The Record’s “Loyalty League Table” Article Should Be Mocked By Every Celtic Fan.

Today, with the game tonight, I’m catching up on some of the other stuff I missed during the last week, stuff people have sent me and asked me to make some comment or other on.

One of the stories I found funniest appeared in The Record, but I recall that it started out somewhere else first before it found its way there.

The story was on the Loyalty League Table, one of a number of pitiful attempts the media has made to downplay the actual league table, another being the “80 Minute League Table” which is doing the rounds on several Ibrox sites and which will certainly be adopted by some in the mainstream press in due course; all it proves, of course, is that we’re very effective in the latter stages of games.

It’s as if we’re exploiting some loophole in playing to the whistle.

The Loyalty League Table refers to how long players stay at clubs, and whilst we’re about a mid-table finisher – the average is just over two years – they and Hearts are “top.”

I’m not sure what prize they want for this, but even the act of pressing “publish” on that sort of junk should get you drummed out of the NUJ for scandalising the brand.

I mean who comes up with this crap?

We know of course what the point of it is; the shelf-life of this Celtic side is two years.

There’s a reason, of course, why Ibrox sits at the top here and why we’re nearer the bottom … our players are sought after and we frequently get massive offers for them. Their players, on the other hand, are not.

Look at Tavernier; they’ve been trying to find a buyer who would pay their fee for him for nearly three years.

They have been unsuccessful.

They’ve been trying to punt Morelos for just as long.

Kamara has been offered to clubs for huge sums; nobody is biting.

They don’t even get to sell on their squad players now, they languish on the wage bill for years before being released on freedom of contract.

So this is the new line of attack, disguised as something else; don’t worry, Ibrox fans, about this Celtic team because it will be broken up soon enough.

They never say how they came up with this either; does it include loanees? We’ve had a lot of those, and that skews the number. Development players who we signed and moved on after 12 months? It never elaborates.

It is pathetic, and it is weak.

It also fails to take into account an unpalatable fact that they don’t appear ready to internalise; even if this side lasts only two or three years, the damage it might inflict on the club across the city could be fatal.

If we can secure Group Stage Champions League football and spend the money wisely – would you bet against Ange doing that? – we can leave them in the dust.

Every Celtic fan should be mocking this piece if they aren’t already.

This and whatever other junk comes next.

Honestly, expect that “80 minutes’ league table” to be on one of the mainstream websites soon, along with the stuff about how their squad is stronger on FIFA and how Football Manager still predicts they’ll win the league.

Our media is a joke.