Neil Lennon: What happened inside Celtic Park as fans protested outside

After a torrid few weeks for under-pressure Celtic manager Neil Lennon, this was meant to be the day that the noise began to die down. A routine win over Ross County was expected, before a favourable run of fixtures that would have the club legend firmly back in the favours of the support.

READ MORE: Celtic fans hold protest at Parkhead in calls for Neil Lennon's sacking

As it was, a shock 2-0 defeat left Lennon facing down more than just searching questions from the assembled press over his future as manager of the club.

From the windows of the Jock Stein lounge, where the post-match press conference was being held, it could be seen that the trickle of supporters who were milling around immediately after the match had quickly become an angry torrent, with a sea of several hundred irate fans in hoods and facemasks breaking through the flimsy steel barricades as they edged nearer to the entrance of Celtic Park.

From such close quarters, the content and tone of their chants came over loud and clear to the few afforded entrance to the stadium. After waiting so long to hear the Celtic fans singing, Lennon would have been wishing he couldn’t hear a thing.

READ MORE: Two police officers injured after Celtic fans storm Parkhead

There was no mistaking the pang of pain that shot to his face as he came through the doors of the press room, the chants of ‘Lennon, Lennon, get to f***’ growing ever more audible from outside as he approached his chair.

This background noise accompanied his pitch to the Celtic board for more time to turn around the current situation at the club, but time will tell whether those pleas were drowned out by the growing volume of the mob below.

After Lennon took his leave, Ryan Christie was next in to face the music, but his valiant attempts at explaining Celtic’s current crisis were cut short early amid great apology by the club’s communications department.

In normal times, a press conference being interrupted for just about any reason would draw murmurs of protest from the assembled journalists, but we had now entered abnormal territory. Any discontent at being denied the opportunity to question Christie further ranked a long way behind the concern for his safety, a concern which had rapidly gone from fanciful to very real as the chopping of a police helicopter vibrated through the room.

It was not only Christie though who would be disturbed, with the instruction soon following that the media too would have to be removed from the building immediately. Laptops were hastily stuffed in bags as we were ushered downstairs and out a side exit, where a line of illuminous yellow jackets and police vans now pushed the protesters back and away from the stadium.

The odd barrier came flying back the other way by means of resistance, but by this stage the main thrust and anger of the protest appeared to have abated. Their point had been made, and all inside, including Neil Lennon, had heard it loud and clear.