Today, in the run up to Sunday’s Cup Final, most of Sevconia is focussed on an internal problem, that of David Bates and how to spin that one of the club’s youth players and now a first team regular, has decided to move to Germany rather than stay at Ibrox.
Bates divides opinion amongst their fans. He was once at the centre of a lot of slagging, but won over many of his critics by being better than the players around him.
Which is sort of funny considering that they include Russell Martin, who somehow found his way back into a Scotland squad, and Bruno Alves, a colossal waste of money and a player who hasn’t come near to what their fans were hoping for.
Note that Sevco fans weren’t saying that Bates was a good player, not some kind of world beater; they simply said he was an improvement on those two. Talk about being damned with faint praise. Sevco really is some club.
But nothing unites it more than the hatred of the traitor, and that’s what Bates is being described as today on many of their forums. The fury is palpable. And as per usual the Ibrox PR operation, which hates being seen to have suffered any kind of setback, has swung into action and the boy is being lacerated in the media for being greedy.
That club is phenomenally good at turning the flamethrower on its own. Look how Aberdeen responded to Kenny McLean taking the decision to leave at the end of this campaign. There were no strategic leaks to undermine the decision, there was no talk of leaving him on the bench. Their fans weren’t happy but nor were they venomous in their condemnation.
The whole club spits venom at a time like this. How do you think the media got the precise information on what Bates was asking for in his contract? That had to come from inside the club, yet another vicious briefing against one of their own players.
They are so adept at this. They destroy their own so much more readily than the competition. That is the mark of a truly twisted institution.
Join the best Celtic Facebook Group there is right here.
Like our Facebook page and comment on and share the articles by clicking here.
You can also follow us on Twitter at @The_Celtic_Blog