Celtic's Neil Lennon applauds Rangers' swift reaction to Scott Brown abuse
- Published
The incident came after Neil Lennon and Scott Brown celebrated their derby win over Rangers
Celtic manager Neil Lennon says "I applaud" Rangers' actions after the abuse aimed at, external captain Scott Brown from a supporter.
A Rangers fan mocked Brown's late sister after Celtic's 2-0 Old Firm derby win at Ibrox and a 15-year-old has been charged by police.
Rangers have also issued a lifetime ban to the supporter.
"When we're out trying to live our lives, they have no right to abuse or insult people like that," Lennon said.
"I applaud Rangers for the swift action they took and the support a lot of their fans have given to Scott, but it's got to stop. There's no call for that."
Brown on Thursday said he did not mind if fans "shout and swear at me" inside the football stadium but that it was a different matter outside the match environment.
"I've had a brief chat with him about it and I think he handled the situation very well," Lennon said.
The Celtic manager said it is "incredibly hard" not to react in such situations but pointed out that he and his captain were now more mature and able to cope.
While Lennon stressed that "95% of supporters are really good", he pointed out that there had been "this uprising in a lot of racism again" among football fans around the world while Scotland had "a sectarian problem".
The abuse he received led Lennon to come off social media as "it played with my head a bit sometimes and it could be quite upsetting".
"It sometimes makes young ones think that it's all right," he said. "It's not. We have people in authority and players of the highest calibre asking social media networks to clamp down on it. It has to stop.
"There's no accountability or responsibility for these individuals to stop putting out on a public forum what they want to say. We live in a democracy, but a line has to be drawn somewhere as it is against the law."