Media Tries To Stir Up Trouble As Celtic Aim To Break Hearts

Celtic’s players and officials ought to be in fighting mood ahead of tonight’s game.

Last week, in the aftermath of the Molde match, I said that what worried me most was Scott Brown slating Kris Commons; a sure sign of a dressing room badly divided.

The training ground bust up between Izzy and Ciftci this week was, therefore, the last thing our club needed going into the three difficult matches that lie ahead of us.

We all know that.

We didn’t need it rammed down our throats by a gleeful media.

You’d think nothing else was happening in Scottish football right now, wouldn’t you?

You would never know that the club they’ve spent so long telling us is essential to the wellbeing of the game was running out of money fast with no way to fix the problem.

(See the link at the bottom of the post!)

Today The Record devoted much of the sports section to the Celtic training ground story though, as did The Sun.

In fact, these rags put it not only on the back pages, but on the front too.

Slow news day? Let’s see, shall we?

Here are just a few of the highlights …

America and China – two of the most powerful nations on the planet – are in a standoff at sea.

Tax credit cuts affecting 3 million people are still looming, despite the Lords kicking them out.

That’s caused what the Tories are labelling a “constitutional crisis.”

And sugar is killing us if you believe the latest scientific evidence.

So no, not a lot happening in the wider world.

Putting a story on the front pages of national newspapers about a bust up at a football club training ground … well, it makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?

I’m not going to argue that it made grim viewing yesterday as Ronny tried to dismiss it.

You can’t simply dismiss something like this, because it could well be more than a one-off and might well be a sign of poor discipline.

But it has gone – and it does go on – everywhere, and I do not remember ever seeing it on a newspaper front page before.

We know these things happen in training every day, at clubs all over the country.

The media is feeding on this crap, because they know how important our next three games are.

This is an attempt to ferment a crisis, and whatever happened to us in Europe the other day, and no matter how poor the form might be, it’s not that.

You get sick of our media.

The Sun devoted something like six pages to this nonsense all told.

What’s the need for that?

I’m not saying this isn’t news … it’s clearly news, and it echoes my worst fears, but does it really justify that kind of coverage?

Tonight we’re at Tynecastle, in a game which a couple of newspapers ridiculously claimed was a “powderkeg”.

Really?

There’s a wee bit of needle between the fans, and their supporters have been in a bit of bother lately, but this is far from being World War III.

Reading that kind of nonsense you get the impression our hacks want disorder.

Keevins has said Deila is about to sample some “Scottish hospitality” … he has previous for stoking trouble, and it doesn’t surprise me he’s chipped in his two bob worth. He, after all, defended (or tried to defend) the “Who is the most hated man at Ibrox” headline in his former rag a couple of years ago.

All media nonsense aside, this is one we need to win.

The treble dream has to be kept alive, and this is a team that we struggled against earlier in the season, on league duty.

A win, and a good win at that, would set us up nicely for the Aberdeen game at the weekend.

With the Edinburgh club out of the equation we’d be clear favourites for the first domestic trophy of the season.

Team selection will be all.

Hearts will probably put eleven men behind the ball and try to hit us on the break. Our one man up front system doesn’t work so well in those circumstances; I’d like to think Ronny, knowing that, will try something new tonight … but I’m not counting on it.

What we can count on is a tough, physical encounter on a tight pitch where their fans are right on top of us.

That brings its own pressures.

In the midfield we’re strong.

I’d like to see Rogic start the match alongside Brown and Bitton.

Play Forrest out wide with Commons for the maximum possible penetration.

Griffiths up front is a no-brainer; anything else and the manager is gambling with his job.

Tierney must start at left back. No if’s or buts. The boy has great potential and Izzy hasn’t been doing it for a while.

I can’t see any way Deila can defend starting Lustig in this one either; he is clearly unfit and tonight will be a genuine grind.

Play Janko, and let’s use his pace to the fullest.

Get this one right, Ronny.

Let’s break some Hearts.