Keith Jackson accuses rabble rousing former Celts of stoking a toxic, cliched old fire
Soccer Football - Champions League - Celtic vs Paris St Germain - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Britain - September 12, 2017 Former Celtic footballers John Hartson, Chris Sutton and Henrik Larsson before the match Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith
Keith Jackson has accused ‘former Celtic players’ of irresponsible rabble rousing at Saturday’s match against Hearts.
It seems that the veteran Daily Record reporter has an issue with people expressing the opinions they hold on Sky Sports, Celtic TV and BBC Five Live!
John Hartson, Tom Boyd and Chris Sutton weren’t employed on Saturday to bottle out of commenting in the way that Steven McLean and Nick Walsh opted not to award Celtic for a clear handball from Michael Smith in the penalty box.
If they dodge out of calling out those decisions they’ll find the requests for their opinions drying up.
On Saturday Celtic got the better of Hearts on the pitch and on at least one occasion the VAR official who failed to even suggest that the match referee take a look at the monitor over the Smith handball.
Jackson tells Daily Record readers:
Don’t mention the VAR. A bunch of former Celtic players may have mentioned it once or twice over the weekend but I think they got away with it.
By throwing around words such as ‘scandalous’ and suggesting Celtic were up against two teams at Tynecastle on Saturday they were stoking a toxic, cliched old fire.
Come on lads, you’re better than that. The very last thing the game in this country needs is more deliberate fanning of the flames at a time when our accident-prone officials are being ordered to jump out of the frying pan. It was hard enough when only one of them was calling the shots.
But now that they are refereeing matches by committee it’s a feeding frenzy for those who cling to the dreary old notion that this game of ours is bent. They say, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
Well here, in the land of the manchild, it’s about who’s got the biggest dummy. And how far he can spit it.
So we can do without some of the irresponsible rabble-rousing that went on over the weekend when the new hub at Clydesdale House kicked into action for the first time.
Should Celtic ask for publication of VAR conversations between McLean and Walsh?
Yes, it will help fans understand decision making
Teething troubles, we have to trust SFA officials
Jackson’s employer, the Daily Record were happy to pick up on the comments from Hartson, Sutton and Boyd from elsewhere and repeat them on the Record website. Sutton writes a weekly column for the Record and occasionally appears on their Celtic podcast.
Over multiple media outlets it seems that Michael Stewart on Sportscene was the only one to agree with the decision not to award Celtic a penalty when Smith handled Forrest’s pass.