Neil Lennon of Celtic censured for referee remarks but SFA wants peace

As Neil Lennon was severely censured for comments made about a referee, the chief executive of the Scottish Football Association today expressed a wish that friction between the governing body and Celtic should be toned down. Lennon, the Celtic manager, was warned over his future conduct after he was heavily critical of the referee Willie Collum, after an Old Firm match in October. The Celtic striker Gary Hooper was given a £2,000 fine, suspended for 18 months, for statements he made about match officials. Last week Lennon was given a six-game touchline ban, which led to furious statements being traded between his club and the Scottish FA president, George Peat. Stewart Regan, Peat's chief executive, today made it plain that he did not approve Peat's actions. "I don't think anybody likes to see dialogue taking place in the press," Regan said. "If there are issues between the governing body and clubs, I think they should be dealt with behind closed doors. I think the president reacted to what he felt was a direct challenge to the SFA. What I think, going forward, is that we should have those sorts of discussions behind closed doors. The president felt strongly enough about the matter that he felt he had to do that. There was a discussion about it, the president chose to do what he did." Meanwhile the Scottish Premier League's executives have two months to prove to sceptics that a move from a 12- to a 10-team top flight is financially attractive. A meeting of the current 12 top-flight clubs at Hampden Park today was said to have produced "broad support" for reconstruction at the start of 2012-13. However, scepticism remains and it will be placated, when a vote on the subject takes place in March, only if a redistribution of commercial income can be guaranteed. As things stand, Rangers and Celtic collect 32% of such money between them. The move to a 10-team league has been almost universally condemned by supporters. No sooner had Neil Doncaster, the SPL chief executive, said that there had been no dissenting voices to its planned reduction than the Inverness chairman, George Fraser, said: "The question was asked at the meeting for a show of hands in favour of a 14-team division and only Hearts, Kilmarnock and ourselves voted for it. Our club remains convinced it was the best option for supporters and entertaining football and we're extremely disappointed that when it came to the crunch, the necessary support was not there. "Further work is to be done over the next few weeks on the strategic review team's proposals and, when their completed business model becomes available, we will carefully study the detail with an open mind." Michael Johnston, the chairman of Kilmarnock, said: "Kilmarnock's position has not altered. We are still opposed to a 10-team SPL."