A BBC “reporter” has accused Celtic of “tapping up” Lennon Miller. That can’t stand.

Last night, as I was preparing for the game, I read something absolutely extraordinary on an Ibrox fan media site—Ibrox News.

It might be one of the most incendiary claims I’ve come across in a long time, and astonishingly, it was actually attached to somebody’s name. This wasn’t some mad, random conspiracy theory being peddled by a faceless blogger.

This was a quote given by a named individual in the Scottish mainstream media.

Derek Ferguson, a BBC Radio Scotland pundit, actually gave them an interview in which he claimed that Celtic had “tapped up” Motherwell’s Lennon Miller. Now, as we all know, tapping up is an offence in the game.

It’s against the rules. It’s an act that can see clubs sanctioned, fined, or even banned from signing players for a period. So this is no minor claim—it’s a massive allegation against our club and those running it.

Take a look at that screenshot.

When I first saw the headline on NewsNow and clicked the link, I thought to myself, “There’s no way that the brother of the Ibrox manager actually said this? He’s on the BBC, right?”

There was no way someone in that role would level such a serious accusation against Celtic. I assumed it was just another case of a website fishing for clicks, exaggerating for effect.

But I was wrong. Ferguson actually said it. He actually made that claim. And I don’t know whether Celtic are aware of this, but I strongly recommend that the club take it seriously—very seriously. They should be approaching both Radio Scotland and Ferguson himself to get to the bottom of it.

There is no way this can be allowed to slide. He’s accusing us of a serious offence, of violating football’s regulations on player recruitment, and he knows exactly what he’s doing. He has no evidence to back it up, and I would be amazed if the club lets it go without action.

Here’s the quote in full:

“(Ibrox) will weigh up the situation, and I know Celtic have shown a strong interest. I think (this club) have been guilty in the past of not snapping up young Scottish talent, and that’s something they need to address,” he said. “When you’ve got a guy like Lennon Miller who’s been on the scene for the past year, year and a half, I’m surprised they’ve not already made contact. It looks as though Celtic have done that. I think he’s been tapped up by Celtic. It’s a case of (us) again being too slow off the mark.”

We’ve gone round and round on Lennon Miller on this blog. Celtic’s interest in him isn’t even confirmed anywhere—not as a fact, anyway.

To the best of my knowledge, our club has yet to make a serious bid for him. There was speculation that we might have moved for him in the January window, but Motherwell weren’t interested in selling. That’s all it was—speculation. No one at Celtic has confirmed it. No one at Motherwell has confirmed it. Neither Miller nor his agent has said a word on it.

Now, while I think our interest is probably real, it’s no more than that at the moment—just interest. And even if we do pursue him, I have no doubt whatsoever that Celtic will do it by the book, with the utmost professionalism.

The idea that we’ve tapped up a player?

That’s a disgraceful accusation. And unless Ferguson can prove it—unless he has actual evidence—he owes our club a very public apology, because he made this allegation in a public forum, through a fan media site.

It’s a very insidious way to go about things. If he had said it on BBC Scotland, there would have been serious repercussions. His bosses at the BBC would never have let that comment stand, knowing the consequences. He wouldn’t have written it in a national newspaper, because their senior editors would have stopped it for the same reason. But maybe he thinks saying it through a fan media outlet is fair game—that no one is going to challenge or sue Ibrox News.

Well, Celtic need to show him that this will have consequences wherever he’s said the words. This cannot be permitted. We cannot allow an allegation like this to be thrown at us without a shred of evidence.

Brendan Rodgers and everyone else who would have to be involved in such a process will not be happy about it.

And the next time one of BBC Scotland’s reporters wants to ask an insulting question at a press conference, Rodgers might just have a few questions of his own about their standards, their professionalism, and their agenda.

Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group via Getty Images