Today was the latest instalment in the Kieran Tierney transfer saga and it was The Daily Record at its loathsome worst. After it, our club should – it must – give serious consideration to banning that rag and all those who work at it from our ground. If there are commercial reasons for maintaining a relationship with them it is time they were brought to an end.
What they did today was tell brazen lies that call into question the integrity of everyone at Celtic Park. They promoted a wholly fictitious account of “talks” between Celtic and Everton officials where, amongst other things, the salary of the player was mentioned.
The whole story is rank nonsense, reeking bullshit of the purest kind.
And where did this emerge?
Not in the paper where it could be properly dissected but on their podcast. A podcast who’s second chair is McFarlane, the paper’s Sevco blogger, a “going for 55” halfwit who has written some of the most moon-howling pish I’ve seen in a national newspaper in many, many, many years.
This “story” was nothing less than a clear-cut attempt at unsettling our player. If the “English transfer consultant” knows of such talks then he’s accusing Everton of tapping as Celtic has not entered into any such discussions.
It is difficult to overstate just how scandalous this story is. It crosses so many lines. It claims that talks are at an advanced stage with the player keen on the deal; the whole Celtic squad, including Tierney, have been in Austria for weeks. Kieran himself played in a pre-season friendly today, which simply does not happen if a £25 million move is being discussed.
I am furious at this story, which is a series of absolute lies from start to finish, and which has been gleefully taken up by blogs and newsgroups and even some Celtic blogs, as if we don’t have enough negative shite being written about us by the rest.
The story is lies. There is not a scintilla of truth in it. Not one. It is one of the most atrocious, naked, openly anti-Celtic pieces I’ve ever seen, a bald-faced, undisguised attempt at unsettling our player and casting doubt on the honesty and integrity of people at our club.
It is disgraceful.
It cannot – it must not – go unanswered by our club.