Never think that Ibrox Noise has a monopoly on tapping the lunatic vein.
On a day when we’re sitting with one foot in the last Champions League qualifiers and with an extra £25 million to spend on the squad prior to the window shutting – and that without the added kick we’ll get should we get to the Groups – the “Rangersnews” site reckons their signing of Brandon Barker has dealt us a “huge psychological blow.”
Please note that this headline says “another huge psychological blow” … when was the alleged first one?
I dealt with Barker yesterday, and this barmy idea that we were interested in signing him yet let him slip through our fingers despite months to make our move and his availability for roughly the cost of one of Kieran Tierney’s boot laces.
It was nonsense.
It will be nonsense no matter how many halfwits repeat it.
Yet this is more than just a single story, this is the type of desperate straw clutching that goes on across the city, and especially when we’re in such good shape.
The fascination with small things, with minor victories – even when they’re not even victories at all – is what defines that club at the moment.
You can see it in everything from their celebratory pitch invasions to the fever pitch hysteria whenever one of their players has a good game.
The truth is, they are in a dire state over there, with a manager who believes that the answer to any problem with the team is just to sign someone else. They tried hard to shift players during the last week, but no club in England was biting … and as I’ll explore over the weekend, that presents a rather significant problem for them going forward.
They really do believe that everything they do has us scrambling; nobody at Celtic cares.
We’re focussed on our own club and our own quest for success.
Perhaps it is just the advantage of being top dogs that we don’t feel this constant need to eye others with envy or – as has become increasingly clear – with nastiness.
Tonight they released a statement about their new Smartcard system, which had a not exactly disguised dig at Kilmarnock in response to last weekend.
They cannot help themselves, they are a spiteful club … and like all others motivated and run by that petty emotion it is not a sign of strength but weakness.
Celtic is not a club wracked by self-doubt or weakness. The only “psychological blow” that might remotely hurt us is one inflicted on us on the park, and there’s been nothing to do that since this season began, and we look very, very strong.
We are so strong, in fact, that Barker wouldn’t get in our reserve team.
The idea that we are remotely affected by their signing this guy is laughable.
It is not just wishful thinking; it is delusional.