Outgoing Rangers manager Walter Smith has launched an undignified attack on Celtic ahead of Sunday’s vital derby clash.
The legendary Ibrox boss has failed to distinguish between fact and fiction highlighting claims about conspiracies from within Celtic.
For the record no one at Celtic has ever spoken about or claimed that there is any sort of conspiracy against the club.
Over the last twelve months Celtic have privately highlighted concerns about certain decisions to the SFA. If President Peat at the SFA wishes to make these matters public there’s not much that Celtic can do to stop him.
During the same time-frame referee Dougie McDonald has resigned after his lies to Celtic manager Neil Lennon were made public by assistant referee Steven Craven.
Within any organisation members are entitled to ask questions and seek explanations, no one at Celtic has ever suggested anything untoward or underhand. Celtic have questioned decisions like every other club.
“You can’t win three successive titles with people conspiring against you,” Smith claimed. “This has been a situation Celtic have been happy to promote but when their former manager comes out and says that there is no conspiracy then you can realise why.”
In an attention seeking series of interviews for the Daily Record this week Gordon Strachan made vague references to people telling him about conspiracies against Celtic.
Strachan dismissed the notion and didn’t name any names linked to his allegations.
Any conspiracy theory has been created within the media helped by a few willing nutters that radio stations and newspapers are happy to promote.
Highlighting and questioning a referee that gives a dubious penalty that he didn’t see isn’t unreasonable.
Pointing out that a player was a yard offside inside the six yard box at a free kick isn’t the work of some crank or fruitcake.
Criticising the decision to book a player for simulation when there has clearly been contact in the penalty box isn’t a crime.
Questioning the public criticism of a player from the Scotland assistant manager who absolves another player yellow carded for simulation is something that most managers would do to defend their player.
The comments from Strachan have been seized upon by Smith who added: “He was good enough when he was there to lead his team to three championships so, from a Rangers point of view, did people conspire against us during that period of time?
“And the truth is that they didn’t and the truth is that they don’t.
“The truth is that if you’re good enough then you’ll win and Celtic were during Gordon’s time as manager so I agree with what he says.
“I think that Celtic have tried to use that to their own advantage – I don’t believe there’s any doubt about that but Gordon’s comments this week have led everyone to the actual truth.
“Like I say, if you’re good enough you’ll win but it suits them to build up an environment where everybody’s against them when, obviously, they’re not or they wouldn’t have won what they’ve won if the world had been against them.
“Everyone has to remember that Celtic have won three out of the last five championships so if people are conspiring against them I wouldn’t like to see what they’ll do once they stop.”
No one is conspiring against Celtic, in a democracy the club are perfectly entitled to highlight and question in private decisions that they feel aggrieved by.
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Typical Walter moaning although as in the past he is too dignified to complain just like when the league wasn’t extended but somehow that year the league finished on a Thursday evening, pray tell where is Tom Murphy that Walter didn’t complain about and I don’t remember the refs going on strike then.
Deflection I believe has started to hind his inadequacies, because now the refs are being monitored by a different master certainly not Dallas.
It’s a pity in scotland we don’t have an honest media.
I think Smith is really feeling the heat these days! He is terrified at the thought of beating beaten by not just a rookie manager but by the guy that Rangers hate most of all!!
We have them on the ropes, we just need to lay the final punch on Sunday.
Wonder why they hate him the most, is because he’s an ex celtic player or catholic or ex n ireland player or blonde hair or niggily or are they just BIGOTS.