‘Wrestler’ Jase puts the funshineinLeithforNeil
NEIL LENNON has told Jason Cummings: Keep putting the fun in football. Days before Hibernian face Aberdeen in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-finals, the 21-year-old, dressed only in tight trunks and bandages, grappled with professional wrestler Grado at the Hibs training ground in a video which went viral on his Twitter account.
The sight of a star striker picking a wrestler off the floor days before a semi-final might have caused concern to some managers, but Lennon was laughing along in the background.
Lennon said. “He’s just a great personalit y. We don’t have enough of them in the modern game.
“He’s harmless, he loves his football and he just loves being part of the fun.
“Some stories are blown out of proportion when it comes to Jason. He’s a very good pro, never misses training. He’s a very good player and he he’s s been a very important ant player to me this season and to the club over the he past three seasons.s.
“But you see the lighter side, not just to o Jason, but ut th e team. It wass just a bit of fun.”
At one ne stage Cummings, who has broken the 20-goal goal mark three seasonss on the trot, launcheded himself off a table onn top of the Im- pact Wrestling star. But Lennon said: “He was doing it with Grado, who’s a professional wrestler. It was just fun and I think it was all well-planned and well-rehearsed. “But I don’t think he’s got a new career in wrestling, that’s for sure. Not with those Speedos anyway anyway.” Lenn Lennon added: “He is a bit of maverick but when he sees the whites of t the goalkeeper’s e eyes, he keeps his composure really well. He scores diff ferent kinds of goals. “What he has a achieved so far is pretty impressive, and there’s a l ot more to come. I think he wants it as well. “I don’t think we s should take the fun a aspect of his person- ality because that is part of who he is. I certainly wouldn’t want to do that because too many players are like robots these days.”
The buoyant mood in the Hibs camp was a result of their Ladbrokes Championship title success last weekend. A 3-0 victory over Queen of the South sealed their top-flight return after a three-year absence and proved the perfect Hampden build-up.
Lennon said: “The players have achieved what they set out to do this season and we are going into a huge game as cup holders, one game away from the final. It doesn’t get much better.
“We have taken the intensity away from training a bit, this week because they have had a lot of games in their legs, so they can relax mentally and physically.
“Aberdeen are a good team - strong, quick, physical –- but they don’t faze the players.”