Martindale Says He Meant Celtic No Disrespect But His Comments Reeked Of It.

David Martindale has obviously not been watching. The Mooch tried to bait Ange Postecoglou with nonsense about budgets not that long ago. In doing so, of course, he also used the expression that the Celtic manager was “lucky”, but that was only part of what he was doing and everyone was well aware of it. He was trying to accuse us of buying success.

Martindale is well aware of it, and he’s well aware that his own words yesterday, about how if the league was decided on how got the most bang for their buck that his side would “win it every year.” Apart from being factually incorrect, and moronic, it is a statement designed to do just one thing; to play down the achievements of Ange Postecoglou.

Martindale think that because he coaches it in terms like “without meaning any disrespect” that we won’t notice the stench of it, the reek of it, coming from his comments. It is plainly intended to show contempt for what Celtic and Ange have achieved, and this is not unusual coming from the convicted drug pusher. The press loves this guy and I’ve never understood it.

Part of it, of course, is that they are sitting in fourth which makes this smug idiot seem like some kind of tactical genius. But here’s what I reckon; there is no way that Livingston will finish in the top six. Aberdeen and Hibs have to get their act together at some point, and I think St Mirren – the only team to beat us – will edge them as well.

That won’t be enough to get Martindale his jotters – at that club, nothing short of relegation will do that, they think he’s the dogs nuts, a gutless fraud of a boss who has never even attempted to play football against either Glasgow club in the last couple of seasons.

Does he actually believe that given Ange’s budget he could do as Ange has done? Ridiculous.

Hey, my only answer to that is that if Martindale was good enough he wouldn’t be managing at a mid-table battler, he’d have been off to England or somewhere where he stood a chance of winning something, even if it’s only a lower tier title or a third rate cup competition like the Football League Trophy. He forgets who he’s talking about; a title winner on three continents, a former international boss, a guy who if he left Celtic tomorrow could write his own ticket.

Budgets confer an advantage. Well boo-hoo, who in football knew that? Is this some kind of startling insight we’re getting here? You’ll notice we never hear any of this stale pish when Ibrox is on top, nobody ever accused Gerrard and The Mooch of being “lucky”, or having spent their way to success, although they were lucky and they did … indeed, they overspent, massively, as this website has pointed out again and again.

We, on the other hand, earned everything we got because we never spent more than we brought into the club. That sticks in the craw of a lot of these people, but I’m particularly proud of it because that’s my money and your money and our money that Ange is spending, because we don’t have a massive TV deal or sugar-daddy owners … we spent what we earn and most of what we earn comes from the fans. That, too, seems to bother these people.

Nobody at Celtic is going to be embarrassed or shamed by our success, and nobody should be trying to minimise the accomplishments of this manager either.

Spending money looks easy until you have to do it.

The wreckage of many a club proves it, and that includes the former one at Ibrox. Martindale and those at his level rarely get properly judged on how much dreck they do manage to buy with their fan’s hard earned dough, although Jim Goodwin is rightly getting stick for the accumulation of woeful footballers at Aberdeen … but in comparative terms I bet they all have more failed signings than Ange has to his record.

More than anything else, we are just great to watch. We’re exciting. Every match is an adventure and there is quality all the way through the squad. Some of these players have been signed for an absolute pittance as well; Martindale is not going to tell us that Maeda, Hatate and O’Riley are examples of “buying success.” None of those guys cost more than £1.5 million … in football spending terms, and getting “bang for your bucks” they’re a miracle.

His comments stink. They stink because they are fundamentally dishonest. His approach is so obvious that it’s offensive. “I don’t mean any disrespect but …” and then he pours out nothing but that. He and others are obviously spewing at not being able to get the best out of this manager, or this team. But they are going to have to come to terms with it.