Yesterday I read John Souttar’s comments about how he lied to the Ibrox medical team about his health with incredulity. Two separate questions were raised by that confession and the media isn’t bothering with either of them.
First, what in God’s name was he thinking? And secondly, did their medical team really just take his word for it and not identify any underlying issues themselves?
Who does the medicals over there, Stevie Wonder? It’s a ridiculous situation.
I know there have been cuts at Ibrox.
But are they really so lax and so underfunded that something like this got by them because a player said he was feeling okay?
This guy didn’t sign for them with a completely injury free past; the Celtic sites all charted his injury issues and knew full well what a risk that signing was. If they didn’t do their due diligence more fool them.
Celtic would be crucified by the press if we made a mistake like this. The media would be all over us, and they would be looking at our record as a whole. Which would stand up. But across the city they have numerous players out with long-term conditions and that’s not a coincidence. That’s a pattern which has roots and perhaps we’ve seen what they are.
The story isn’t that John Souttar lied about his fitness, it’s that doing so was enough to get them to put a contract in front of him. I cannot believe that they simply accepted that, that they didn’t consider his history and put him through the most rigorous set of tests imaginable. They should have been able to map any condition serious enough to lie about … and they missed it completely.
That’s the story here. That’s the one the media is oddly reluctant to write, and it should trouble the fans at Ibrox as it would trouble us if we heard such a thing.
It also casts a dark shadow over the player, of course, because a lie like that is probably grounds for their tearing his contract up and it’s an admission that would make it hard for him to get a deal elsewhere.
They are a mess over there, and this is just another sign of the dysfunctionality which is rampant at every level of that football club. Celtic would be getting hammered in these circumstances and if the media was not doing it then we would be.
Hard to say without full details, but things like pain are subjective and can only be assessed by patient reporting. There’s no ecg for pain signals etc. A lot of medicine is symptom reporting so I can see how it could transpire.
However as an employer… His contract is invalid and I have it in black and white that he defrauded the club into a contract. I’d sack him and take him to court for any monies paid to him thus far.
I’m no medical man,but looked at his record regarding injuries,and concluded that he was not to be touched with a barge pole.
Would be hilarious if the [absolutely!] dishonest sevco punted Souttar,
on the grounds of his [alleged] dishonesty.
And if that actually transpired: just think about all the SMSM headlines which won’t be written…
🙂
Thinking that you could well be overlooking a mental health issue here James.
How easy can it be for anyone trapped into such a toxic and vile working environment?
Easy enough for many to be walking away from a working environment which isn’t the case within shithole, so money still seems to be the major factor still imo.
Let’s not forget we signed Duffy who wasn’t mentally right at the time due to his own personal circumstances in life and our own changing room was hardly a happy place to be either, and the level of ridicule and abuse he was subjected to, and all from the club he always supported. Luckily for all concerned it was only a loan deal so all could be released from the mistake made, would it have been so easy if we had made a permanent offer in the first place when a CB was needed at the time?
Sometimes the money factor overlooks the human factor involved in such deals, yet I would struggle to find any real sympathy for any such individuals if indeed it was such an issue due to must be knowing what your letting yourself in for in the first place when signing up for such scum, even moreso when Scottish
our own mc carthy is also in this fitness test then
At least he was a free transfer liar, that was a wee plus for them.
James, the Sports Science and Medical Depts lost key members, who weren’t replaced by Sevco. If your medical personnel are doing their job well, then an issue like the above just doesn’t happen. When you are operating on fumes, they do! Sevco lost their medical team to an English rugby club playing in the Gallagher Premiership. Shouldn’t have happened…