Rather than let the storm blow over, Chris Jack has taken to Twitter to wash his hands of one of the most ridiculous examples of Fake News imaginable.
Failing to identify who took a corner or who made the telling pass for a goal is an occupational hazard but reporting a manager from Macedonia drooling over the prospect of sharing a touchline with Steven Gerrard is altogether different territory.
Maybe it was force of habit but some pesky Internet Bampots noted the strange story of the manager of Celtic’s potential opponents drooling over the Liverpool legend who may be in the same city but that’s about as close as Qatip Osmani will get to Mr Gerrard this month.
These quotes/pars had nothing to do with me and were not my error. It was filed by a freelance and wrongly picked up by the desk. It shouldn’t have been used but I didn’t file it. Thanks to those that piled in with abuse, questioned my professionalism and want me sacked though. https://t.co/7ZvSLLfua0
— Chris Jack (@Chris_Jack89) July 13, 2019
Just shows you how much a joke of a newspaper it is and in turn how much of a joke the “journalists”/ cheerleaders it employs ????
— Chris M (@Chris_M_1888) July 13, 2019
Blaming a freelance is a bit below the belt. With the budget available at the struggling Glasgow based publisher paying outside the building is unlikely. A job-lot of social media whizzkids scouring through Twitter and Instagram keeps their dwindling band of readers informed as they hand over money for news that went to print the evening before.
Had the Evening Times been fully digital this episode could have been avoided by reaching for the delete key. Unfortunately the Shkendija case could dog a promising career as much as ‘off the radar’ and ‘Motherwell born billionaire’ have hung around more decorated journalists. Jack could of course delete his tweet but the hazards of the internet mean that his it has probably been added to the catalogue of screenshots collected by Internet Bampots
With a 1-0 lead from the away leg Osmani will be doing his homework on Celtic with a visit to Glasgow’s biggest football stadium likely on July 24.
Should Celtic knock Shkendija out in the second round they would drop into the third qualifying round for the Europa League but the Champions League drop outs are kept apart from the others. Perhaps they might end up facing Gerrard in the Europa League group stage in which case Jack may have the last laugh by getting his preview in place months in advance.