When does the media stop with these shameful articles, these sniper tactics, which try to twist the words of people in our club?
Today it’s Brendan’s turn, and that was always going to come.
Read the headlines on Newsnow and elsewhere; they scream of how he’s demanded that refs protect “his players.”
Then read the articles.
It’s a little different when you do.
Sure Brendan was talking about the tackle on Kieran Tierney; why wouldn’t he?
It was a shocker, which gets worse the more you watch it. That is a red card any day of the week, and someone suggested to me that the only reason a yellow was even awarded for it was to stop it being flagged for SFA review. The guy ought to have been off.
Brendan knows this wasn’t the first game this season where we’ve been unceremoniously kicked from one end of the pitch to the other; I am actually surprised he’s held onto his anger as long as he has on this issue. Because it’s been begging to be said for weeks, if not months.
It’s stepping up in intensity too, the closer we get to the unbeaten campaign.
Amidst all of this, he called for referees to better protect footballers. All footballers. Of all clubs. The media has chosen to focus on Brendan’s admission that he was primarily concerned for his own stars, but he very explicitly mentioned those of other teams.
When asked whether he has concerns about the way things are going he said this;
“”My only worry at this moment is protection for my players. I’ve seen two tackles in the last two games that weren’t good tackles at all. The tackle on Kieran Tierney was horrendous.
“This is a kid who’s coming through, he’s 19, one of the great prospects of Scottish football. I’ve a boy who’s a brilliant coach on my staff, John Kennedy, who was also a brilliant prospect who in one challenge lost his career.
“I don’t want that to happen to any of my players, or any player, whether he’s from Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Hibs, wherever.
“I understand there’s maybe a dimension of wanting to get tight to Scotty Sinclair, to put a challenge in, but it’s the responsibility of referees to protect the game and the players. If we’re trying to have the best players in Scotland, they need a little bit of protection.
“We’re a team of men and we’re playing a man’s game, so we’ve no problems with aggression and we’ve coped with that. You want the competitive games, you want the aggression, with passion, but it needs to be within the law.”
Honestly, I get sick of this stuff. Brendan was very clear about what he meant, and very clear that he wasn’t asking for special favours or special treatment, but you would not know that looking at those headlines which are, almost uniformly, shamefully twisted to make it sound like that’s exactly what the manager was asking for.
They think they are smart, doing it this way but it’s about as subtle as dropping a nuke.
They really are astonishingly good at inventing news, this lot and if it can be used to paint in a negative light, well job well done.
Doubtless, the Level 5 hampers are on their way.