Keevins Latest Anti-Celtic Piece Is Desperate And Dishonest From Start To Finish

It’s been ages since I did this, ages since an article was so bad that I had to go through it bit by bit and paragraph by paragraph, but Keevins managed it today so here goes.

“If there’s so much as a cheep out of the Celtic support during the pre-match ceremonials in Paisley today then it’s the equivalent of sticking two fingers up to Ange Postecoglou, the saviour of their team.”

Actually it won’t be. Since those “ceremonials” are out of respect for the dead monarch the two fingers will be getting stuck up to the institution she represents and the right-wing bullying sweeping the country and demanding that we all toe some line. Happy to clear that up for this hard of thinking idiot who should have made his holiday a permanent vacation.

“If a minute’s applause in memory of the Queen on the eve of her state funeral is disrupted, it will be a group of fans saying they hold the club’s conscience in their hands and that Postecoglou is a puppet of his paymasters for telling them to be more respectful when they don’t welcome rebuke. If banners appear mocking – even celebrating – the death of an old woman then it is absolute proof these renegade fans see themselves as being bigger than the club they support and beyond Celtic’s jurisdiction.”

Absolute nonsense. Let me repeat; those banners will be nothing to do with Ange or the Celtic board, it will be a group of supporters making their own view clear on the monarchy as an institution. They do not claim to speak for Celtic and never have. On top of that, if he can point to the banner or banners which mocked or celebrated her death I’ll tell you what; I’ll stop blogging the same day and I’ll go and get a real job.

“They will use live TV to establish their status as a separate entity and disregard the fact they’re providing a massive distraction for a Celtic team whose focus should be on trying to entertain and satisfy fans with their football. Sky TV operatives are apparently under orders to turn down sound levels and even switch off microphones altogether if there are offensive chants in order to minimise any offence taken by a watching audience.”

If they are establishing themselves as a “separate entity” then they are neither sticking two fingers up to the manager or the club, are they? Get your story straight you absolute yahoo. And a massive distraction? For the team? We go through this pitiful charade, with the same voices raised against us, every single year and the team copes with it. The only distraction will be the howling of the media which they team won’t even notice as they do their jobs on the pitch. This idea that anything the Green Brigade does distracts the team is a nonsense.

“How utterly pathetic is all of this? Isn’t it ridiculous in the first place that Postecoglou had to use part of his pre-match press conference on Friday to draw a diagram for people to illustrate to them the difference between respectable and reprehensible behaviour?”

No, actually, he didn’t do any of that as the writer knows full well. In an article full of flagrant nonsense this paragraph stands out as the most fundamentally untruthful. Ange was very careful to separate what he and the team will be doing – because it’s what they’ve been told to do – from anything that happens in the stands. He has said, over and over again, because he’s been asked over and over again, to comment on the songs and banners in the stands and over and over again he has said that it’s for the fans themselves to decide how they express themselves. And yes, he had to use part of his press conference on this … but only because hacks chasing a story asked him the question. Honest to God, this is a spiteful, dishonest article.

“Isn’t it scandalous there has to be a minute’s applause before Celtic play St Miren this afternoon because it was obviously felt that 60 seconds of silence would have been out of the question? Nobody is being asked to pay homage to anyone. Nobody is being asked to swear allegiance to anything.”

No, it’s not scandalous at all although Keevins is doing his best to sound scandalised. Minute’s applauses are common. They celebrate life, not mourn death. And if the Queen really was this exceptional public figure who did all this good – entirely separate from her role as head of state – then applause is a more fitting tribute. As to the idea that nobody is being asked to pay homage … is this clown for real? That’s what this whole thing is about, homage to that institution and to the next ruling monarch, her son, no matter how grotesque the idea is.

“All that Postecoglou is asking for is that ordinary, everyday levels of civilised behaviour are demonstrated in the form of silent tolerance. You don’t even need to clap if you would rather conduct a mute form of protest.”

