IF football managers can be taken to task by the SFA for questioning the integrity of referees why can’t club chairmen who cast aspersions on a player’s honesty be disciplined?

Neil Lennon was incensed when new Aberdeen supremo Dave Cormack accused his Celtic centre half Kristoffer Ajer of feigning injury after a challenge by Sam Cosgrove this week.

The Parkhead boss went so far as to suggest Scottish football’s governing body should investigate his astonishing outburst on Twitter.

I think he is spot on.

Sorry, but nobody who involved in the game should be allowed to make slurs about a professional’s reputation without facing consequences for their comments.

I’m sure Cormack’s view of the incident is blinkered because one of the Pittodrie club’s players was sent off and then banned for two games after a failed appeal.

But I really don’t think he has any grounds to complain.

In my time, the challenge Cosgrove made on Ajer in the Ladbrokes Premiership at Celtic Park last weekend was maybe, at best, a booking.

In this day and age? If you don’t make completely clean contact with the ball there is only ever going to be one outcome – a straight red card.

Under the old rules, if there was no intent to harm the opposition player then you escaped punishment. Now, if you use excessive force you are guilty or serious foul play.

So I don’t think Cormack, or Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes, can defend Cosgrove or bemoan the SFA rejecting their appeal against the decision.

It was hardly a do-or-die situation the player went in on Ajer. The Aberdeen goal wasn’t under threat. The ball was over at the corner flag.

So why did he feel the need to throw himself into the challenge at such speed? It was reckless.

Cormack claimed that the Norwegian had been at it and McInnes suggested he had winked and smiled at his forward afterwards. But contact was definitely made.

Now, Ajer might not necessarily have been badly hurt. He lifted his leg and rode the challenge. But that has been happening in the game for time immemorial.

By the letter of the law Cosgrove had to go.

Lennon has been quite low key when talking about the incident. These things are better conducted privately than in public.

But for Cormack and McInnes the wound has clearly been festering because it has deprived Aberdeen of their leading goalscorer. It has all become a quite petty.

I don’t think the US-based software entrepreneur, who has just taken over from Stewart Milne at the head of north-east club, could feel hard done by if he was now sanctioned.

The rumpus over Cosgrove’s red card has overshadowed the build-up to Celtic’s game against Rangers at Parkhead on Sunday.

But I think, with Odsonne Edouard back and Lennon’s side on a good winning run, they can go into it with high hopes.

Yes, Rangers were the better team in the Betfred Cup final and would have won had it not been for Celtic keeper Fraser Forster.

But you saw the difference that Edouard made when he came on at Hampden that day - he won the free-kick which led to the Christopher Jullien goal and set up Mikey Johnston with a great chance.

Having the French forward available again is a huge bonus for Lennon and his players and they will fancy their chances of picking up three points and forging eight points clear.

But I think the area which will be vital is in midfield.

At Ibrox last December Steven Gerrard’s side had the edge in that crucial department and won the game. If they dominate there again tomorrow they have a chance.

Gerrard has a big decision to make about whether to play Steven Davis – who is a very experienced and clever player – against Celtic after the Northern Ireland internationalist returned from injury.

They didn’t miss Davis in the cup final. But he keeps control of the ball so well. I am sure he will come into his manager’s thinking.

It depends how fit he is after three weeks out and only a few training sessions. But I could see Glen Kamara being dropped and Davis coming in.

I would be surprised if Lennon didn’t pick Scott Brown, Callum McGregor and Olivier Ntcham in there and play Ryan Christie and James Forrest wide. The Celtic team pretty much picks itself.

It is an intriguing contest. But if the treble treble winners perform as they can, not like they did in the cup final, then I think they should just edge it.

Celtic have won at Ibrox and Hampden this season and are always favourites when they play at Parkhead with the vast majority of the 60,000-strong crowd behind them.