Celtic manager Neil Lennon 'regrets' confrontation with referee Euan Norris

Neil Lennon says he “deeply regrets” confronting referee Euan Norris on the pitch after Celtic’s Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Hearts.

The manager, who says he will contact the official to apologise for his conduct, has stated he will take any punishment handed down to him when he goes before the Scottish FA’s judicial panel on Thursday, May 10.

Lennon also concedes he needs to control his emotions, saying he intends to conduct himself “better as a manager” in the future.

"I deeply regret what happened," said the Celtic boss. "I will be sending correspondence to the referee as an apology as well.

"It's one actionable thing that I've done that I shouldn't have done.

"I will go to the tribunal and hopefully get a fair hearing as I did the last time and take what's coming.

"It was an instinctive reaction action born out of frustration more than anything else. I know I have to conduct myself better than that."

The Scottish FA issued Lennon with a notice of complaint last week on three alleged rule breaches related to his actions, both on the pitch and on account of comments made on Twitter after the game.

He tweeted: “Referee told players he thought Wanyama handled...feel so sorry for players and fans... I think it's personal myself.”

Speaking on Tuesday, Lennon said: "I don't want to talk about that [tweeting] now, I will discuss my case on Thursday.

"You can't take away the human element from managers, we are human beings at the end of the day.

"There are times we get angry and aggrieved and make mistakes in that aspect of the game but I think I get a rough ride.

"Over the course of the season, up until the League Cup final, there was not one thing I did wrong. We had the incident at Ibrox which I have had the hearing for.

"So over the course of the season we are talking about one incident so I don't think I have to change that much but I will temper those actions if I can."

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