Rampant hypocrisy- Sutton calls out Celtic double standards

Chris Sutton has accused Celtic of rampant hypocrisy over their treatment of fans and criticism.

Late on Saturday night the club issued an angry statement after some golf balls briefly interrupted a round of golf at St Andrews. Fans were constantly reminded that St Andrews is the home of golf.

It read like a serious crime had been committed. All that was missing was a hospital update on the number of casualties.

As recently as June ‘interim’ Chairman Brian Wilson revealed that the club strategy of publicity was silence.

It seems that the interim Chairman was left out of the loop over the shocking scenes at St Andrews which is of course the home of golf.

There wasn’t a word out of Celtic when they crashed out of the Champions League to LASK Linz.

Or when Vil Sinisalo was targeted by vapes, a glass bottle and other missiles while playing at Ibrox.

Or when a glass bottle was thrown at Matt O’Riley from the same area of the ground.

SUTTON WITNESSES THE IBROX INCIDENTS FOLLOWED BY CELTIC SILENCE

A Celtic physio was left permanently disfigured by a glass thrown at Ibrox. Arne Engels was felled by a missile taking a corner at the same stadium. Oh, and there was the mystery of broken glass appearing in Joe Hart’s goalmouth during the half time break.

Celtic kept quiet on all of those incidents, protective of their much loved O** F*** business partners

Sutton has witnessed all of these incidents, and Celtic’s inaction.

Reflecting on the tennis balls at St Andrews, the home of golf, Sutton told Daily Record readers:

I felt it was childish and counter productive because it’s not going to force a change in heart in Dermot Desmond, that’s for sure. But the reaction – which you have to suspect came from the man himself – was way over the top and it was riddled with rampant hypocrisy.

The club will accept constructive criticism? I can tell you from experience that’s far from the case. It’s the opposite. Chucking tennis balls won’t do much good though and if anything Desmond has shown he’ll only double down.

He has to realise if you are going to put yourself in a position of such power then you have to accept the accountability. Perhaps even engage with fans. The only time we’ve heard from him in recent years has been to lash out at his detractors. That has been every bit as damaging to Celtic’s reputation as any fan protest.

And when it comes to the reputation of the club, what is more embarrassing, supporters hitting out or failing to get through six Champions League qualifying campaigns in a row? Or what about barely managing a shot on target against Rangers in two games on the bounce?

It seems that the Celtic board will put up with any level of embarrassment on the football pitch.

The humiliation of being 56th in the UEFA co-efficient table. Or being 28th out of 36 in the Europa League.

But a tame, peaceful protest at a golf event triggers the most hysterical and over the top reaction.