Alastair Johnston has given his backing to any title award to Celtic this season having an asterisk and discussed ‘eight-and-a-half in a row in an interview with The Times.
The 71-year-old is back as a director at Ibrox after a spell as chairman ended in 2011 when Craig Whyte took over at the club.
Last night the Ibrox club announced that their first team squad and management team were taking three months of pay deferrals, reported at 50% by The Sun and others, but rather than discuss the impact of that move the lead item in his interview was about Celtic and how an SPFL title win should be recorded:
Johnston told The Times:
I don’t want to be frivolous about it but a lot of Rangers fans have reached out to me and basically said, ‘Mr Johnston, if Celtic are designated as the winners of the league, does it mean they have won eight-and-a-half in a row?’ That’s not something you want — that asterisk. So ideally I can’t imagine that anybody really wants to have their efforts undermined or compromised or not appreciated.
As Neil Lennon, Peter Lawwell and others have stated the preferred option of everyone at Celtic is to complete this season, to build on their 13 point advantage and celebrate their ninth successive title by winning on the pitch.
The notion of an asterisk or ‘eight-and-a-half’ is something for social media to discuss, not a serious consideration for a club director to discuss in public.
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After last night’s announcement on a nameless club statement it seems that there are far more pressing cash flow matters at Ibrox to deal with but a director discussing an asterisk provides a useful deflection from the real issues inside Ibrox.
