As a Celtic fan I’m finding James McFadden increasingly unbearable.

One of the things I do as a blogger is jot down ideas as they come to me. I keep them in a Word document, and every month or two, I’ll go through it and delete the ones that are no longer relevant. Some, however, stay on that list for quite some time.

For the past month or so, one of those ideas has been an article titled: What the Hell is wrong with James McFadden? That idea has now graduated into a fully-fledged article. Why? Because his commentary on games involving ourselves and the Ibrox club has become almost unbearable.

I’ve seen this happen with a lot of so-called pro-Celtic pundits. How many Andy Walkers? How many Charlie Nicholas? You reach a point where their efforts to appear neutral start to veer dramatically in the other direction. Whether that’s what’s happened to McFadden or not, one thing is clear: he’s become incredibly hard to listen to.

Whenever he commentates on their matches, he’s constantly looking for something positive to say about them, no matter how ridiculous, undeserved, or downright delusional it might be. When he comments on ours he seems forever to be looking for negatives. Like so many in the media, he seems infatuated with certain players at the club across town—players who, to me, are either mediocre at best or overhyped dross. Certain players at Celtic are just targets.

Today, I thought his commentary was atrocious. Utterly shocking. And once again, I find myself saying what I’ve said time and time again: we’re not asking for biased commentators, we don’t want those with a blue or green tint to their glasses. We just want commentators who describe the game as it actually is.

Instead, we’re subjected to pundits who warp the narrative to pander to one side of the divide. It’s exhausting.

This isn’t new, of course. I’ve been watching football long enough to remember people like the aforementioned Charlie Nicholas and Andy Walker go down this well worn path, as well as others like Davie Provan.

Some alleged pro-Celtic figures in the media, like that idiot at The Sunday Mail, never give Celtic an ounce of credit. Not for a single second. They’re always pushing some negative line.

Mark Wilson is just the latest example of someone trying to forge a media career by being as critical of Celtic as humanly possible.

That’s why it’s so refreshing to hear someone like John Hartson, Stiliyan Petrov, or even Neil Lennon. Chris Sutton, of course, is outstanding. These are guys who will give us credit where it’s due and won’t shy away from calling us out when we fall short. That’s what fans want from commentators. That’s what we deserve from a commentary team.

Listening to McFadden today, I’m reminded that he turned down the chance to play for Celtic not once, but twice. Sometimes listening to him lately before knowing who the voice belonged to I’ve thought he was some ex-Ibrox player. For a moment today, I thought I was listening to Alan Hutton or Neil McCann. That’s how bad it was.

I get that the media landscape is competitive. It shouldn’t be, given some of the absolute non-entities who manage to land gigs. But I understand that some people will do whatever it takes to stay in the job. Still, it’s galling to hear sycophantic, pro-Ibrox guff spilling out of virtually every mouth on the telly. Would it kill them to strike a bit of balance now and again?

Let me be clear: this article isn’t just a knee-jerk reaction to today’s game. This is something I’ve been meaning to write for weeks. Today’s match was simply the final straw, the moment that convinced me it was time to sit down and get this done.

McFadden’s commentary on Celtic recently has been woeful. Today, it was every bit as bad. This isn’t about falling standards. This is about abandoning standards altogether. McFadden seems to have plunged headlong into a world where Celtic is there to be criticisted and Ibrox exists only to be lauded.

Frankly, it’s hard to stomach.

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