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17th May 2017

Neil Lennon jumps two-footed into war of words with Rangers manager

"We all talk a great game"

Darragh Murphy

Neil Lennon loves nothing more than a bit of tension.

Actually, let us amend that. Neil Lennon loves nothing more than a bit of tension with someone from Rangers Football Club.

As a player, Lennon reserved most of his aggression for games against Rangers and, as a manager, he doesn’t seem to mind clashing with them either.

We all remember Lennon’s infamous touchline altercation with Ally McCoist when both men were managing on either side of the Old Firm derby.

Lennon is in charge of Hibernian now but don’t think for a second that he’ll turn down the chance to take a swipe at Rangers when the opportunity presents itself.

This season has seen Gers boss Pedro Caixinha engage in something of a war of words with Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes, with Caixinha suggesting that Aberdeen were approaching the end of their “cycle” after they finished above Rangers in the Scottish Premiership table.

“They should probably be embarrassed that they’ve not finished second,” McInnes said by way of response.

Lennon was asked about the public spat between Caixinha and McInnes this week while on punditry duty for BT Sport and we’ll give you one guess whose side of the argument the former Celtic captain took.

“I think he (Caixinha) has been average to say the least,” Lennon said.

“He talks great in front of the cameras, looks great.

“We all talk a great game about tactics and formations and this that and the other, it’s a results-driven business. I don’t think there has been any improvement since (Mark) Warburton left.

“I agree with Derek. I thought Derek was quite spikey in his press conference but he had every right to be.

“I think Derek has done a fantastic job and he’s right Rangers should finish above Aberdeen and he should not be talking about what Aberdeen are doing, about cycles.

“Derek McInnes just builds on what he has already built and they’ve been so consistent over the past few seasons.”