I repeat, Ange is not doing any such thing. He has never split what he and the players will do into a separate category of morality or decency or civilisation from what the fans might, and I know he hasn’t done that because I’ve listened to him closely. Repeatedly. Because it seems to me that he has been asked to do that every five minutes since she died. And please, perhaps the people preaching a little “silent tolerance” should be those who’ve pointed their fat evil fingers at everyone who isn’t on board with this national farce. We have rights too.

“The manager could have been condemnatory of the supporters’ banners at the Champions League tie with Shakhtar Donetsk last Wednesday but, when you think about it, why should he? Instructing people on the difference between right and wrong and lecturing them on the subject of common decency isn’t what Ange is there to do.”

And yet the writer has spent the entire article telling us that’s exactly what he did yesterday. To think this clown is paid to write this sort of dreck.

“Having to publicly ask some Celtic supporters not to besmirch the club’s name in public and live on television must make Postecoglou cringe. It really must. UEFA will go to town on Celtic for the goings on in Poland because they have a list of ‘previous’ on the club in European competition which by now must have a filing cabinet of its own at the governing body’s HQ.”

A media obsessed with asking this guy non-football questions, or questions not related to our team, every week is what makes this guy cringe. He must wonder at the sanity of a press corps which has so many other agendas than promoting and writing about the game. I find the UEFA line funny from a guy who spent a career pretending not to hear what Ibrox fans were singing until they took an interest in it, and then promptly asked them when Celtic fans would be scrutinised too.

“The extremist wing have cost Celtic hundreds of thousands of pounds in fines to cover the cost of those fans who think of the club as a political organisation and not just a football team.”

Extremist wing. Lol. Anyone who doesn’t agree with the mainstream view is an extremist in these eyes of these people. What a ridiculous comment. Anti-monarchist sentiment is widespread. It is not an extremist view to think the whole idea of it is outdated, racist and backward.

“But today’s a different kettle of posturing. It will, in the event of visible and audible misbehaviour among the away fans, draw a line in the sand between Postecoglou and those who owe him gratitude rather than a show of contempt.”

A different kettle of posturing. Right there shows a lack of formal education which would make any good editor wince. And once again, no matter how much this foot stamping yahoo might wish that it were so, it will not draw any such line “between” Ange and the fans. Those same fans will sing his name repeatedly during the game and when it is done he will take the team over to them as he always does to thank them for their support.

“It says they will do what they like and he doesn’t matter. And here’s the irony. What a great time it must be to support Celtic.”

When it came to the poppy nonsense and the tributes to the Queen Mother – and we had to do a bunch of those – there were some protests. That was in spite of Rodgers, Lennon and even Deila all asking the fans to simply pay their respects. This is part of the problem with Keevins, his whole attitude here stinks because it hails from a time of Daddy Knows Best and I’m afraid that’s a load of old cobblers. Those patriarchal attitudes are relics of a bygone age.

“They are the reigning champions. They are sitting top of the league and gave (Ibrox) a four-goal hiding in the last (derby) game. They were creditable performers against the European champions, Real Madrid, and have registered their first point on the group stage table as a platform for further progress.”

And how that must hurt like Hell to write, especially from a guy who has been so far up Van Bronckhorst’s posterior that he can see out of his gaping mouth.

“Stylistically, Postecoglou has Celtic playing the way supporters think they are obliged to perform. He needs to be repaid in respect. On a personal basis? The institution the Celtic fans have reviled does nothing for me.”

Yeah but because you’re a gutless wonder this is the closest you’ll ever come to expressing that view. Again, Keevins is from an age where you did as you were told and where it didn’t matter how fundamentally wrong you thought something was, you shut and gave praise. Nowadays we call that cowardly fence sitting. He’s made a career of it.

“But I’m an old codger who believes that, when someone dies, the last thing you do is wreck the grieving process to suit your own ends. To rest in peace is something you’d wish for anyone as a response to their passing.”

I rest my case, although I want to note – again – that the banner in midweek was a reference to the crown itself, the institution not the individual who died.

“At the very least you should adhere to the belief that if you can’t think of something nice to say about someone then you should say nothing at all. How hard can that be?”

Shit, after an entire article of spilling bile, I can only say that if Keevins kept to that this is the last we would ever hear of him.