Neil Lennon sent parcel bombs. Celtic FC fans targets of IED

Sceala Philosopher Location: Glasgow

Update news on the parcel bombs sent to Neil Lennon and Celtic
fans.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon parcel bomb plotters jailed for five years
Two men who sent parcel bombs to Celtic manager Neil Lennon and other high-profile fans of the club have been jailed for five years each.

Older update
Two men were convicted today of conspiring to assault Celtic manager Neil Lennon and other high profile supporters of the club in a parcel bomb plot.

Trevor Muirhead and Neil McKenzie sent devices they believed were capable of exploding to the football boss, former MSP Trish Godman and the late Paul McBride QC, as well as the republican organisation Cairde Na hEireann, in March and April last year.

McKenzie was also convicted of posting an item to Lennon at Celtic Park with the intention of making him believe it was likely to explode or ignite and cause injury or damage to property.

Viable explosive parcel bomb packages, IEDs have been sent to high profile Celtic fans. Mr Lennon and Ms Godman and Paul McBride – sources revealed last night that further analysis had confirmed that all three were dangerous enough to kill.
Celtic FC fans made targets, parcel bombs reported to have originated from within Scotland
Once again as Celtic come close to playing Rangers in a old firm game, the Celtic manager Neil Lennon is sent life threats, a parcel bomb.
This clearly shows that among the even more than usual sectarian and racist rangers fans (Rangers fans currently under investigation by EUFA ), are some genuinely dangerous low lives. These rangers low lives are scared of Celtic winning the SPL under Neil Lennon, and are determined to try and put Neil Lennon off his job by any means.
These rangers low lives need to be stopped, they now need to be made targets themselves and locked up before this all escalates. But so far the Scottish Police have not made a single arrest, from what I can see, they have not even made too much fuss about these very sinister acts.

What example are high profile members of Scottish law enforcement setting for these sectarian low lives?
This is what Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill calls a “great advert for Scottish football”.
What the Assistant Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police, Campbell Corrigan claimed a excellent atmosphere.
Anti Irish racism and sectarianism in Scotland. Billy Boys.

Today the Police have finally woken up, late but better late than ignore and by doing so encourage the anti Irish sickness in Scottish society.

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Platine head of EUFA backs Neil Lennon 100%
Platini saddened by Lennon threats
UEFA president Michel Platini condemned the parcel bombs sent to Celtic manager Neil Lennon and two high-profile Celtic fans before insisting that politics and religion had no place in football.
Lennon was targeted by two separate parcels, while Paul McBride QC, who represented Lennon in his recent disciplinary dealings with the Scottish Football Association, and MSP Trish Godman, a Celtic supporter, had one addressed to each of them.
Platini said: "It's a pity in football that we have these problems. We have to keep politics and religion out of football and sport, that is very important. It's a very bad thing that has happened to the manager of Celtic and the whole of UEFA support him."
Strathclyde Police revealed the packages were "designed to cause real harm to the person who opened them", but all four were intercepted before they reached their intended targets.
Platini, who spoke out against sectarianism at the UEFA Congress last month, added: "We have to do try to help football and to do something. With my heart I am with him."

BBC
Police in hunt for Celtic bomb fiend. (See reference beloe on this Herald Scotland headline)
Celtic manager Neil Lennon has been the subject of serious threats already this year
POLICE have launched a major investigation after Celtic’s manager, the former Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament and one of Scotland’s top QCs were sent bombs through the post.
The devices, which could have killed, were addressed to Neil Lennon, Trish Godman, the former Labour MSP for West Renfrewshire, and Paul McBride, QC, separately over the last month.
It is believed that the packages were sent from within Scotland and officers from Strathclyde Police are understood to be investigating a sectarian motive to the terror campaign.
Initial tests had suggested the first two packages – sent to Mr Lennon and Ms Godman – were hoax bombs, but sources revealed last night that further analysis had confirmed that all three were dangerous enough to kill. Each package was intercepted and passed on to police for analysis before it could cause any harm.

