burn their houses, destroy their businesses, put them in jail, whatever - because deep down I'm a warped twisted hateful bag of anger, envy, prejudice and bigotry - it's not my fault.

They asked for it. They moved into my street. They looked at me funny. They're not like us. They made me do it.

I applaud Neil Lennon for not walking away quietly. I applaud him for facing the bullies and being the man he is, and I'm very glad and proud that he manages the football team I support and love, and I hope he's with us, sticking it to the bigots and haters, for a long time to come.



PS: Can we PLEASE have a smilie for "NEIL LENNON'S GREEN AND WHITE ARMY"? No offence, but Stubbs has been gone for almost 18 months now.

Well said sir. Great read. You don't attract this sort of stuff, the beasts that thrive on it seek out targets and the less is done about it the bolder the cowards become.

Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk

[Seveno]

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I think he's concentrating on one major point - the way Neil is constantly being blamed for 'attracting' the sectarian bigotry and hatred of the Loyalist hordes to himself by things he allegedly does - does, that is, to 'deserve' the abuse and the defamation of his character and the death threats.

Too many people in Scotland and the Scottish media use the "Well, he doesn't really help himself" line to avoid saying straight out that sending bullets in the post to a man you've never met and who hasn't harmed you personally in any way is a criminal act - as is posting death threats against him on Twitter, or making an unprovoked attack on him in the street because he plays for (or manages) the 'wrong' football team.

It's the same mindset that claims that a woman has 'asked' to be raped because of the way she's dressed, or the argument that some school students are 'natural' targets for the school bullies, as if the victim of violence and abuse somehow shares the responsibility and guilt of their violent abusers. "He/she was asking for it" doesn't wash in a right-minded society, but it's convenient when society doesn't wish to address its own ills and injustices out of fear, complacency, or complicity.

"I'm no Nazi, but you have to admit the Jews don't help themselves ..."

"I'm no racist, but you have to admit the Pakis/Wogs/Paddies/Taigs/Polacks/******s/Papes/Frogs/Dagos/Wops/whoever don't help themselves ..."

So when I bad-mouth them, abuse them, insult them, harass them, make insulting jokes about them,attack them, burn their houses, destroy their businesses, put them in jail, whatever - because deep down I'm a warped twisted hateful bag of anger, envy, prejudice and bigotry - it's not my fault.

They asked for it. They moved into my street. They looked at me funny. They're not like us. They made me do it.

I applaud Neil Lennon for not walking away quietly. I applaud him for facing the bullies and being the man he is, and I'm very glad and proud that he manages the football team I support and love, and I hope he's with us, sticking it to the bigots and haters, for a long time to come.



PS: Can we PLEASE have a smilie for "NEIL LENNON'S GREEN AND WHITE ARMY"? No offence, but Stubbs has been gone for almost 18 months now.

One of the finest posts that I have ever read on here. I am proud to have you as a fellow Hibby.

[Oscar T Grouch]

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Ah cannae git the matches tae light! I mean, I can’t open this page - what’s wrong with my iPad? Sounds like an interesting piece but a
good post Doddie. Agree with every single word brother!

Here's a hard copy

Around 10pm on the evening of August 12, a 54-year-old man called Sean Cowan clicked on to the Facebook page of a well-known Rangers fan site, and typed these words: “Somebody give me a weapon and I will shoot this little terrorist c--- in the head with impunity. I’m serious. I would. I can get one, not a problem. Police Scotland are probably all over it now though. I have previous for firearms.”

What Cowan lacked in judgement, discretion and good taste, he certainly offered in foresight. On Tuesday afternoon, Cowan pleaded guilty to one offence under the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act, for which he will be sentenced next month. Later that evening, Hibs triumphed 1-0 against Hearts in the Edinburgh derby to move them up to fifth in the Scottish Premiership table.

And so ended just another day in the life of Neil Lennon, or to give him his full title, Neil Lennon: Lightning Rod For Sectarian Nonsense And Unspeakable Anger Since 2000. Plenty of people have tried to analyse why exactly it is the Hibs manager seems to inspire such inveterate, flaming hatred wherever he walks. Some say it’s his extravagant touchline antics, some his Northern Irish Catholic roots, some the shifting sociology and demographics of post-war Scotland. Some just burble things incomprehensibly.

Lennon's decision to play for Northern Ireland caused much controversy (Getty)
To me, it’s something more prosaic: he’s there. Lennon refuses to shrink in the face of combat, or dissolve in the background in order to avoid criticism. In a sense, he is someone who recognises football for what it is: filthy, tribal, foul-mouthed and utterly glorious for those exact reasons. It’s about joy, it’s about despair, it’s about rubbing it in your opponents’ faces. And yet the violence he attracts is the natural by-product of what happens when we confuse the blood and guts of sport with the blood and guts of actual blood and guts.

All of which occasionally invites the accusation that on some level, Lennon “doesn’t help himself”. As in: not to condone people sending him bullets in the post, but he doesn’t help himself, does he? Or: obviously there’s no excuse for making a deadly explosive device and delivering it to his place of work in the hope that he’ll open it and be blown to bits. But by gosh, he doesn’t help himself, does he?

Apart from creating an egregious moral equivalence between Lennon’s assailants and a guy whose only rap is a driving ban for speeding on the A9, it’s an argument that obscures far more than it illuminates. To stand your ground or walk away? It’s a philosophical conundrum as much as anything else, and you can make persuasive arguments on both sides.

Lennon's time at Bolton ended in relegation (Getty)
But imagine enduring what Lennon has endured over the years: the death threats, the beatings, the bullets, the abuse. A well-documented struggle with depression. And not sporadically, but pretty much whenever he leaves his house, for almost two decades. To have retained not only his basic humanity, but his good humour and essential thirst for the game, suggests that this is the sort of character of which football needs more, not fewer.

The other effect is to overshadow the skill of a manager who is really far better than many give him credit for: pragmatic, tactically shrewd and a good enough defensive organiser to mastermind a victory over Barcelona with just 16 per cent possession. Yet even as his Hibs side triumphed on Tuesday night, the reviews for a sparkling team performance were already hitting the social media wires. “A hope you die in your sleep,” wrote one Twitter user. “Would pay serious good money to see Neil Lennon getting a drill to the heed,” wrote another.

Lennon's greatest result came as his side beat Barcelona in the Champions League (Getty)
You wonder whether, in his more reflective moments, Lennon secretly craves a quieter life. Perhaps it’s why he tried not being there for a while. He walked out on Celtic after four exhausting years and went to manage Bolton Wanderers, taking on a financial wreck and leaving shortly before they were relegated to League One. But the quiet life never really suited Lennon. Anyone could see that. This is a man who needs the fire in his lungs.

And so he ended up on the Firth of Forth, and if he moved there expecting a quiet life, you suspect he would have been pretty disappointed. Promoted as champions in his first season. One of the most attractive, improved teams in the division. A club with its pride restored. A manager with his reputation enhanced.

​Sometimes, Neil Lennon really doesn’t help himself, does he?