Celtic midfielder Neil Lennon will announce his decision early this week on whether he will quit international football. He became the target of the Northern Ireland boo-boys on Wednesday, when they targeted him in the friendly against Norway just for the fact that he signed for the Parkhead club. Lennon revealed that his uncle and best friend also felt intimidated in the crowd, and for those reasons he could have played his last game in the green of Northern Ireland.
Lennon admitted: "It's a difficult decision for me. I still haven't come to a decision, but I know what I want to do. It's not about me, it's about my family as well and I've got to take that into account. I'll probably sit down with the manager early this week and hopefully I'll say something before Wednesday's game. I spoke to the gaffer briefly and he told me to put my mind on the game."
The industrious midfielder, widely regarded as his country's best player, added: "I know what I'd like to do, but it's not down to me, it's up to the family because they're far more important in all this. I don't want to make the final decision just yet. It's been difficult and it's been a strain on my family, which upsets me more because these things don't actually bother me. My father's bothered about all this and my uncle and best mate were there on
Wednesday and they said they were quite intimidated - and when it comes to that you have to wonder if it's worth it. It comes down to whether I want to keep playing international football in these circumstances - it's a catch 22 at the moment."
Lennon admitted that the situation ranks up there with the biggest blows in his career. He insisted: "I've had bad injuries before and this is difficult to take as well. The booing didn't affect my performance and I actually thought I played quite well on Wednesday. But it could be detrimental to the Northern Ireland team and unfair on the players to try and perform under these particular circumstances - it could be damaging on the rest of the squad."
He now has a massive decision to make before facing Dunfermline again in the Scottish Cup fourth-round replay at Parkhead on Wednesday night. However, Lennon made the best possible response to four days of misery with his first goal for Celtic in yesterday's impressive 3-0 victory over Dunfermline at East End Park. The Celtic supporters also reacted in defiance - singing his name throughout and giving him a standing ovation after being substituted towards the end of the match.
Their superb support did not go unnoticed by Lennon, who was full of praise for the travelling green and white faithful. He insisted: "It was great to come back in front of our own fans and focus on my game. The supporters inspired me yesterday, which was a massive lift, and I couldn't have asked for any more. It was nice to get a goal because I don't tend to get many and I think the last one was last April. It took a long time in coming, but the performance and the result was the most important thing.
Celtic comfortably extended their lead at the top of the SPL to 13 points and while admitting he felt let down by his own team, manager Calderwood believes that the visitors were just too good. He said: "This was a very poor performance by us, but it was a good performance by Celtic. We started very badly and our passing was very poor and Celtic were very strong and didn't let us play. This is one of the biggest beatings I've ever got here at East End Park and I'm disappointed, but all credit to Celtic. (PA)
Filed by Shane Murray
