Soccer Football - Scottish Premiership - Celtic v Aberdeen - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - May 27, 2023 Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou and Kyogo Furuhashi pose with the trophy after winning the Scottish Premiership REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
Yesterday, I wrote about the Connor Goldson story, and today the media has finally caught up with the revelation that he was forced out of the club and sold behind the manager’s back. But that’s not the only reason Goldson has been making headlines.
He’s spent all day bumping his gums, promoting one of the most ludicrous myths in recent football history—the claim that his club was on the verge of some grand breakthrough after winning the COVID title.
How many times do we have to debunk this nonsense? When the team around you has consistently won trebles and doubles in every other season but that one, perhaps it’s time to drop the act. That season was an outlier, pure and simple.
No fans in stadiums. Every club except two slashing budgets. The only reason they got over the line was because the circumstances were skewed in their favour. Otherwise, forget about it.
Celtic has claimed two doubles and a treble in the three campaigns since. Seven trophies out of nine have ended up in our cabinet. Yet they still peddle the absurd notion that they “let us” win the double in Ange’s first season.
What utter rubbish. Nobody handed us anything. Once we found our rhythm under Ange, we steamrolled the league, including them. Not only did we win the double that season, but we followed it up with a treble the next year.
Steven Gerrard bolted back to England the moment he saw what was being built at Celtic. Of course, we know he’d been eyeing the exit long before then.
His stint since Ibrox has proven he’s far from an elite manager. Hiding out in Saudi Arabia now, he’s avoiding the scrutiny that would expose him on a larger stage. Had he stuck around up here, we’d have embarrassed him further.
This narrative about laying a “foundation” to build on is utter garbage. There was no foundation. The reckless spending of that period is why Giovanni van Bronckhorst had to oversee cuts even as he took them to a European final.
Claims that the club could have kicked on from there are sheer fantasy. What funds were they using to pursue that particular pipedream? Monopoly money?
Here’s the truth their fanbase refuses to grasp: every spending spree they embark on with someone else’s money eventually leads to a reckoning.
It happened with the old club at Ibrox, and it’s happening again with this one. They pile on debt chasing short-term glory, but the rent always comes due. Under Gerrard, they inflated the wage bill beyond sustainable levels, and the mess they’re in now started during his tenure.
So, when I hear claims that they could have pulled away from Celtic, I can only laugh. They never had the resources, nor the opportunity. That’s why, after their jaunt to Seville, the dismantling of their team began in earnest. Even with key player sales, they’ve never posted a profit. Can you imagine how catastrophic the accounts would look if they hadn’t offloaded players?
Living in a permanent fantasy is their default setting. Normally, I’d shrug and let them enjoy their delusions. But this constant drivel about Ange’s first season and everything that followed is a brazen attempt to discredit what we achieved and rewrite history. Their solitary title was a fluke, won under extraordinary circumstances.
The more they cling to this warped idea, the harder it becomes for them to face reality.
The lie that they just needed more investment in an already overfunded team keeps them stuck in a destructive cycle. And while I’m happy for them to wallow in it, I won’t stand by and let them peddle lies at Celtic’s expense.
‘ Exceptional Circumstances’.
Games played behind closed doors. Assisted Progression ensured by compliant, conflicted MIBs, The Sevco team of Ibrox Galacticos souped up on caffeine energy drinks courtesy of Gerrard & Beale’s experience at Anfield. Laxity in adhering to COVID restrictions and uniquely amongst SPFL Teams no Ibrox players were ruled out of playing due to catching Covid. Yet several players were missing for a 7 to 10 days period after sustaining unspecified injuries.
Again Sevco singularly out of all SPFL Clubs had COVID Testing done at a Belfast testing facility. Curious that ehh. Brothers in Arms with comical but Kultural handshakes comes to mind.
A one off unique set of circumstances and subversion of Footballing and public Health Rules and Regulations.
It was unfortunate for Newco that the League and its eventual outcome reverted to the Post 2012 norm. Wonder why?
SFATHENADIROFCHIFTINESS – You’re a sensational letter writer to this forum…
And once again a pure fab letter !
But without being pedantic pissed – And I am pished tonight –
The fifth word of your final paragraph says ‘newco’
That is manna from heaven for The Scummy Scottish Football Media…
I always refer to these Sevco mob as – ‘New-CLUB’ –
Pisses Sevco fans off – But more importantly truly fucks off The Scummy’s of The Scummy Scottish Football Media… !!!
Excellent post SFATHENADIROFCHIFTINESS,what you just stated about those cheats during COVID and all the other help they received from SFA and MIB,it still makes my blood boil with what they bastards got away with and still get away with today,only in not so bonnie scawland.fir you clach it’s sevco sevco sevco.
Trying to ‘re-write’ or twist history, is a speciality with that club and a lot of it’s fan base. Imo, it stems from a deep rooted jealousy, that they could never admit tae theirselves, which began with our 70’s European success and of course, bein 1st to 9 in a row, among numerous other ‘facts’ that have had an obvious, long lastin effect on their psyche and passed down through generations. Even now, when theyre an absolute mess, they’re clingin tae ideas like, they have the best stadium in Britain, the best support in Britain and the one that could be about tae be utterly debunked come December, the ‘worlds most successful club’ claim. It’s all desperate stuff.
The falling of players at other clubs to COVID and the incredible luck they had not having a single case during the peak of a worldwide pandemic were major contributors to their anomalous league win.
The skeptic may suggest that opting out of the SFA COVID testing scheme (and thus controlling the sampling and sending in its entirety) could be wide open to abuse. I don’t think the lab will have done anything wrong to be honest, not worth it if caught. But it would be easy for an unscrupulous person to take 40 samples from 2 or 3 known negative people and “imperfectly register” the wrong details on the forms and tubes….
By way of contrast here’s the procedure for anti doping in UEFA competitions. Shortly before full time the team doctor is informed which player(s) will be tested. This is usually done by pulling numbers out of a hat.
We (team doctor, not referee) then grab the players at full time and take them immediately to the anti doping room. Someone else on the technical staff gets the player’s passport and meets us there.
The player then pees into a cup (both the uefa anti doping doctor and I watch). And after an ID check we all make sure the numbers and forms are correct. Crucially I’m just there to make sure nothing dodgy happens. It’s all done by the uefa guy and the player. The player inputs the number etc and we both check. The player signs. Then I add any medicine I’ve administered in the past 7 days and sign.
Absolutely none of it falls to the team themselves to do. Because of course that leads to a broken and corruptible system.
How on earth the SFA let any pro club opt out of their oversight is beyond me.