The Kuhn character assassination looks ever more ridiculous in light of his Celtic performances.

A few weeks ago, as it became clear we were witnessing a Player of the Year contender in Nicolas Kühn, I penned a piece recalling one of the most insidious hatchet jobs I’ve ever seen directed at a new signing for a Scottish club. I’m referring, of course, to the one that Radio Clyde aired when we signed Kühn from Rapid Vienna.

From pre-season onwards, as we watched a whole new version of this player—an even better one than last season, despite how impressive he already was—I couldn’t help but wonder what had changed so drastically over the summer. Was it just the natural impact of coaching, or was there something deeper at play?

Certainly, part of it is down to Brendan Rodgers’ coaching. As we’ve seen time and again, Rodgers has a rare ability to elevate players to a whole new level. He’s one of the best in the game for bringing out hidden potential and helping players improve, and he’s done this throughout his career.

There was also the issue of Kühn’s unusual injury—a dental issue that left him slightly underweight and recovering when he first arrived. It took him a bit of time to find his rhythm, which is understandable, and now we’re seeing the full picture. He’s worked on his fitness, he’s in peak condition, and he’s ready to play the way a club like Celtic demands.

But how much of a difference can fitness alone make? How much can even a manager like Rodgers transform a player over a single summer to turn him into a superstar? Perhaps the injury shaved 10% off Kühn’s effectiveness, and maybe Rodgers’ coaching has added another 10%. But even with a 20% improvement, that’s still miles away from the player Radio Clyde’s “expert” told us we were getting. So, I have to ask—what on earth was that so-called “analysis” about?

For context, take Kamala Harris’s shattering defeat. I predicted she’d win, based on two decades of watching political campaigns. Hers was as professional and effective as they come, while her opponents was scattershot, incoherent, and, frankly, a disgrace. My prediction was based on any number of factors from her fund-raising advantage and her “ground game” to her debate performance where she cleaned his clock.

Christ, that was the night he talked about migrants eating cats and dogs, one of the most deranged and demented things I’ve ever heard from a candidate. By any historical standard, that race should only have had one winner, and not him. There are reasons why it didn’t. I’m not the only one who will be exploring those reasons for a long time.

But that kind of prediction is, and has always been, a coin toss. It’s a matter of trusting your gut. The polls proved to be no barometer at all either; they predicted a tie, and it was a blowout for the blowhard. For the fourth US election in a row they’ve been miles off it.

Football is much simpler. You can see quality a mile off, and Kuhn had been at Rapid for two years, and there is no way that there were not at least glimpses of his quality in that time.

I cannot see what Radio Clyde’s guest that night based his assessment of Kühn on, and even at the time, I thought it was absurd. His resume is first rate. It’s almost a perfect CV. He trained in an elite German academy, played for Ajax, moved to Bayern Munich’s second team, and then to Rapid Vienna. He represented Germany at every youth level from U15 to U20. There’s simply no way someone with that pedigree could be as bad as that guy said.

On that night, we were told Celtic had wasted £3 million on an “injury-prone, lightweight player” who supposedly couldn’t cross or beat a man. Even last season, it was clear that description was wildly inaccurate. It had no resemblance to the player we were watching, and I refuse to believe that any injury or difference in the level of coaching could explain the gulf between the player they described and the one we see on the pitch now.

If you spend £3 million on a player in Scotland, especially at Celtic, you expect value, and we’ve gotten very good at this stuff.

Clearly, the club knew they were getting a talent. Rodgers obviously believed in him, and knew he had these extra gears, and we know that from Joe Hart himself who let the cat out of the bag last night whilst commentating on the game when he revealed that Rodgers would urge Kühn to show his skills even before he’d fully settled in. “Show us what you can do,” he was telling him last season, before it was clear to the rest of us how good he could be.

The player’s quality was no mystery to those who had previously watched him, Brendan Rodgers included. They knew exactly what we had.

So, what was going on with that pundit?

I can only conclude that he lied that night.

He went on national radio and presented a complete fiction, spouting nonsense to a panel who eagerly devoured it. I don’t know who decided to put him on air or what agenda they had, but he fed them a banquet of bullshit, and they ate it up.

Every one of those panellists ought to feel embarrassed, even ashamed, for enabling that slanderous attack on a brand-new Celtic signing. Shame for allowing a public character assassination on a player who hadn’t even kicked a ball here. Embarrassment for failing to do their due diligence and offer an alternative viewpoint. They let this individual air his rubbish without challenge, either out of gross unprofessionalism or something much worse.

Either they wanted to ruin Kühn’s standing with the Celtic supporters from day one, or they were simply too lazy to check their facts. You’ll never convince me that the assessment they offered could apply to the Nicolas Kühn we know, or to any version of him. They owe him an apology. They owe every Celtic fan an apology, too. But Kühn, in particular, deserves one.

Of course, he’ll never get it. These people don’t think they’re accountable for the rubbish they spout. But if they had any standards at all, if they cared about professionalism or integrity, they’d do it. And after last night, they’d do it on bended knees.