How Raith Rovers boss Dougie Imrie helped Dunfermline Athletic's Neil Lennon after explosive end to Fife derby
In the wake of the explosive events following Friday night’s Fife derby, Raith Rovers gaffer Dougie Imrie has backed Dunfermline Athletic counterpart Neil Lennon, despite the Northern Irishman ‘winding up’ Raith fans as he walked off following the goalless Stark’s Park draw by gesticulating in their direction with his right thumb and index finger, suggesting he considered Raith to be a smaller club than the Pars by some measure.
The image of Lennon ‘goading’ the home crowd was quickly shared on Raith’s Facebook feed with the caption: “How big is your penis, Neil?” before the post was deleted after getting thousands of views and several online comments.
And, when asked by the Fife Free Press on Tuesday if he felt Lennon’s post game gesture to the home crowd had been disrespectful, former Greenock Morton manager Imrie replied: “I don't really pay attention to it. Everybody's got their own way of how they work.
"Again, for me, I just move on, head down, game's done, move on to the next game.
"He (Lennon) was having a go at the fourth official (straight after the full-time whistle) and I just felt, play the peacemaker for once as he’d just got suspended. You don’t want to see managers being in the stand. I understand it's an intense situation we're all in, the game's frantic.
"But we all want to be in the dugout, we don't want to be sitting in the stand and not being able to be involved. So I just wanted to try to get him away as quick as I could before he picked up another suspension.
"Neil’s a good guy, I've got a lot of time for him. He's been good with me in the past.
"I highly regard him as one of the best managers in Scotland, if not in the UK.
"He's a very experienced manager at the top level, so I've got a lot of respect for him.
"I've come up against him when I was going through tough spells and he has experience in personal conversations. He doesn't need to do that, he takes time to speak to people.”
Another controversy during the match came when Raith goalkeeper Josh Rae escaped for a challenge on Pars striker Olly Thomas which Lennon thought was a penalty.
Imrie said: “Sometimes they go for you, sometimes they don't.
“I think Josh has got a touch to the ball, which I think then rules out a penalty kick, because I think after that it's a coming together.
"But it's a spur of the moment thing, it's difficult to see. I hadn't seen it in the replay at the time so you don't know.
"But I think the big thing that's been missed is the open goal from 12 yards which was missed (by Dunfermline forward Olamilekan Adams immediately after Rae’s challenge on Thomas). If that goes in, I don't think anybody's shouting for a penalty.
"The atmosphere was amazing on the night. It was great to see Dunfermline bringing nearly 3,000 into the away stand.
"I thought it made it a great occasion, a proper game of football.”