First Minister Alex Salmond last night confirmed that an emergency meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee was held on Saturday to discuss the incidents. Media outlets also became aware of the explosive devices over the weekend but agreed not to report on them at the time as the investigation widened.

A Strathclyde Police spokesman said that it would be inappropriate to comment on a live investigation.

However, in a statement, Mr Salmond said: “Let us be quite clear – there is a major police investigation under way to ensure that the individual or individuals concerned are identified and apprehended, and then brought to book with the full force of the law.

“We will not tolerate this sort of criminality in Scotland, and as an indication of the seriousness with which we view these developments the Cabinet sub-committee met last Saturday to ensure that the police investigation has every possible support to come to a successful conclusion. We are confident that this will be the case. These disgraceful events should remind all of us who love the game of football of what unites us as a community.

“It is time to remember what we value in society, and unite to condemn those who use football as a pretext for their pathetic and dangerous prejudices.”

A package sent to Mr Lennon was intercepted at Kirkintilloch delivery office on March 26. Mr McBride’s package was addressed to his office at the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh but was intercepted.

Two days later, another device is believed to have been delivered to Ms Godman’s constituency office in Bridge of Weir. Ms Godman is a well-known Celtic fan and once famously turned up at the Parliament’s Celtic supporters’ club dinner wearing their jersey.

Mr McBride has represented Lennon and last week launched a scathing attack on the Scottish Football Association over its treatment of Rangers following Ally McCoist’s successful appeal against a touchline ban for an angry touchline exchange with the Celtic manager after the Old Firm Scottish Cup fifth-round replay on March 2.

The SFA later said it was considering legal action over his comments that the association was “dysfunctional, dishonest and biased”.

In the days after that Old Firm match, it emerged that a suspicious package containing a fake nail-bomb and bullets had been sent to Lennon. It was intercepted by mail staff at a sorting office in Saltcoats, Ayrshire. It is understood that this will also form part of the police investigation, which was revealed just days before the latest Old Firm clash is due to be played at Ibrox on Sunday.

A source close to Mr McBride said last night: “He was appalled and disgusted at being targeted for voicing honest opinions and has nothing but praise for the way police conducted themselves in this inquiry.”

A Celtic Football Club spokesman said last night: “We won’t be making any comment on it tonight.”

Scottish Labour Leader Iain Gray said: “I am shocked and appalled at this sinister development. It is vital though that people keep calm and do not let the situation spiral out of control as that would be playing into the hands of the extremists behind this vile act.

“It is outrageous that something like this should happen in Scotland in this day and age.

“Strathclyde Police must have whatever support they need.”

Meanwhile, McCoist has called on the club’s fans to be arrested if they continue to sing sectarian songs.

He spoke out after Uefa opened a second disciplinary case against Rangers last week relating to sectarian chanting in the second leg of their Europa League tie with PSV Eindhoven.

“Maybe getting arrested will stop it,” said McCoist. “It might take police going into grounds all over the country and arresting people – because it doesn’t seem to bother them that it’s going to have massive financial implications to our club.”
heraldscotland.com/police-in-hunt-for-celtic-bomb-fiend-1.1097224

Celtic parcel bombs: Who are the targets?
By Brian Ponsonby & Andrew Black BBC Scotland News website
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-13141844
"Viable" parcel bombs have been sent to Celtic manager Neil Lennon and two high-profile fans of the Glasgow club - Paul McBride QC and former MSP Trish Godman.

Here is a look at the backgrounds of the trio.
Neil Lennon

Neil Lennon started his long association with Celtic when he was signed from Leicester City in 2000 by then manager Martin O'Neill.

The move was a dream come true for the Northern Irishman, who had grown up supporting the club in his home town of Lurgan, County Armagh.
Neil Lennon Neil Lennon's tenure with Celtic was a dream come true, but he has become a target several times

He enjoyed a trophy-laden career with Celtic and captained the team to the league and cup double in his final season in 2007.

