Lennon hearing delayed

Celtic manager Neil Lennon must wait to find out if his suspension for being sent-off against Hearts will stand after the scheduled Monday meeting of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) general purposes committee was postponed because of bad weather.

Hoops’ boss Lennon is appealing against the automatic two-match ban he received during Celtic’s loss to Hearts at Tynecastle on November 10 where fourth official Steven McLean was on the receiving end of a furious rant.

Match referee Craig Thomson found Lennon guilty of “excessive misconduct” after Celtic were denied a penalty and the general purposes committee were due to hear Lennon’s appeal.

Now the charges against him will be dealt with by an SFA disciplinary committee meeting on December 7.

Lennon labelled the penalty incident and Joe Ledley’s red card as “scandalous” and “ridiculous”.

He also said the match officials “probably have their story ready already” – in what appeared to be a reference to an incident involving referee Dougie McDonald when he rescinded a penalty awarded to Celtic against Dundee United last month.

McDonald resigned Sunday as the ripples from that incident, which helped lead to a strike by top Scottish referees this weekend, continued to be felt.

Meanwhile, Lennon could also be asked to explain his criticisms of referee Willie Collum over the penalty he awarded to Rangers and his failure to send off Lee McCulloch during Celtic’s 3-1 Glasgow derby defeat.