We in Celtic cyberspace are used to seeing how harshly the press deals with Celtic managers, and in particular how the hacks are adept at hanging them with their own words. In fact, Celtic managers have had their words twisted and bent out of all recognition in order to get the story or the headline that a newspaper or journalist wanted at any given time.
The Scottish sports newsrooms seem to me, at times, to be comprised of people whose job it is to pore over everything a Celtic boss says, and to find a negative in it.
The complete opposite applies to Gerrard, who disrespects opposing clubs, comes out with the most spurious nonsense and who has spent the last couple of days blaming his predecessor for the rank awful players he’s got to work with.
Of especial concern to Gerrard is the starting eleven which played against a Liverpool youth team earlier in the week and found themselves 4-0 down at half time.
But I checked that game out; almost every player in the Ibrox starting eleven was a player who Gerrard himself signed.
Indeed, the three the media has focussed on as the worst of the worst – Grezda, Lafferty and Barisic – cost the club £4 million, and these were all signings which he personally sanctioned, all players he wanted in the squad.
In spite of this, Gerrard was allowed to get away with this beauty at the pre-match conference on Friday. “’Unfortunately, there were a lot of players when I came into the club who were holding (us) back and slowing it down – and there’s still some around.”
Can you imagine the reaction if a Celtic manager tried to pull a stroke like that?
The media would be hanging him out to dry.
Gerrard is allowed to say whatever he likes though. He remains the only manager in Scotland who was able to allege that referees were biased who didn’t end up in front of the beaks over it, when he had his rant on the first weekend of the campaign.
But it really is something when the hacks let him away with nonsense like he came out with on Friday.
He should have been called on that, as any Celtic manager would have.