Last night the Daily Record decided to stitch up Chris Sutton- on Saturday morning the former Celtic striker will be providing the only worthwhile copy that the Glasgow tabloid carries.
With print sales just above 60,000 per day during December readers are deserting the Record in droves with Sutton providing a brief point of relevance every Saturday morning in the fast moving news 24/7 environment.
Listening in to BBC 5 Live last night one of the Record’s digital teams deciding to link Sutton’s comments to another of the fabled Ibrox myths that were floating around yesterday.
Micky Beale’s incredible act of sportsmanship will forever be associated with Sunday’s Scottish Cup tie against Partick Thistle with FIFA already alerted for a Fair Play award.
Referee David Munro put in another nightmare performance on Sunday, had he insisted on Tillman leaving the park after treatment for his injury he wouldn’t have been sprinting in on goal a few seconds later.
Linking Malik Tillman with Celtic was the task with the Record opting to sacrifice Sutton to point score for their dwindling army of readers.
Picking up on his comments on BBC 5 Live, the Record reports:
“When the Partick Thistle throw-in was taken, the left-back (Kevin Holt) had the most horrible touch, an awful one and Tillman was onto it like a shot. He goes round the keeper and then the Thistle goalkeeper almost knocked seven bells out him.
“It all kicked off and there was a kerfuffle. Michael Beale let Partick Thistle run straight through for the equaliser, so a brilliant gesture from Rangers.
“But here’s a question, just a yes or no answer. Do you think Michael Beale would have done that had they been playing Celtic?”
In the first derby of last season. With Rangers 1-0 up, Robby McCrorie put the ball out of play for a throw-in as Leon Balogun went down late in the game, but it wasn’t given back to them as Hoops efforts to score in stoppage time ended in vain.
One incident took place in the 90th minute the other in the 70th. One incident involved a player hurt in a challenge that should have resulted in a free kick, the other involved an ageing defender wanting to sit down and take a rest- time wasting to everyone outside of the Record.
One incident occurred when the team leading decided that an injured player required treatment, the other happened when the scores were level.
Finally one incident occurred with the ball going out of play 80 yards from the goal of the injured player, the other incident took place 20 yards from goal.
Apart from those minor details the incidents were virtually identical.
In publishing you never turn on one of your own, whatever Sutton might say or do anything negative is best left out the pages he brings to life on a Saturday.
Sutton is unlikely to be bothered by the stupidity of his Record colleagues as long as that monthly cheque continues to reach his bank account.
Rangers 1-0 Celtic 29th August 2021.
Last minute of injury time. Balogun goes down to stretch, McCrorie kicks ball out of play. He gets back up, Celtic refuse to give back possession and take the throw in just outside our box. pic.twitter.com/fUzDAv6pe0
— Kieran (@KMCL96) February 13, 2023
What about the corner Celtic got in the 1982 season when it should have been a bye kick….
HH
The beginning of the end for big Sutton’s stint as the token Celtic guest at the tabloid Record I would think ! Why he would want to be associated with an anti Celtic /pro the Rangers rag at all is quite baffling ! I mean it’s not as if he’s in need of a few quid ,is it …