The Scotsman Has Basically Published A Celtic “Snubbed” Pro-Ibrox Fairytale.

Ibrox will this week complete the signing of Tom Lawrence, the “Welsh international” on a free transfer from Derby.

I put “Welsh international” in brackets because every outlet mentions that in their pieces today.

He’s played for Wales 5 times in the last three years. Technically he is, therefore, an international. For context, Ramsey has played 17 times for Wales over the same period. I think we can safely say he’s an international regular.

It’s not the only piece of misdirection in the press. Lawrence isn’t a bad signing, but he played for Derby last season 30 times. In a league where teams play 46 games. Should we enquire as to why he didn’t play in almost a third of their matches or are we not supposed to ask? Better not to. We can leave it for the time being.

The press is usually bad enough at a time like this, but there’s always one hack who pushes the boat out that little bit further on behalf of his favourite club, and we haven’t mentioned Joel Sked for a while although he’s in the top 1% of really bad people in the Scottish media. I rated him as the very worst until recently; now Mark Pirie of The Record is after his crown.

But Sked will not be defeated, and he managed to turn his story on the Lawrence deal into one about how Celtic were snubbed. Apparently Lawrence was “Celtic linked” although I can honestly not remember any such article in which that happened.

So where does this link exist, except in his own mind? Not one of the other news outlets today has even mentioned Celtic, and they would dearly have loved to had such a connection existed, because they all love a good “Celtic snubbed” story and if it’ ends with a variation on “… until Ibrox made their move” then all the better of course.

I find this extraordinary. Sked has pulled that claim out of nowhere and it’s been slapped all over the headline to his dreadful piece. Celtic at no time took the least interest in Tom Lawrence, and he’s been advertised around every club in England and beyond. No Premiership side was biting. Celtic did not even entertain the prospect.

I don’t mind the press indulging their fantasies about this signing or that signing being “box office” or whatever label they wish to slap on it.

I do mind it when they lie.

I especially mind it when they drag us into their lies, as the Scotsman has done today.

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