I don’t want to seem like a broken record on the subject of Andy Walker; frankly the guy is just not worth it.
He defines the word “hack” and is burdened with the kind of stupidity you surely only get here in the Scottish press. Oh we have one or two fine broadcast journalists – Michael Stewart is one of them – but the rest … abysmal is too kind a word for them and Walker has always been a stand-out example with daft remarks, inane drivel and ignorance so profound there should be a picture of him, alongside Donald Trump, beside the word in the dictionary.
I wrote about this cretin in the aftermath of the match at the weekend, about how he said after the blatant piece of cheating from Jamie Walker that he would not criticise because he had done it once or twice in his own career.
I thought those comments were lamentable and absurd.
He is one in a long line of media people in this country who is quite willing to excuse cheating on the grounds that the ends justify the means, which I guess is alright as long as you aren’t on the receiving end of it.
Those comments would have been contemptible on their own, but he’s compounded the disgrace over the last 24 hours with an astonishing and quite unhinged attack on our captain Scott Brown, where he brands his remarks “immature and thoughtless.”
What a cheek he has, but in choosing to make these remarks he’s overplayed a bad hand and given himself away.
See, I don’t believe Walker has any actual problem with what our captain said.
After all, there’s a word for what Jamie Walker did and Brown used it; it was cheating.
Andy Walker has admitted to being a cheat himself, so he understands that just fine.
Nor do I believe he thinks Brown went too far.
He said nothing some of the press didn’t say … but see, that’s the point.
Andy Walker is an arrogant git, something I find extraordinary for a player who but for Celtic no-one would ever have heard of in the first place. Let’s face it, he’ll never win a journalism award, even here in Scotland where they give them to the likes of Chris “Union” Jack.
No, Walker’s problem – one of his problems anyway – is that he has fallen into a trap so many hacks fall into; that of thinking their opinions are actually the most important in the game. Their sneering contempt has worn many faces over the years, from Craig Burley and others attempting to lecture lower league directors back in 2012, telling them they were “pygmies” who ought not to be voting on a big issue like what to do with Sevco, to the bitter wailing some of them do over the criticism of referees.
Too many of them believe they, and they alone, have the right to be heard.
Walker’s commentary on events at Tynecastle was typical; boring, forgettable, strictly second rate. No-one was ever going to commend him on it or ask for a transcript for posterity. In the aftermath of the match Brown found the sound-bite and made the headlines. His comments didn’t just dominate the back pages but they upended the one thing of note Walker actually said in the whole of the 90 minutes and showed him up for the idiot he clearly is.
And that’s what’s bothering Walker most, that Brown didn’t simply eclipse his own role as a commentator on events but actually held up a mirror to the things he did say and revealed the genuine ugliness of them. Deep down he knows Brown called it right, because he knows it’s exactly what he should have said himself, and then he’d have got the credit and the headlines that went with it. Instead he chose a wholly corrupt middle ground.
Brown will probably be asked to comment on what Walker said, that and the stupid remarks coming out of Hearts today, which are made all the more daft when you realise that Robbie Neilson himself will probably be bitching about a bad refereeing decision and a player who got away with something before the month is out.
I hope Brown responds to Walker’s stupid remarks.
The old aphorism about taking on a hack is that you should never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel, but in this one I think our captain is on good, safe ground. Andy Walker wouldn’t know what to do with the barrel far less the stuff that’s in it.
To call him a journalist is to stretch the definition to include all those kids working on school papers and those who keep online diaries.
Brown has shown a knack for finding the killer line that Walker will never have in his life.
Without a doubt, the Celtic captain is a finer footballer than Walker ever was; what galls the ex-striker most is that Brown would also make a more courageous reporter.
That’s the real reason for his incontinent rant.
In Brendan We Trust.
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