Lennon had short stints with Nottingham Forest and Wycombe Wanderers before returning to Celtic as a coach in April 2008.

He served under Gordon Strachan and Tony Mowbray, before the latter's sacking last year thrust him into the role of manager, aged 38.

His first season in charge has seen the club rebound and compete strongly for honours in the Scottish game - but it has not been without controversy.

Lennon has been banned twice for his touchline conduct - but only after disciplinary procedures by the Scottish Football Association were contested and strongly criticised by his QC, Paul McBride.

Depressingly for the game in Scotland, he has also been targeted by a series of threats - the latest of which involved a "viable" parcel bomb, intended to "kill or maim".

This, however, is only an escalation of previous threats and assaults against the 39-year-old which have plagued his time in Scotland.

He retired from international football in 2002 after barracking and sectarian death threats were made against him.

In recent years, other threats have appeared on the internet, or in graffiti daubed on church walls and outside his home.

Lennon has also been assaulted several times during his stay in Glasgow, most recently in 2008. That attack resulted in two men being jailed.

In January this year, the Royal Mail intercepted packages containing bullets addressed to him and Celtic and the north of Ireland players Niall McGinn and Paddy McCourt.

A suspect package addressed to Lennon was also discovered at a mail depot in Saltcoats in March.

In the history of Scottish football, no other figure has been subjected to such pressures. So why Lennon?

The answer, perhaps, lies in his background in Lurgan, where he grew up as a Northern Irish Catholic who supported Celtic - a club founded by Irish Catholic immigrants to Scotland in 1888.

The sectarian divide which exists in the north of Ireland also has its echoes in Scotland, dating back to mass immigration following the Great Famine.

Celtic's fans are drawn largely, though not exclusively, from descendants of these immigrants.

Their great rivals, Rangers, draw support largely, though not exclusively, from the Protestant community.

Amid the sectarian atmosphere that still permeates the game in Scotland, Lennon has become an easy target for people who irrationally hate what he is - a successful and proud Northern Irish Catholic Celtic supporter.
Paul McBride QC

Paul McBride, one of the highest-profile QCs in Scotland and a well-known Celtic fan, became a figure of controversy after his strong attack on the Scottish Football Association.

He has advised the club and acted for Mr Lennon in a legal capacity on several occasions during disputes with the Scottish football's governing body.
Paul McBride Paul McBride is a high-profile advocate who has also spoken out on football and political issues

The outspoken advocate is as well known in Scotland's court rooms as he is on the football terraces, due to his involvement in a string of high-profile court cases.

Recently, he represented Tommy Sheridan's wife Gail at the couple's perjury trial, as well as acting for the family of former world rally champion Colin McRae at the fatal accident inquiry into his death in a helicopter crash in 2007.

Mr McBride was also defence counsel to Queen's Park murderer Marek Harcar, the Slovakian who was convicted of raping and killing Moira Jones in Glasgow.

Following a recent and infamous Old Firm match between Celtic and Rangers which was plagued with disorder, Neil Lennon received a ban for his actions, while his Rangers opposite number, Ally McCoist, had an initial two-match ban overturned.

The SFA threatened to sue Mr McBride after he branded the organisation "dysfunctional, dishonest and biased", although it is thought the two sides are looking to resolve the matter outside court.

Mr McBride is also known to take to the political and media stage to talk about Scotland's justice system.

His most high-profile speech in recent times came at the 2009 Scottish Conservative conference, just weeks after he abandoned his lifelong support for Labour to join the Conservatives.
Trish Godman

As a former deputy presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament and avid Celtic fan, Trish Godman's political profile may have made her a target.

