Neil Lennon receives Rapid backing after ‘attacks without evidence’

Neil Lennon has received the public backing of the Rapid Bucharest board after a disappointing start to his tenure in the Romanian capital led to “attacks without evidence”.

The former Celtic and Hibernian boss took up the role earlier this summer and at the time talked up the project at the club.

But it appears the idea that the 53-year-old had in mind hasn’t aligned with the Rapid support or the local media, who have taken the teams winless start, which consists of two draws and a defeat from their opening three league games as an opportunity to take aim at Lennon.

Accusations made against the Northern Irishman have been of fairly serious nature, and not just performance related.

That’s prompted the Rapid board to address the matter and deny the stories that have been circulating within Romanian media outlets.

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A club statement read: “FC Rapid publicly disapproves all attacks without evidence to which the club members are subjected to every day. It’s a trend to bump into Rapid and I understood this satisfaction from a part of the media, analysts and some persons who have turned their love for Rapid into a tool of denigration.

“At the moment, the results are not helping us, but that doesn’t mean we are a less powerful team determined to achieve performance. We are a team that has chosen to change strategy, to evolve and to do things right in all walks of life, both in sports and in administration. And those remembered above can only invent defaming articles. Thing that says a lot about them, not about the strength of the club, whose sole objective is to make its supporters happy.

“This objective assumes a “work in progress” and we expected this period to be the perfect time for those who feed only on scandal.