Celtic manager Neil Lennon promises to stop raging at referees

The Celtic manager, Neil Lennon, who faces a heavy punishment for his sending‑off during the club's defeat by Hearts this month and the comments he made after it, has admitted his touchline behaviour may have been unacceptable "once or twice" this season. His admission comes as the threat of a strike by referees at the weekend continues to hang over Scottish football. Lennon was also angered by the circumstances surrounding Dougie McDonald's now notorious overturning of a penalty awarded to his side in October. McDonald admitted lying to Lennon about how he and his assistant referee, Steven Craven, came to overturn the decision during the match against Dundee United. "It's a natural instinct and I think sometimes people go over the top about it and exaggerate my behaviour – they only show snippets of me arguing with officials every now and again," Lennon said. "It would be folly for me to say that I'm not doing anything wrong because there is a line you can't cross and I may have crossed it once or twice. I think in the main I want that passion to be there not just from me but from the staff and the players as well but in a controlled way." Lennon's placating words are unlikely to be repeated by his chairman, John Reid. The former cabinet minister said last week that the honesty and integrity of Scottish officials had been undermined by the McDonald affair, a matter which is likely to have influenced this weekend's withdrawal of labour. The Scottish FA seemed no closer to resolving that issue tonight with referees standing firm in their desire to strike. Referees had called during three hours of talks last night for the SFA to write to all 42 senior clubs to seek confirmation that their integrity would not be called into question. Yet the SFA believes such a move would make little difference, nor would it halt the strike. Those discussions were continuing tonight. The SFA has set a deadline for midday tomorrow for a resolution before they turn elsewhere for replacement referees. However, it is not clear exactly where those officials will come from after referees from Iceland, Norway and Wales indicated they would not be willing to step in. The Welsh FA confirmed that decision in a statement published on their website . "It has now been decided that no Welsh officials will travel to Scotland this weekend to officiate in any SPL matches," they wrote. The Scottish Catholic church has called for the sacking of Hugh Dallas, the SFA's head of refereeing development, if allegations about his sending of an "offensive" email about the pope are true. Peter Kearney, the director of the Scottish Catholic media office, has written to the SFA's chief executive Stewart Regan. The letter states: "He [Dallas] has been accused of sending an email from his SFA email account on the day of the Pope's visit to Scotland, which was totally unprofessional, gratuitously insulting to the Pope, deeply offensive to the Catholic community of Scotland, and an incitement to anti-Catholic sectarianism. "You will no doubt be well aware of the matter and I do appreciate it is one which is rightly the responsibility of the SFA. I understand that an internal investigation has been launched by the SFA into the allegation. "However in view of the alleged content of the email it is clearly a matter of some concern to the Catholic church in Scotland. Accordingly, I would welcome your confirmation of the following: "That once concluded the results of this investigation will be made public. "The SFA will treat the matter with some urgency in order to maintain the Association's integrity and credibility in opposing sectarianism. "Should the allegation be proved against Mr Dallas he will be removed from his post." Dallas has thus far refused to comment.