‘Entitled’ ‘spoiled rotten’ ‘hysteria’ Keith Jackson Bingo with fresh attack on Celtic fans

Keith Jackson has hit out again at ‘entitled’ Celtic fans, a favoured phrase from the Record reporter used when taking instructions from a Celtic insider.

That phrase was first used in December 2020 when angry fans turned up at Celtic Park to protest after a home League Cup defeat to St Johnstone during lockdown.

Celtic’s hierarchy immediately went into deflection mode. Rather than assess a fourth successive home defeat for the first time since the fifties the focus was turned on the entitled fans with their favourite reporter from the Daily Record chosen to lead the attack.

After that Ross County defeat and the reaction Jackson wrote:

Our source said: “Dermot Desmond is simply not the kind of man who will be dictated to by a hate mob – if anything what went on after the game on Sunday has strengthened his resolve to give Neil another chance to turn things around.

“It’s obviously been a terrible run of results for the manager but last Friday, despite the Europa League defeat against Sparta Prague, Dermot was absolutely unequivocal in his support for Neil. Yes, the defeat to Ross County was a bad one but the reaction to it was even more unacceptable as far as Dermot is concerned.

“Neil knows he can’t go on losing games indefinitely but he will also not be thrown to the wolves just because of the demands of a bunch of fans with an enormous sense of entitlement.”

Entitled is a favoured phrase from Jackson, one of Peter Lawwell’s favoured reporters, when it comes to attacking the Celtic support for expecting the best from their side.

The protests after losing to Ross County led to a managerial review led by Lawwell that concluded that Lennon was the best candidate for the job. Before the end of February, and ironically after another defeat to Ross County Lennon resigned.

Celtic supporters expect progress, they expect season on season improvement. They have been told that their money is reinvested in the team, at the end of June there was £72m sitting in the bank account, the bulk of that is still there, after outgoings in the first half of the season Champions League participation and ticket money has been banked.

Saturday’s performance was horrendous compared to what fans were watching a year ago, it followed a pattern of grim home performances highlighted by the matches against St Johnstone, Motherwell, Hearts and Livingston already this season.

Fans are on average paying out £600 for Season Tickets, many thousands travelled from Ireland, England and outposts of Scotland on Saturday to watch players that wouldn’t have got near a starting place under Ange Postecoglou.

Those fans that stuck around to the final whistle held their breath in the closing minutes as Ross County, beaten 3-0 at home by Partick Thistle a week ago twice came close to equalising. It didn’t come as a surprise after they hit the bar in the first half.

Taking aim again at Celtic fans, in the Record Jackson wrote:

And there’s the problem right there. Winning games of football no longer seems to be quite enough to satisfy the appetite of a support which has gorged itself on victories and silverware ever since Rodgers first appeared on the scene seven and half years ago.

They bristle at being labelled as ‘entitled’ when that’s precisely what all of this dominance and success has made of them. When you really think about it, it’s perfectly natural. Celtic’s support has been spoiled rotten over the years to such an extent they cannot bring themselves to contemplate anything other than a continuation of this monopoly.

And the very idea that Rangers might get in the way of it, brings on a sense of hysteria. That’s why they were running riot in the car park when Steven Gerrard led the Ibrox club to a first title in a decade back in 2021. So the sight of Philippe Clement closing in to just two points in Paisley on Saturday lunchtime was enough to heighten the stakes even before a ball had been kicked against Ross County.

There was no riots in the Celtic car park during lockdown. If Jackson google searches, something that he opted not to do in 2011 when presented with news of a man with untold riches from Motherwell, he will find George Square leap out at him if he types in Glasgow, riots, football fans.

The Daily Record remains one of Celtic’s preferred media partners, given special access to players and Brendan Rodgers on a weekly basis. In December circulation of the Record was down to 54.379 per day.

In June 2020 Lawwell gave is last ever newspaper interview as CEO to his pal Keith at the Daily Record. Neither Lawwell, the Chairman or Head of Scouting and Recruitment is mentioned in today’s attack on the Celtic support.