Gareth McAuley has been basking in the attention of his ‘tainted and hollow’ claims about Celtic’s Premiership title win.
The former Ibrox defender enjoyed a brief cameo role in Celtic’s 8-in-a-row triumph with his final SPFL appearance coming in a 2-1 defeat from a Jordan Jones inspired Kilmarnock in January 2019.
After tapping deep into the Big Book of Follow Follow Conspiracies McAuley let rip in last week’s column for the Belfast based Sunday Life.
That earned him a call up to appear with Jim White on talkSPORT and greater attention than his nine game Ibrox career ever managed.
Yesterday readers of Sunday Life were greeted by the headline of ‘Sorry Celtic fans, but going Dutch is the best policy’ which probably claimed that the decision of the KNVB to not officially award a title or relegation is the example that the SPFL should have followed.
Ajax and AZ Alkmaar were level on points after 25 matches, despite McAuley’s attempt at straw clutching the Amsterdam side will be nominated for the group stage of the Champions League with Alkmaar facing two qualifying rounds.
Again, some uncomfortable facts to destroy McAuley’s delusions.
His column in the Sunday Life is behind a pay-wall but the following teaser comments are available to entice readers into a subscription.
JUDGING by the reaction to last week’s column, I would be as welcome at a Celtic supporters’ club bash as a letter from the taxman!
Hoops fans, including Chris Sutton and Rod Stewart, were infuriated I dared to say Celtic’s nine-in-a-row achievement was “hollow and tainted” as they had not won the title on the pitch.
I stated I felt sorry for the Celtic players and there would always be an asterisk against this year’s Championship as it wasn’t completed.
Mention of the Taxman will bring a shudder to many of his Ibrox heroes who are now having to pay Income Tax, National Insurance, penalties and interest on their secondary contracts from Dave Murray.
As he tries to overlook the total collapse of Steven Gerrard’s title bid the bad news for the former Ipswich Town defender is that season 2020/21 is two months away with every sign suggesting that the next decade will be as painful as the last ten years.