The Media’s Manufactured Shane Warne “Controversy” Shows What Celtic Is Up Against.

What do Tom English, Ewan Murray and Andrew Dickson have in common?

I’ll tell you what they don’t have in common; any suggestion that they have the slightest affection or respect for Celtic.

What they have in common is that they are attention seekers forever rattling on the bars, and if they can do so by attacking Celtic none of them will hesitate.

Between them and a handful of our own fans – it disgusts me to say – they have contrived to whip up a storm over Celtic’s message of condolence to Shane Warne, because he has a Dafabet top on in the picture and the statement mentions that he was also an ambassador for the organisation.

There is nothing exceptional about this. Nothing sinister.

Indeed, it seems clear to me that it’s a joint tribute from Celtic and the company.

The press release also contains a warm personal tribute from Ange, which these and others like them have chosen to completely ignore.

I want to comment on our own guys for a moment; for some people on our side, too, this is just an excuse to attack the board, and one that in this case the club doesn’t deserve. I will go after the board vigorously when they make a mess of stuff but I think this is a clear cut example of making something out of nothing.

Frankly, if you want to take shots at Celtic there are plenty of genuine reasons.

The small sliver of the media which has leapt on this with indecent haste … well we know their game already …

What they are doing here is the textbook definition of chickenshit, a word I sometimes use here to describe our enemies at their pettiest and snidest and this is definitely such an occasion.

“A constant ‘paying off of old scores’; and insistence on the letter rather than the spirit of the ordinances … Chickenshit is so called—instead of horse—or bull—or elephant shit—because it is small-minded and ignoble and takes the trivial seriously.”

So wrote Paul Fussell in his book Wartime.

When Oliver Reed died, Ridley Scott was in the midst of making Gladiator.

Almost every press report mentioned that fact.

Many of them carried stills from the movie set.

Was that cynical exploitation of a death to sell a movie?

Maybe Apple shouldn’t have included the company logo in any of the death notices about Steve Jobs?

Would a picture of him posing with some of the company products have been exploiting his death?

Nobody said so, because most people are reasonably sane and are not looking for reasons to pretend outrage or offence.

Most people are not attention seeking clowns.

Imagine the balls it takes to accuse of our club of being crass just because we paid tribute to someone who had died?

In short, imagine the mentality it takes to make that allegation whilst you’re standing on the back of a corpse?

But this is what Celtic has to deal with, over and over and over again.

Manufactured controversy.

People looking for every little avenue of attack.