Who is Matt Crooks?
I’m serious. Who is this guy?
Because until he wound up at Ibrox I had never heard of him in my life.
Football player? So what?
Aren’t there something like ten thousand of those in the UK, and that’s only the professionals?
So what makes this guy so special?
What makes him an expert, qualified to pontificate, at length, on the playing style and qualities of Celtic?
He watched us – by his own admission – in one game last year, the cup semi final, a game we lost on penalty kicks, by the way. His assertion that Sevco’s playing style and system are better than ours is based on that. The notion they “played us off the park” is ludicrous bordering on offensive.
He’s not the only one either; Sevco is a club who’s players and management team feel the need, the constant need, to mouth off about everything these days, but especially about Celtic. From Lee Wallace to Joey Barton to this joker Crooks (have you ever heard of a more aptly named Sevco player? I am dying to see that on the back of a jersey) suddenly everyone’s got something to say about how they’re going to put us in our place.
I’ve got news for these goons; we’re already in our place.
Top of the league, heading for six in a row, the biggest club in the county by miles.
The arrogance of these people is breath-taking. They forget that before they even have to consider getting past us that there are ten other teams in the top flight, just waiting for them, waiting to ram that attitude and that superior mind-set right up their chatterboxes.
This is a club which is scrambling around in the transfer market bargain bin, who’s fans have just been caught up in a scandal involving a charity for the veterans they claim to love and respect so much. A club who’s manager went AWOL for over a month and doesn’t seem remotely interested in signing a new contract with them. They have their own issues to deal with; Celtic is getting along just fine, their criticism and snide comments notwithstanding.
In case it escaped their attention span – about the length of a YouTube advert – Celtic was so convulsed by the shock of that cup semi-final defeat, such as it was, that we parted company with the manager and brought in a top level replacement. The side which that day dominated possession, shots on and off target and which narrowly lost the game on penalty kicks will bear no resemblance to the one that turns up to face them next time.
This is a club that’s in serious need of shutting up.
Fortunately, the new season, and a chance for many clubs, ourselves included, to do it in emphatic fashion is fast approaching.
It’s going to be good to see.