The Daily Record Doubles Down On Its Pitiful Tactic Of Trying To Unsettle Kyogo.

Yesterday I slammed the Daily Record’s dire piece on the Japanese bhoys being ignored by their national coach on his way around Europe. The word I found particularly offensive, and which told you what the whole article was, appeared in the very first sentence; “seemingly.” Their national coach “seemingly” snubbed our guys.

Today the same disreputable rag doubled down on the strategy of trying to unsettle Kyogo when another of its “writers” Mark Walker penned a piece which hinges on the phrase “hinted at.”

In other words, the writer is reading between the lines.

Both of these guys are guilty of a very widespread phenomenon, but it’s one that is all the more unwelcome because of that. In the absence of hard facts, these guys are inventing the news.

I can’t put it more bluntly than that. They are Making Shit Up.

And it just so happens that this time what they are making up is anti-Celtic guff as we prepare for a semi-final in which Kyogo will play a starring role. The Record’s strategy here is pitifully obvious and all the more insulting because they think we don’t get it.

“Japan boss hails Kyogo’s Celtic impact but offers two hints he’ll continue to be snubbed” reads the headline of this latest trash. Two hints? In whose opinion?

The writer of the piece himself, of course.

The upshot of the article – which really, it’s not important you read – is that the code breaking team at The Record think that Moriyasu will “continue to lean on domestic options rather than call up the Celtic star.”

Of course, he says nothing even remotely like that in the interview they are quoting. Instead, he praises Kyogo and the other Japanese striking options, none of whom play in the domestic league. Neither, of course, does Daizen Maeda who, shockingly enough, in case The Record missed it, actually plays for us, right here in Scotland.

No all the Japanese coach has done today is said that some credit has to go back to the J League itself for producing so many quality finishers. He never says that he will prioritise domestic based players; if he did then the bulk of his World Cup squad would never play for the national side again as almost all of them are based in Europe.

I mean The Record’s article yesterday was only about his touring the continent to watch some of these guys. Now suddenly he’s prioritising home based players? And if the argument is about the standard of the SPFL then how does the writer get around the fact that of the three strikers he talked about, the other two play in Belgium and – wait for it – Spain respectively?

“I think that they are steadily showing us a new landscape for Japan and for the Japanese people. So, I’m very happy for them. At the same time, I think that the development and true value of Japanese football is also connected to their achievements,” he said. “There is no doubt that they have their individual qualities, but the improvement of Japanese football has led to the players being able to perform well on the world stage. I think it’s a testament to the rapid growth of the J-League too.”

Only that newspaper could take benign comments like those and find an anti-Celtic slant in them.

They have no shame whatsoever over there, and the one consolation I take from it is that Kyogo won’t even care because he won’t read the damned thing in the first place.

I wish to God that we all didn’t have to.