 Johan Mjallby insists the club will never stop fighting for what they feel is right following a week of disagreements with the SFA. However, he wants the squad to move on and focus on the game against Hibs and forget the 1-1 draw against Hamilton on Wednesday night. Celtic announced two appeals to the SFA this week, the first one sparked by a six-game ban handed to Neil Lennon on Tuesday for being sent to the stand during the game against Hearts in November. Celtic have yet to submit that but they have sent in their appeal against the red card shown to James Forrest at New Douglas Park. This allows the winger to play against Hibs at Easter Road today with the appeal hearing set to be held early next week. Lennon showed no sign of moderating his outspoken nature after the Hamilton game, branding the performance of referee Willie Collum and his team "not good enough". Lennon was angry that Hamilton's goal stood after Martin Canning tried to flick the ball on in an offside position before Simon Mensing headed home. The Celtic manager, who did not attend the club's pre-game media conference, also felt Celtic were denied a penalty when Collum booked Niall McGinn for diving. Mjallby's demeanour is far more laid back than Lennon but he spelt out the club's intention to continue challenging decisions. The Swede said: "You can't give up, it's in our nature to fight for everything and that's what we are going to do, especially for Celtic Football Club. This is our job, to do as well as we can to win games and improve the players. There are going to be some situations outside the pitch that probably the manager has to deal with a wee bit more than the rest of us but he is shrewd enough to do that." Lennon's punishment set up a spat between the SFA and Celtic in the media but Mjallby believes the relationship can be repaired - after the club have fought their cause. The former Celtic defender said: "Right now, we are disappointed about the fact that Neil got six matches because I don't think he has been fairly treated. I think that's a very, very hard punishment. I was a bit gobsmacked when I heard. But we are here to build a strong Celtic team and make sure we can win the league. That's the main thing. Hopefully in the future the relationship can be better." Mjallby believes Lennon will have to calm down on the touchline eventually, but he also sees his colleague's animated approach as a god thing. Mjallby said: "Maybe he's going to mellow but maybe not for being sent off against Hearts. Maybe he's going to mellow with experience and for the sake of his heart as well. You have to mellow a wee bit the longer you stay in the game. But he needs to be motivated as well. He is that kind of character, he needs to wind up the players as well. That's one of his strengths." When asked about his own reaction to decisions in the Hamilton game, Mjallby responded: "Of course I get frustrated, I have been in this game for a long time. The important thing is to remember that goals change games. We have all seen that the goal shouldn't have stood, but what can you do about it? We all saw that some of the decisions went against us but we can't dwell on things like that. We just need to prepare ourselves and get together so that even if a decision goes against us we keep playing the game and get three points. I still feel we should have won the game despite the fact we lost the goal but we didn't create enough in the final third. For me it's more important to concentrate on the team and leave the refereeing to the referees." When asked if he felt the bad calls against his team were honest mistakes, Mjallby said: "You have to believe so. I believe so but you have to make your own minds up. It was two crucial decisions on the night. You all can agree he made the wrong calls but what can you do about it? You just have to get on with it. I think it is honest mistakes because his job is to be the referee and he is trying to do his best." Collum, whose performance in Celtic's Old Firm defeat at Parkhead in October also irked Lennon, will be the fourth official at Easter Road with the Celtic manager's touchline ban still to kick in. Mjallby said: "It's not going to be a problem for us He's not on the pitch, that game on Wednesday is gone now. We have to focus on Hibernian. Hopefully if things go well enough it doesn't matter who is going to be the referee." |