Ange Must Call Out The Continuing Slander Against Celtic’s Japanese Bhoy.

Tomorrow, Ange will sit in front of the hacks for his latest presser.

There will, if my information is correct, be representatives of the fan-media there.

I would urge that one of them ask Ange to comment on the growing drum-beat of slander against Kyogo Furuhashi. It has grown from being a minor irritant with some comedic value to a potential problem which we, as a club, cannot allow to get out of hand.

It bears pointing out that these deplorable claims are being pushed, in part, by sites like “The Celtic Way”, a mainstream publication disguising itself as a blog. I don’t care who writes for them; their decision to publicise the nonsensical comments of an ex-ref who a few weeks ago was writing articles for an Ibrox fan site tells its own story.

We now have a number of “media personalities” openly suggesting that Kyogo is a cheat. Now we have this former official suggesting that the SFA has to put him under scrutiny.

The narrative is building that Kyogo is one of those players who dives at the drop of a hat. If that is allowed to become part of the established “story” around Scottish football, it’s open season on him.

The idea that Kyogo is a rogue is contemptible garbage and it is incumbent on somebody in a position of authority at Celtic Park to say that, openly, and slap down anyone who suggests otherwise. Notice that the media has never directly suggested this to Ange, in spite of some of them pushing the line for weeks now.

If they won’t do it, fan media should.

It will give our manager the opportunity to put our club’s position on the record. It will give him the chance to defend our player and to call this out for what we know it to be.

And it has to happen because this crap will continue until it does.

This lamentable accusation has gone from being the fringe obsession of certain online halfwits to being pushed on media outlets like Sky Sports, Radio Scotland and Radio Clyde.

It now has force. It now has weight, and we need to stamp it out at the first available opportunity.

Because if we don’t we’re going to have a problem with this.

Either refs will simply stop giving decisions involving him – and that means teams can kick him up and down the park as they see fit – or worse; Kyogo himself will be treated as the problem and not as a victim.

I make no apology for using the picture which sits atop this piece; this was the result of an unprovoked assault on the player, and this is one of the incidents where he’s been accused of making a meal out of this.

Do not mistake this for anything other than a malicious campaign.

Those involved in it see what we do looking at that picture and they just don’t care.

They are pushing a lie.

Our manager must have the chance to call it that.