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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
Sport
Chris Doyle

Neil Lennon gives bullish Celtic title verdict as he reacts to Rangers suspension and Scottish football lockdown

Neil Lennon says Celtic would be crowned champions if the season ended now after Scottish football was suspended until further notice.

All games this weekend were called off, including the Old Firm derby, due to the coronavirus outbreak and it's uncertain what the immediate future holds.

There is a chance the season might not be finished, but the Hoops boss is adament his side would win a ninth successive league crown if the the campaign was to finish today.

He said: "We’d be the champions and rightly so. We’re over 30 games into the season, they’re not going to take that away from us."

The Northern Irishman backed the decision by the SPFL and SFA as he insisted people's safety are paramount.

He added: "I'm not a health expert, it's come from people far more well qualified than me and the public health is the most important thing.

"If that decision's been taken then we back it.

"It's been business as usual, we've been training today and then we heard that the game was cancelled.

"So we'll be giving the players a few days off until we can sit down, maybe on Monday, and see where we go from there.

"We'll give them a couple of days off and then hopefully come Monday we'll have a better idea of what's ahead of us in the future.

"It's unprecedented, I've never experienced anything like this in my career and I'm sure everyone's in the same boat."

(Craig Foy/SNS Group)

Lennon hopes the season can still be finished but admitted it would be difficult if it was extended into the summer.

He added: "That would be the ideal scenario but it could be death by a thousand cuts. From what I gather this is going to get worse before it gets better, the spread of it.

"That's what I've been told, so I don't know.

"Playing in the summer? That would be OK, but then you've got Champions League qualifiers. It might be, what, a week later?

"It's impossible. I think the Euros will get cancelled and put back a year so there may be a window where you can extend the league into the summer.

"But then when does the following season start? When do the Champions League qualifiers start? All those are unanswerables at the minute."

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