Notorious Celtic-baiter Murray shows his double standards as he defends Clarke.

The other night, Ewan Murray was effusive in his praise for Scotland’s performance against Portugal and for how well-organised the team is under Steve Clarke. I saw that on Twitter, and then read his match report, and I was absolutely flabbergasted. Clarke’s record as manager over the past year is abysmal and utterly indefensible, yet there was Murray, defending him.

Let’s cut through the nonsense. If Portugal weren’t so reliant on an ageing, whinging striker who should have retired ages ago, Scotland would almost certainly be staring at five defeats in a row for the first time in our international history.

Portugal is a national team that revolves around one player, and while that remains the case, they will never break past their current limits. That player was ineffectual last night, but of course, he played the full 90 minutes because there seems to be some unwritten rule against substituting him, even when he’s miles off his game. He whined, moaned, and complained his way through the match, then stormed up the tunnel like a petulant child at full-time.

It was shocking, but equally shocking is Roberto Martinez, who seems just as incapable of handling the situation as his predecessors.

Scotland absolutely benefited from that last night, but the simple fact is that a draw continues our dreadful run of form. Sixteen games. One win.

And yet, Murray defended it.

However he wants to dress it up, he defended that record.

When you praise a manager with that kind of form, you’re saying that record is acceptable. If you’re a mainstream journalist and you’re backing a manager with one win in 16 games, you’ve stopped working in a credible way. You’re no longer analysing on merit, you’re backing up someone you like, plain and simple.

Murray’s not the only one doing this. Clarke’s friends in the media are lining up to hail this result as some sort of triumph, just as they did in the last three games, all of which we lost, claiming we played well. We didn’t even pick up a point in those games. Last night’s draw is the only one. When these pundits defend that record, they sound like Philippe Clement clutching at straws, hiding behind stats and hard luck stories. It’s pathetic.

What makes Ewan Murray different is that he has never given Brendan Rodgers, Neil Lennon, or Ange Postecoglou the benefit of the doubt regarding Celtic’s performances in Europe. Murray is one of Celtic’s most savage critics when it comes to European games, which is why his comments last night were atrocious—because they stink of a double standard that is impossible to ignore.

Celtic’s bad European record stretches across more than a decade. Over that time, several managers have occupied the dugout, each being judged not on their individual performances but collectively, held to account for the overall. That’s never been fair, but it’s something we’ve had to accept. Yet, to see the same writer defend a national coach with one win in 16 is staggering.

The record is either good enough, or it’s not. You either judge someone on their overall record or you don’t. If Murray thinks Clarke’s record is in any way acceptable, then he’s no better than the hacks who work in the tabloids.

Murray writes for The Guardian. He knows full well that if this record were replicated at another association, the manager would have been sacked long ago.

When Murray writes about Celtic in Europe, he acts as if Brendan Rodgers has been responsible for every one of our European games over the past decade.

You’d never know that we’ve been up against giants like Real and Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, PSG, and Borussia Dortmund. Losing by 6 or 7 goals isn’t fun, but in those same seasons, Celtic has dished out similar hammerings in the domestic league.

Yet the same guy who defends Clarke beats us over the head with this idea that we can’t be judged on those games, only in Europe, conveniently ignoring the massive financial gulf that exists between Celtic and the clubs we face … a gulf that in many ways is even larger than that between ourselves and the St Johnstone’s and Motherwell’s whose quality he decries.

Do we have the financial clout of Barcelona, PSG, or Dortmund? No, we don’t. But we don’t get any benefit of the doubt for that. Instead, we’re continually asked why we don’t do better. You might as well ask Ross County why they don’t come to Celtic Park and win.

It’s not just the cognitive dissonance here, it’s the hypocrisy. To defend Clarke while savaging Rodgers, to defend the national team’s record while harping on about ours in Europe, it’s a blatant double standard, and there’s no effort to hide it.

What this reveals, I think, is a lingering bitterness towards Celtic that some in the media can’t seem to shake. Murray is a good writer. He wouldn’t be working for The Guardian if he wasn’t. He knows how to spot an agenda when one is being pushed, and I honestly believe he has one against our club. His coverage of Celtic is biased. Now, he might deny that, but his words speak for themselves.

The fact he can’t see that Clarke’s record is indefensible while attacking ours for our European performances suggests he’s either wilfully ignoring the contradiction or genuinely can’t see it. That’s a blind spot, and whether he’s aware of it or not, it makes him biased.

Let’s be clear: I’ve been vocal about my frustration with what I saw in Dortmund. Brendan Rodgers got his tactics completely wrong, and I’m still aggrieved that he’s shown no sign of being willing to change them ahead of the Atalanta match next Wednesday.

If we lose that game heavily, Rodgers will have to stand in front of the media and answer for it. The stick he gets will be brutal—and deserved.

But it’s because I’m willing to be honest about that, that I can also say Steve Clarke’s record is the raw material of nightmares and deserves to be punished with the sack. Just as I acknowledge that our European record is woeful, I can say Clarke’s is too. Scattered among those 16 games are defeats to top sides like Germany, Spain, and France, but there are also losses to Hungary, Poland, and Northern Ireland, as well as draws against Georgia, Finland, and Switzerland.

The Euros were a disaster that no national coach should have survived.

Some of Celtic’s European defeats have been against heavyweights like Real Madrid, AC Milan, Barcelona, PSG, and Bayern Munich, but there are also too many Cluj’s, Copenhagen’s, Sparta Prague’s, Ferencvaros’, Midtjylland’s, and Bodo/Glimt’s in there for comfort.

For mainstream journalists to pretend one of those records is fine while the other isn’t takes real nerve. But it’s because I’m willing to criticise our own European record that I feel on solid ground when I criticise Clarke’s.

At least I’m consistent. Which is more than I can say for Ewan Murray.