The postgame news conference is the professional soccer manager’s realm. He or she is the center of attention there, and anything that steals his or her spotlight is not welcome. Neil Lennon might have re-written that long-standing rule on Saturday.
Lennon answered a reporter’s ringing phone during such a news conference. The Celtic FC boss drew laughs with his good-natured response to the interruption.
Michael Grant of the Herald newspaper placed his iPhone on the table in front of Lennon to record what the manager was saying. He was seated in the audience when the phone started ringing at one point. On the other end was Grant’s wife Sharon.
“Yea I can hear you. Who’s that?” Lennon asked.
The crowd burst out laughing.
When Mrs. Grant heard a voice that didn’t belong to her husband, she hung up the phone. She called back seconds later, and Lennon answered again.
He politely asked her to “stop interrupting my press conference.” Mrs. Grant said something to Lennon and hung up again. The manger’s face suggests she was not so polite.
Fresh off a 4-1 win in the Scottish Premier League, Lennon was understandably in a good mood. We can only guess as to how he would have reacted if the same thing happened after a loss to Rangers.
Watch the hilarious scene in the video below.
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