Neil Lennon has accused the Scottish government of double standards and insists Celtic have been ‘thrown under the bus’.
The bewildered Parkhead gaffer outlined his deep irritation at differing reactions to Covid-19 protocol breaches he feels are ‘unacceptable’.
Celtic, along with Aberdeen, were on the end of a stinging rebuke from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the start of the season after incidents involving Parkhead player Boli Bolingoli and eight members of the Pittodrie squad.
Rangers duo George Edmundson and Jordan Jones were suspended this week after being fined by police for attending a house party.
This time around a Holyrood statement commended the Ibrox club for taking “swift and decisive action”.
Lennon is shocked and said: “I can’t comment on what the Rangers boys did. What I can comment on is the reaction from the government, which I find bewildering.
“Considering the way they treated us after the Bolingoli incident. There seems to be double standards at the minute as far as we’re concerned.
“You’d need to ask the government that. For the spokesperson, I found it strange to say the least. We as a club did and I’m sure our supporters did as well. I’m not happy about it. We were thrown under the bus.
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“We were subjected to privileged footballers, yellow card and blah, blah, blah. We have been treated in one way and other clubs have been treated another by the government and that’s unacceptable from our point of view.”
Lennon also addressed a situation involving Jeremie Frimpong after he was visited last month by a female individual from America who was alleged to have not self-isolated upon arrival in Scotland.
SPFL chiefs made it clear no rules had been broken and the Celtic boss said: “It’s a non-story. Jerry didn’t break any rules.
“I have to question the timing of the story because we were aware of it a few weeks ago. And since then he’s had about half a dozen tests where he’s been negative.
“We talk to the players weekly about what they can’t do. It’s not easy for them, especially ones who are living on their own.
“There is enough pressure playing football. Having to be restricted in your movements can be difficult for them. But it’s just something we have to adhere to until things start to get better. At the minute, if you look at the UK, things are getting worse. So we have to be really on point with it.”
Lennon admits it’s not easy for players and, asked how he’d have coped during his playing days, he said: “When you get that amount of messages, you may stray once and then that’s it.
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“In the main we were pretty sort of disciplined as a team. We let our hair down every now and again. I might have [not known what] the protocol was but that would have been it really.
“We’re way beyond all that now. We’re three or four months down the line since what happened with Boli. We’ve been very rigid on it. The players have been very rigid on it. In our bubble, we’ve had no positive tests, so the players are being exemplary at the minute.
“The reason we lost players was that they went out of our bubble. Three of them picked up the virus. Ryan Christie didn’t pick up the virus, but he still had to miss out due to protocol, which was bitterly disappointing.”
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Lennon has stars jetting out on international duty again next week and added: “It’s a huge concern. What you can’t have is a repeat of what happened the last time. It was pretty damaging to us as a squad.”
The Scottish government were contacted for comment.