Mrs Godman last month retired from Holyrood, where she was first elected MSP for West Renfrewshire in 1999.
Trish Godman Celtic fan Trish Godman had a high political profile as a Scottish Parliament deputy presiding officer

On her last day as an MSP, before the dissolution of parliament, she was pictured in the main chamber wearing a Celtic football top.

Several days later, a device was delivered to her constituency office in Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire, where her suspicious staff contacted Strathclyde Police.

Mrs Godman, who brought up three sons as a single mother, has always campaigned hard on equality issues.

After training as a social worker, she went on to work with people suffering from drug and alcohol problems in the east of Glasgow, before life as an elected politician beckoned.

Mrs Godman has been forced to deal with personal issues in the media spotlight before, after her son, Gary Mulgrew - one of the so-called Nat West Three - admitted fraud charges in the US in 2007, in a case relating to the Enron scandal.

She said he was the victim of an "unjust extradition treaty which breaches human rights".

Mrs Godman is married to former Labour MP, Norman Godman, who represented the Greenock area at Westminster from 1983 to 2001.

Note the headline Celtic Bomb Fiend
Just a coincidence?
Or another example of the under current anti-Irish nature of the Scottish and British press.
Not just the Herald
The BBC labels Ireland part of the Ireland and her surrounding islands as often as it possibly can. That state broadcaster is part of the political machine, the propaganda that made countless innocent Irish victims of British state oppression appear as terrorists.
Anyone who thinks the BBC is impartial is demented.

Someone noticed the headline.
An explosive story, poorly headlined, that nearly went unreported
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herald
Memo to a sub-editor at The Herald in Glasgow: This headline, Police in hunt for Celtic bomb fiend, gives a totally false impression of the real story.
Without knowing the contents of that story, there is only one way to read that heading - a Celtic supporter/official/player is a "bomb fiend."
The reverse is, of course, the case. The victims who received "viable" improvised explosive devices were the team's manager and two people who support Celtic football club - a senior QC and the former deputy presiding officer of the Scottish parliament.

It also appears that editors in Scotland were initially reticent to report the fact that the trio had received bomb packages. They were willing to accede to a news blackout requested by the police.
Blogger Phil Mac giolla bhain wrote yesterday: "I'm told there was a voluntary news blackout asked for by counter-terrorism. At least one of the recipients is not happy with this blackout and doesn't see the sense of it."
If editors did agree, even tentatively, to such a request they would have been in the wrong.

There is something nasty in the Scottish woodshed just now. What is becoming clearer by the day - as the singing of inappropriate songs by Rangers fans illustrates - is that sectarianism is not only rampant in Scotland, but getting worse.
In those circumstances, responsible editors should not be trying to conceal reality. They must carry out their central journalistic mission: disclosure.
I note, incidentally, that one reason the papers could not hide the truth was that Mac giolla bhain tweeted on Saturday about Paul McBride QC having received an IED.
There are times when it is right and proper to agree to a news blackout. But when IEDs are being sent to people, censorship is a grievous mistake.
guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/apr/20/celtic-newspapers

Update news

Not very accurate to believe this any more.
Rangers have some Catholic fans and probably have more Catholic players than Celtic right now.
But, Rangers over a hundred years after their foundation, are still to play a native Irish man from the Irish nationalist tradition. That is unique to any other team in the SPL, probably in the whole of Britain.
Today Rangers are more anti Irish racist club, than sectarian.
It is more racism that Scottish society needs to address, specifically the in bred anti Irish racism.
The Church of Scotland have admitted they encouraged anti Irish racism and by default attacks on Irish people, so they have a moral duty to speak out more.
The watershed admission came in a church report on sectarianism published. An influential church committee said there had been a concerted anti-Irish campaign which had left a legacy of bigotry.
The report admitted the church of Scotland portrayed Irish incomers in the worst possble light.
It said: "It is a matter of regret the church could have taken such a position. We may also be judged in hindsight to have turned a blind eye to sectarian attitudes which still remain under the surface in the Church."
more Anti Irish racism in Scotland

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