Neil McCann made headlines for his incredibly painful reaction Odsonne Edouard’s penalty kick against Hearts in the Scottish Cup Final. French Eddy opted for a panenka and put the ball into the roof of the net. Craig Gordon threw the ball at him in frustration and received a yellow card. At the half time interval McCann defended Gordon, claiming that the penalty was disrespectful and that Edouard should in fact have got booked instead!
Neil Lennon had already described McCann’s view on the panenka as “complete and utter nonsense,” and the absurd comment was slaughtered by many Celtic fans.
McCann’s disrepct claims were something that his peers poked fun at on yesterday’s episode of BBC Sportsound. The programme was analysing Celtic’s 3-0 win over Hamilton Academicals, a game in which Edouard opened the scoring with a firmly struck penalty into the corner.
Michael Stewart joking remarked: “Slightly disrespectful to stick it right in the corner.” Then Steven Thompson chimed in by saying “I thought he might have gone for the panenka.”
McCann laughed it off, concluding the subject with the words: “Disgrace, that’s a penalty, that’s how to take a penalty.”