Celtic Beat Barca Scottish Premier League News November 2012

Scottish Premier League News November 2012: Celtic Celebrate Historic Win Over Barca

Lisa Dillon

Celtic

Neil Lennon's stock has never been higher after guiding Celtic to one of their best ever European nights in Group G of the UEFA Champions League. The Hoops boss masterminded a 2-1 defeat of Barcelona, arguably the best team in the world, in a frantic night at Celtic Park.

It was a result that not only elevates the standing of Lennon and of Celtic, but also gives them a fabulous chance of progressing to the knock-out stages of the lucrative competition. With four games gone, Celtic are in second spot with 7 points. Next up is a trip to Lisbon to face Benfica before they host Spartak Moscow in Glasgow.

And after toppling the Catalan giants, Lennon was thrilled.

"This is up there with anything I have done in my life," Lennon enthuses. "As a player I won things, had a special 10 years under Martin O'Neill [at Leicester and Celtic] and played in some great teams, beating Manchester United and getting to the last 16 of the Champions League. As a manager, I don't know if I will top this; I hope I do, because I am still young and am still learning. But this is up there with anything I have achieved, not just in my football career but in my life."

Lennon praised his team, who had been rendered even bigger pre-match underdogs because of a batch of injuries. Celtic's triumph, which arrived courtesy of goals from Victor Wanyama and Tony Watt, came one day after the club celebrated 125 years since their inception. Lionel Messi scored an injury-time goal for Barcelona.

"It was one of the greatest nights in the club's recent history," Lennon said. "It was very poignant, firstly to be playing Barcelona at this point but also to beat them given the way our squad had been decimated.

"The players are heroes to me. I cannot speak highly enough of their performance. They will go down in the history books as the team which beat probably the best team in the world. When we scored first we knew we would need a bit of luck, and we got that. You need your goalkeeper to be fantastic to beat Barcelona. They will feel very unlucky to have lost - they hit the bar and the post - but the difference is Tito [Vilanova, Barça's manager] can bring on Cesc Fábregas and David Villa as substitutes. I threw on Tony Watt, an 18-year-old kid who cost £50,000 from Airdrie.

"I had no hesitation in playing him, I just thought his lack of experience would have been too much to put him in the starting lineup, but everything we asked him to do, he did. He scored a brilliant goal and should have had a penalty and a sending-off when he got on [Javier] Mascherano's wrong side. He is learning. He wrote himself into the history books of the club but he is 11 games into his career. Everyone goes on about tactics but football is about players and they covered themselves in glory."

It is four years since the Hoops last played in the Champions League's knockout phase. "Coming into the tournament we wanted to gain respect for the players, for the club and obviously for Scottish football as well," Lennon said. "I hope we have given the game here a huge boost. It has been in a bit of a lull but we have a great club here."

Hearts

Hearts have been hauled back from the brink of oblivion and handed a three-week lifeline as they become the latest Scottish side to face going into administration.

The crisis-hit club agreed a last- gasp deal with HMRC to allow them to pay an outstanding £450,000 tax bill in two instalments.

Hearts revealed the deal was made possible after a number of senior first-team players agreed to defer their November salaries and the club will now pay the final instalment of the bill on December 3.

The Tynecastle side were forced to reach a settlement after they had entered into talks with HMRC over the tax bill that threatened to send the Edinburgh club over the edge.

There were genuine fears were growing that their SPL clash with St Mirren would be Hearts' last-ever match.

However, a deal has been struck which affords them some breathing space as former players and supporters attempt to create a business plan to buy own Vladimir Romanov's shares.

"Make no mistake, the fans and players have been instrumental in achieving this extension with HMRC. The supporters' efforts have been quite phenomenal," read a statement posted on the club website.

"However, it is essential that they continue all their work to assist us in meeting financial targets at the club.

"It is imperative they continue with this level of backing in the weeks ahead until the share issue closes on December 19."

Hearts director Sergejus Fedetovas said: "This extension acknowledges the strenuous efforts that are going on to ensure this club continues to contribute to employment, society, community and football in Scotland."

Last month, Hearts invited fans to buy shares belonging to majority shareholder Romanov in a bid to raise £2million.

It's understood that they have already raised £200,000 and even club skipper Marius Zaliukas has got in on the act.

He donated his Scottish Cup Final jersey for auction along with a signed and framed Steven Gerrard Liverpool top from this season's Europa League tie.

Zaliukas bought back the Liverpool shirt for £1000 but his attempt to reclaim his maroon jersey with an offer of £1200 was usurped by a phone bid of £1250.

The Scottish government also welcomed news of the HMRC deal.

Last night a spokesperson said: "We are pleased an agreement has been reached between Hearts and HMRC which allows the club to continue in business while also meeting its obligations to the tax authorities."

Scotland

Craig Levein's Scotland reign has finally and inevitably brought to an end. Bizarrely, though, the SFA cited his reluctance to carry on beyond the end of the current FIFA World Cup campaign as a key factor in their decision.

Levein, though, will continue to pick up his £400,000 salary until the end of his contract, with the Hampden authorities insisting they will honour all financial commitments in full. Levein has been "relieved of his duties" rather than been sacked meaning that he remains entitled to financial compensation.

Chief executive Stewart Regan, part of the seven-man SFA Board who called time on Levein almost three weeks after defeat in Belgium left Scotland sitting bottom of our qualifying group, revealed that the manager had informed of his desire to stand down post-Brazil 2014 'some time ago.'

But Regan didn't share that bit of news with other Board members until the end of October, when they gathered to make a decision on a manager who had achieved just three wins in 12 competitive matches.

The chief executive said: "A key piece of information was his stated intent to step down at the end of the World Cup campaign, irrespective of what happened.

"Craig shared that with me privately some time ago. The board were made aware of that following the meeting we had with him last Tuesday.

"He made that clear to Campbell (Ogilvie, SFA president) and myself as part of the debrief after the Belgium game - and that was part of the feedback we shared with the board on Thursday.

"I would prefer you to discuss that matter with Craig - why he made that decision, it was his choice. The details of that conversation and his feelings about the role that he was doing are private between ourselves and Craig."

Asked if a desire to stay on beyond the end of his contract in 20 months' time might have persuaded the board to keep faith with the manager, Regan said: "Well, I think clearly the Board discussed a number of factors, that was one of them.

"But that was one of the key factors we took into consideration, the fact even if we were mathematically not able to qualify, Craig had indicated he would be stepping down anyway.

"We felt that there would be change ahead of France 2016, anyway, so we need to give a new manager the maximum opportunity to restore respectability to this campaign - and then obviously try and build to France 2016."

Levein refused the invitation to travel to Hampden to hear the verdict in person, having been left twisting in the wind since the defeats to Wales and Belgium in the last round of international games.

It is understood that his contract will be honoured unless he takes on another high-paying job, when payments will cease, Regan saying: "Craig has a legally binding contract. As an employer, we are not terminating that contract and we've agreed that we will honour it.

"We've relieved him of his duties because we believe we need someone else to come in and lead the team. Craig will continue to receive all the entitlements that are in his contract, including his remuneration, but I'm not prepared to discuss the details."